This is a breakdown of each CA Proposition as researched by Debra Dowdy. She has taken the time to research the facts as given by the Ballot Initiatives and information available on ballotpedia.org. At the end of the description, she and I give our vote for each Proposition. There is also a linkable list of Propositions at the bottom of the post. We hope this will help you learn more about these important initiatives. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and vote!
CA Proposition 53. Revenue Bonds.
This is a Constitutional change, so caution required.
California sells two types of bonds. 1) General obligation bonds. They are repaid from general funds, which is mostly state taxes. Voter approval is required. 2) Revenue bonds. These are repaid by fees charged to the users of the project. For example, tolls on a bridge or highway. No voter approval is required.
This initiative would require voter approval for infrastructure (revenue) bonds greater than $2 billion. Not many projects would qualify, but a couple examples would be building water tunnels from Sacramento to the Delta or the high speed rail (HSR) project.
This initiative was created by a couple who also bankrolled it to the tune of $5.5 million. The California Democratic Party and unions representing construction and engineering workers oppose it. The California Republican Party and Libertarians support it.
While I’m no fan of HSR (which has ballooned from the $10 billion we voted on to $60 billion), do we really need a permanent change to our Constitution to fight it? If we want to build a dam in northern California, do we really need all of California to vote on it? This whole thing is much to complex for voters. We can’t be expected to intelligently vote on big money jobs. That should be the job of the Legislature and then we can hold them accountable. This should never have been on the ballot.
Debra Dowdy is voting – No
Chris Dowdy is voting – No
Links to all other CA Proposition for the 2016 Ballot:
Proposition 52 – Medi-Cal Hospital Fee Program
Proposition 53 – Revenue Bonds
Proposition 54 – Legislative…Proceedings
Proposition 55 – Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare
Proposition 56 – Cigarette Tax
Proposition 57 – Criminal sentences and parole
Proposition 58 – Multilingual Education
Proposition 59 – Corporations and Political Spending
Proposition 60 – The Condom One
Proposition 61 – Limiting prices on medications State buys
Proposition 62 – Repealing the Death Penalty
Proposition 63 – Background Checks to Buy Ammunition
Proposition 64 – Legalizing Marijuana
Proposition 66 – The other death penalty initiative
