Free Republic

California’s initiative process has sometimes been a boon to taxpayers—think Proposition 13, which checked the uncontrolled growth of property taxes. On other occasions, however, it has yielded some mighty boondoggles. Chief among these are the “boutique initiatives” advanced by celebrities and Silicon Valley billionaires to make themselves feel good or to advance pet political causes—think Proposition 10, Hollywood director Rob Reiner’s early-childhood-development measure that created a host of busybody commissions funded by cigarette taxes. Boutique initiatives usually come with boutique prices. Among the costliest is Proposition 39, a 2012 measure that hiked corporate taxes on out-of-state businesses to “create energy...

Prop 30: Your Wallet or Your Kids. NO Either approve $36 billion in higher sales and income taxes or else Gov. Brown threatens to shoot the schools. Don't worry, the income taxes are only on the "very wealthy," but it turns out the "very wealthy" include many small businesses filing under sub-chapter S, meaning lower wages, higher prices and fewer jobs. California already has one of the highest overall tax burdens in the country and yet has just approved a budget to spend $8 billion dollars more than it's taking in. Moral of the story: it's the spending stupid. Prop...

November 2012 Statewide Ballot Measures Proposition 30 Initiative Constitutional Amendment 1578. (12-0009) - Final Random Sample Update - 06/20/12 Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Qualified: 06/20/12 Proponent: Thomas A. Willis c/o Karen Getman (510) 346-6200 Increases personal income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for seven years. Increases sales and use tax by ¼ cent for four years. Allocates temporary tax revenues 89 percent to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges. Bars use of funds for administrative costs, but provides local school governing boards discretion to decide, in open meetings...

When California voters approved Proposition 39 six years ago, it was mainly known for lowering the threshold for passing school bond measures. These days, though, the law is in the legal spotlight for pitting two camps of public education against each other in a high-stakes fight over school buildings. Proposition 39 also requires districts to share their campuses “fairly” with charter schools, alternative public schools that are self-governed. How to share fairly is at the center of the dispute. The rationale behind the law is that charters serve students who otherwise would attend district-run schools. Therefore, they should be entitled...

There are 13 measures on the statewide ballot this fall in California. Those advocating a “yes” vote on any of them have an uphill battle. And if you think it is too early to be talking about the next election, well, that proves the point. We just had the June primary and that was the fifth statewide election since 2002. Part of the issue, of course, is voter fatigue. But there is something deeper going on. Voters are still very distrustful. Polls indicate that Californians still believe that the state is headed in the wrong direction. This is strange because,...

Though more local school bonds are passing, voter support for these measures is in decline. This seeming contradiction can be understood by looking at the impact of Proposition 39 passed by voters in 2000. That year, a small group of multimillionaires and billionaires, most from the Silicon Valley, spent more than $60 million on a campaign to lower the vote threshold for the passage of local school bonds that only property owners are obligated to repay. The two-thirds vote for local bonds was established in the California Constitution of 1879 in recognition of the fact that not everyone who voted...

In their rush to collect cash from taxpayers, school districts around the state have been using Proposition 39 to ram through bonds with an easily attainable 55% vote. While replacing the traditional two-thirds vote for bonds that are repaid exclusively by property owners, Prop. 39 also compelled the districts to establish a citizen oversight committee to monitor spending of bond proceeds. Unfortunately, the bond committees were added to the package as a public relations ploy designed to make bond passage easier, while giving the oversight committees no real power. Now that Prop. 39 has been in effect for nearly five...

<p>As the holidays approach and we prepare for the gift-giving season, it is easy to overlook Proposition 56, a "present" for taxpayers that public employee unions have placed on the March 2004 ballot.</p> <p>Unfortunately, Prop. 56, benignly titled the "Budget Accountability Act," is like the gift the Greeks left outside the walls of Troy. It contains some very nasty surprises.</p>