Schwarzenegger, not the legislature, proposed and approved, the two largest budgets in the state's history when Schwarzenegger knew he didn't have the tax revenues to support the spending. It absolutely boggles the mind that anyone, even a Republican loyalist, would honestly believe that Schwarzenegger, given power under this initiative, would cut any part of the state budget based on his past actions. Schwarzenegger's premise is simply, fundamentally false. A big spender will not cut.
The initiative is also deceptive. Ask yourself why a big spender would seek power to cut spending. The obvious answer is he wouldn't. Then why seek the legislation? Because the initiative authorizes billions more in borrowing which allows Schwarzenegger to continue to increase spending without the necessary tax revenue.
Prop 76 is bad legislation being deceptively marketed. Vote NO on 76. Force Schwarzenegger to bring spending in line with revenues. Do not allow Schwarzenegger to continue spending borrowed money. Force Schwarzenegger to proposed balanced budgets and/or veto legislatively approved budgets when they aren't. It's already the law ... or didn't you know?
There are some good parts to 76 (such as the spending increase limits, school spending base levels, mid-year cuts, etc), but it's too bad they had to include authorization to borrow more. Why couldn't they make each part a separate initiative?
I got my ballot today. It's short and simple; for the first time I've ever seen it this way, it has only one card instead of several cards.