California Special Election & Propositions - May 19, 2009

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Alex

Well, it looks like the voters rejected every single one of the props except for the one that definitely will have absolutely no significant budgetary impact.

But it was the one that they could feel good about voting for

[JWBear]

How much money did we spend on this election?

[Alex]

Probably less than it would have cost to pay interest on the tax returns that wouldn't have gone out if the budget compromise requiring this election hadn't been reached.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Why do they keep trying to pass the buck onto us to make these decisions?? Isn't it their job??

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Why do they keep trying to pass the buck onto us to make these decisions?? Isn't it their job??

Because, in another bit of the proposition stupidity (in my opinion), things that are passed through the proposition process have to be changed through it.

So, if the state legislature wants to fiddle with Prop 98, it has to be approved by Prop 1B, for example. The California Citizens Compensation Commission was created by Prop 112 in 1990 and therefore changes to its mandate have to be addressed through proposition (Prop 1F in this case). I don't know for sure that this is the reason for all of the props being propositions but most of the time when the state legislature or governor put propositions on a ballot this is the reason why.

So they did make the decisions as far as they could and would have made most of these changes if it was in their power.


You may recall that this was also Schwarzenegger's justification for vetoing the gay marriage bills passed by the legislature while saying he was personally fine with it. Since the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman was passed by Prop 22 he said it was outside the jurisdiction of the legislature to change it and therefore either the courts would have to overturn or the people would have to pass a new proposition repealing it.

[scaeagles]

How are ballot initiatives put on the ballot in CA? Are there certain things that are required to go to the people in that form or is it accomplished by people getting signatures to get a specific proposition on the ballot?

[JWBear]

Both. Citizens may gather signatures to get a proposition on the ballot. Also, if the state legislature passes a proposed amendment to the state constitution, it then automatically goes before the electorate for approval.

[€uroMeinke]

We had an election?

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

We had an election?

There were also a few earthquakes.

[JWBear]

This is how I read this:

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

We had an erection?