Proposition It

Proposition 1A-Protection of Local Government Revenues
In the beginning, there was Proposition 65. This measure was sought forth by the usual methods- people being harassed in front of Safeways to sign something. The Legislators of this here state saw the proposition and were not pleased, especially in light of the fact that Prop. 65 might actually pass. And so the legislators hastily convened and came up with Proposition 1A (why 1A and not, say 65A, or 1, or even 5,376 we know not) as a way of coming up with a better plan. When the people behind Proposition 65 saw Proposition 1A, they saw that it was good and rallied behind Proposition 1A.

Basically, what Proposition 1A calls for is that what's meant for local revenue has to be used for local revenues and can't be used by the State Government. As Davey would tell Goliath, this measure makes it so the state can't rob Peter (local governments) to pay Paul (state government). People who support the measure say that it puts a tight restriction on what the state can do to balance the budget. People who are against the measure say that it puts a tight restriction on what the state can do to balance the budget. Remember here folks, we report. You decide.

Proposition 65- Protection of Local Government Revenues.
As mentioned above, this measure was the original proposition to call for restrictions on the state from taking money from local governments. Because 1A wound up making everyone happy, the people behind it are now supporting Proposition 1A but due to time constraints, the proposition couldn't be taken of the ballot. So, in other words, don't vote for this proposition. Unless you just want to screw with everyone.

Proposition 59- Public Records, Open Meetings.
Proposition 59 is your basic Open Government type amendment allowing further public access to everything. In other words, it's Dick Cheney's favorite proposition. Seems to be supported by everyone except some crank attorney in Mountain View.

Proposition 60- Election Rights of Political Parties.
Frankly, we have no idea what the point of this proposition is other than to be the anti-prop 62. It basically states that whoever gets the most votes for each party gets to run in the general election as the head of the ticket for said party. Well, duh. We guess the idea is to make that the rule so somebody doesn't tinker with election rules, like through a ballot initiative or something.

Proposition 60A-Surplus Property.
Turns out the reason why this is Proposition 60A was because it was originally part of Prop. 60 but as it has nothing to do with Prop 60, the courts forced the measure to be split up. How much do they have in common? Prop. 60 is about elections. This one is about bonds and the sales of surplus property. Why they combined the two is that the backers behind the bill hoped to get Prop. 60 to pass by luring fiscal conservatives with this bit of the proposition. This kind of deserves a no vote just on general principle.

Proposition 61- Children's Hospital Projects. Grant Program. Bond Act.
We love bond issues. You just vote a bond issue in, money appears out of nowhere, and as far as we know, we never have to pay for it. How cool! Wouldn't it be great if people could vote bonds for us? Like to get a new car or travel to the Bahamas? That would be awesome.

Anyways, this measure is a bond measure that gives money to children's hospitals. Once again, the only person writing against this proposition is that attorney in Mountain View, whose either Mr. Scroogey McDuck or a world-class crank.

Proposition 62- Elections. Primaries. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.

Ah, this one. This one states that only the top-two vote getters in the primaries can run in the general election. While this idea doesn't sound like that bad of an idea, it totally slams the idea of Third Parties running in a general election. Which is kind of bad. We love third parties and think the more parties the better, just as long as nobody votes for any of them in a close election. The proposition also doesn't stipulate if the two people running in the same general election have to be from different parties, which makes it possible that, say, two Republicans could be the two candidates to make it due to too many Democratic candidates canceling each other out in the primaries.

Tomorrow, we'll present the remaining propositions.