Friends are asking how I plan to vote on the California ballot measures tomorrow.
As far as I can tell, I doesn’t matter, since they’re all going down big except the meaningless 1F, which simply gives a symbolic middle-finger salute to the Legislature.
But 1A, which extends some tax increases for two years, at least has something to do with restoring the state’s fiscal balance, so I’m voting for it, despite the restrictions on spending. 1B, which restores some education funding, makes the fiscal picture worse; it’s a hard choice because California public education is so badly underfunded.
1C is essentially borrowing against furture lottery revenues and spending all the money this year, which digs the permanent hole even deeper. I’m agin’ it.
1D and 1E take money previously allocated for specific purposes — the tobacco settlement money for children’s programs and the millionaires’ income surtax for mental health. Those constitutional earmarks, passed by initiative, are part of what got the state into its current fiscal mess, so I’m inclined to vote to get rid of them.
To summarize:
1A Yes
1B ?
1C No
1D Yes
1E Yes
1F No
Once the measures fail, the only hope is that Barack Obama will come in and play the role of the IMF: “Here’s a bunch of Federal dollars you can have if and only if you change the two-thirds rule and eliminate the Prop. 13 rip-off for business.” It might even work.