More Roads for More Cars
192 - Seismic Retrofit; authorizes $2 billion in bonds to earthquake-proof state highways and bridges. Projects financed under this proposition would be exempt from state requirements for environmental impact statements and mitigations. The highway lobby is pushing this. Gas tax and bridge tolls already pay for seismic retrofitting; 192 money would free up revenue for new highway construction.
Tax Breaks for the Rich
193 - Property taxes; yet another extension of the old Proposition 13 passed in 1978, freezing property taxes. This edition would allow grandparents to transfer houses to their grandchildren, without changing the property tax rate to the new, higher level. Someone who is somehow able to come up with the money for a house would pay higher property taxes than someone who is given a house, in this case by grandparents. The state's legislative analyst estimates that 193 would cost schools, counties and cities - which have never recovered from the loss of tax money support after old 13 - another million dollars a year.
Death & Punishment-Human
194 - Prison Workers; the Department of Corrections has a couple of hundred prisoners working for private industry. 194 would deny unemployment benefits to prisoners. Once out of jail, these working prisoners are seldom kept on by the employers. Without the minimal help unemployment insurance would provide for people who are obviously going to have a tough time getting a job, the chance of a return trip to prison is increased.
195 - Increase Death Penalty; this proposition would add carjack kidnappings and retaliatory murder of jurors to the list of "special circumstances" that draw the death penalty or life without parole. It's redundant since prosecutors can already charge carjackers with special circumstances for kidnapping or robbery. Juror murder is very rare.
196 - More Death Penalty; 196 would make drive-by shootings a capital offense, determining the seriousness of a murder by whether the accused is inside or outside of a car. If people convicted under the provisions of 196 draw life without parole instead of the death penalty, the costs will be several million dollars a year. Prison spending has already increased from 300 million dollars a year 15 years ago to 4 billion dollars a year this year. State Senator Lockyer has called the prison industry the biggest public works project since the pyramids.
Death & Punishment-Wildlife
197 - Mountain Lions; Prop. 197 would cancel the protection given to mountain lions by voters in 1990 and allow trophy hunting. Supporters of the measure argue in terms of public safety but Fish and Game already has the power to kill or relocate lions considered a public danger. There have been 13 fatal mountain lion attacks in all of North America in the past 100 years. There have been 85 people killed and 700 injured by hunters in California alone in the past 20 years. Mountain lions and people can co-exist in California, but not if lions are slaughtered, habitat destroyed and management funds eliminated.
No Parties at Primaries
198 - Open Primaries; this would allow voters to select any candidate they want to in the primaries - regardless of party. Everyone would have the same ballot and the only place where there would be no cross-over voting would be in party county central committee races. Proponents say it would increase voter turnout and prevent extremists from being elected. But the Republican and Democratic Parties aren't the only opponents. The Green Party and the Peace and Freedom Party say it could make them vulnerable to organized outside interference. It could also make voters less likely to register and the smaller third parties would have to struggle harder to keep up membership for ballot eligibility.
No Rent Control
199 - Mobile Home Rent Control; 199 would kill the last existing form of rent control in California. About half a million Californians live in mobile homes and pay rent to mobile home park owners. One such owner has put $5 million into this campaign. Mobile Homes are often not very mobile; tenants can't just up and leave when rents go up. A 10% discount is included for low income tenants - but with no rent ceiling there is no way to anticipate what that would be 10% of.
Corporate Greed & Power Wish List
200 - "No Fault" Motor Vehicle Insurance - this is one of three tort "reform" proposals. The insurance companies and the trial lawyers are still duking it out. Consumers Union, which has supported no-fault insurance in the past, is against this one as too heavily in favor of the insurance companies. Ralph Nader opposes 200 as well.
201 - Shareholder Suits; the second of the tort measures, this would enact "loser-pay" provisions in suits over securities law violations. There is speculation that 201 was sandwiched in between 200 and 202 because an initiative to protect companies from lawsuits for defrauding people would never pass otherwise.
202 - Limit Attorney Fees; this, the third of the tort trio, would limit attorney fees, but only to lawyers working on contingency, i.e., for low-income clients. It would not apply to big money lawyers working for defendant corporations. Mothers against Drunk Drivers says 202 tilts the balance in civil liability cases away from victims and toward the large corporate defendants.
Money for Schools; Maybe The Bright Spot on the Ballot
203 - Public Education Facilities Bond; this would raise $3 billion for public schools. The money would build classrooms and libraries for schools, community colleges and universities. Some funding could also provide for earthquake safety, computer equipment and reduced class size.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited