Serving Bread

Before I explain my positions on the upcoming special election (this is California’s FOURTH election in 11 months), I am frustrated and angry with the California legislature and government. Those in power have failed to steward our funds and the “loyal minority” are not very loyal to the people of California.

I find myself tempted to vote no on all six propositions because these propositions were written in haste and in reaction to our budget crisis. They do seem like temporary bandaids to fix the problem now. We need more than bandaids to how we do business in California. But on some days, I find myself tempted to vote yes on these measures because we are in a fiscal crisis and we have to fix the budget somehow.

Yes on 1A: This measure is one of the old tricks of good governance. One of my Biblical heroes, Joseph, began a rainy day fund when he governed Egypt. Our current rainy day fund is at 5% which we have learned as a state is not enough to cover the lean years that we are currently experiencing. Our legislatures are not good at collaborating and compromising and in the area of passing a budget, I think it’s fair to at least try giving more authority to the governor to make decisions about our budget. With more authority comes more responsibility. I don’t know my representatives, but I do know my governor. In other words, if I disagree with the budget, it’s easier to fire the governor than the legislature.

Yes on 1B: I’m all for funding public education (I’m certainly biased since my wife is a teacher). But I am hesitant when passing minimum levels of funding for any service. This measure increases funding for education, particularly since our state has not funded education appropriately in the last several years. Over the last several years, the legislature and the governor have found unique ways to make cuts to education, and 1B along with 1A will make sure that education priorities are met.

Yes on 1F: This measure is only symbolic in nature. It prevents pay increases for elected officials during budget deficit years. The caveat is that it is unconstitutional for the state of California to not balance the budget. Technically, a budget cannot be passed unless it is a balanced budget, which means that the elected officials will get their pay increases. 1F is an illusion and I’m fine to be suckered in to vote for this PR campaign.

No on 1C: I am not a fan of the lottery system because the lottery unfairly targets the poorest among us. The legislature wants to expand the lottery system and borrow from “future lottery profits.” 1C proves how regressive our tax system is in our state.

No on 1D and 1E: This measure tries to fix several problems and it points to several problems that we have in our state—we have too many voter-approved allocations in our budget. This measure wants to reallocate some of the funds to try to balance the state budget. Proposition 10 and Proposition 63 were mistakes in requiring certain allocations (which 1D and 1E try to amend), but I’m not going to pass a band-aid to fix them.