Da Goddess

Get Yer Vote On

I don't like to put off anything if I can help it. Well, okay, a root canal, maybe. But with voting, I missed voting once and I swore I'd never allow that to happen again. So, when I found out that I'd be working on November 2nd, I located the Registrar of Voters and headed on down to vote early.

Yes, I've already voted.

It's obvious as to my choice for president. At least, it should be.

There were a bunch of propositions - state and county - to be decided as well. The Smashes and I had talked about many of them previously, hashing out what they really meant. Even with the phonebook-sized guide to explain them, it's hard to remember every fine point of all 26 issues. Twenty-six. Double that, put them on 2 1/2" x 4" paper and make yourself a deck of cards, folks.

The Props - in piecemeal fashion - to be updated as the day goes along - remember, if you can't make heads or tails of an issue, vote NO

State Issues:
Prop 1A - Protection of Local Government Revenues - City and county money stays here. Instead of pooling our funds with the rest of the state, we put our money to use here in our county. Vote YES. Also see Prop 65.

Prop 59 - Providing the public with access to meetings and writings of government bodies/officials while maintaining specific constitutional privacy. Your choice.

Prop 60 - Election Rights of Political Parties - Requires general election ballot include candidate receiving most votes among candidates of same party for partisan office in primary election. That's the official wording. Your choice

Prop 60A - Surplus Property - Sell off surplus state property to pay off bonds. Good theory, hard to prove it can work. Your Choice.

Prop 61 - Children's Hospital Projects - Authorizes $750 million general obligation bonds for grants to eligible children's hospitals for construction, expansion, remodeling, renovation, etc. Having worked in this field for years, I will say this: pay now or pay later. I've touched on this before. By approving this prop you are providing funding before the needs become so great that an emergency bail out would cost even more money, or perhaps lives. All children's hospitals run on tight budgets and are perpetually short on finances. Reimbursement from the State and Federal sources is the bare minimum and slow to come. It's essential to provide the hospitals with the resources they need to hire, train, and maintain staffing so that they are there when you need them. Regardless of a patient's ability to pay, medical will always be provided. It's your decision here that helps shape the quality of the care, the facilities available, and the response time of the providers. Despite the use of Jamie Lee Curtis as the spokeswoman for this issue, vote YES.

Prop 62 - Primary Election Initiative/Constitutional Amendment - Requires primary elections allowing voters to vote for any state or federal candidate regardless of party registration. There is no significant fiscal effect on state or local government associated with this proposition - Your Choice.

Prop 63 - Mental Health Services Expansion - Establishes 1% tax on taxable personal income above $1 million to fund expanded health services for mentally ill children, adults and seniors (their wording, not mine.) Increases state revenues to offset the rising state and county expenditures for expansion of mental health programs. This is another case of pay now or pay later. A great majority of the patients I saw during my psych nursing days were those brought in off the street. If they don't receive the appropriate care, the patients will remain on the streets or in jails - it's sad, but true. When a mentally ill person does not follow their prescribed treatment, all their health issues become even worse. Diabetes, multi-organ failure, infections - you name it, they're at risk. The cost of caring for someone who is not medically well-managed is far greater than caring for someone who consistently maintains his or her health regimen. When you add to that a mental illness that often requires multiple medications, you're facing a stunning lack of compliance without proper supervision. Again, these patients will end up costing you more money with extended hospital stays and possible jail time. Vote YES.

Prop 64 - Limits on Private Enforcement of Unfair Business Competition Laws - Allows individual or class action "unfair business" lawsuits only if actual loss suffered; only government officials may enforce these laws on public's behalf. I was all for this until I read that last sentence. There is no way to know if this will actually increase or decrease the burden on the courts or the extent to which it will divert funds. Too many unknowns. Vote NO.

Prop 65 - abandoned by its sponsors. Okay, that's an easy NO - remember that 1A is the better version of it.

Prop 66 - Limitations on "Three Strikes" Law - Limits "Three Strikes" law to violent and/or serious felonies. Permits limited re-sentencing under new definitions. Increases punishment for specified sex crimes against children. Designed to free up prisons, courts, and money. The exact nature of all the "serious felonies" is not yet clear. Give me a clear plan first. And, don't try to tell me we'll be safer with minor felons out on the streets. What is a "minor felony" anyway? Let them come up with a proposition that is more specific and provides us with real protection. Vote NO.

Prop 67 - Emergency Medical Services Funding Telephone Surcharge - Increases telephone surcharge and allocates other funds for emergency room physicians, hospital emergency rooms, community clinics, emergency personnel training/equipment, and 911 telephone system. Increases state revenues to offset the costs of emergency services and other specified purposes. I really don't like that last part, but I do believe that we need to have more money available for training and properly outfitting emergency responders. Even with the unknown lurking, vote YES.

Prop 68 - Non-Tribal Commercial Gambling Expansion, Tribal Gaming Compact Amendments, Revenues, and Tax Exemption Status - Authorizes tribal compact amendments. Unless tribes accept, it authorizes casino gambling for sixteen non-tribal establishments in California. Percentage of gaming revenues fund government services. Fiscal impact: Increased gambling revenues - potentially over $1 billion/yr to local governments for additional specified services. Depending on outcome of tribal negotiations, potential loss of revenues totalling hundreds of millions each year. Essentially, if the tribes agree to allow others to open casinos, we're in the money. If they don't, they can tie our hands to the tune of millions. More casinos place additional strain on essential fire and police services. Vote NO. Also see Prop 70.

Prop 69 - DNA Samples Database - Requires collection of DNA samples from all felons, and from others arrested for or charged with specified crimes, and submission to state DNA database. Provides for funding. Fiscal impact: Potential of about $20 million net cost for state to process DNA. Local costs likely more than fully offset by revenues, with the additional revenues available for other DNA-related activities. What other DNA-related activities? Will the DNA database be used solely for criminal investigation or will the state be opening shop and offering testing for other things? My other concern about this is that there is no guarantee of the admissibility of evidence from the database in future cases. Vote NO.

Prop 70 - Tribal Gaming Compacts, Exclusive Gaming Rights, Contributions to State - Upon tribe's request, Governor must execute 99-yr compact. (99 years!!!) Tribes contribute percentage of net gaming income into state funds, in exchange for expanded, exclusive tribal casino gambling. Potential costs/revenues from 10's to over 100's of millions annually. In other words, if we can get tribes to agree to pay a small amount tax-wise, we'll sell our souls and give them the monopoly on gaming. Bad idea all around. Plus, ah, yes...there's more! Plus, the revenues will be placed in a general fund so that tribes without gaming can benefit. Sounds like communism to me. Anyhow, a strong recommendation of vote NO. Also see Prop 68.

Prop 71 - Stem Cell Research Funding - This measure establishes "California Institute for Regenerative Medicine" to regulate and fund stem cell research and oversight committee. Prohibits funding of human reproductive cloning research. Fiscal impact: State cost of about $6 billion over 30 years to off principal - with State payments averaging about $200 million a year. The state has no business appropriating funds for research when we can't even keep our hospitals and emergencies services funded. Not only that, but the state should not be investing in the unproven. Private funding should be sought by those wishing to conduct research. As much as I believe in the power of medicine, I cannot justify my tax dollars being used to fund this. We must provide care and facilities for those who require treatment with proven therapies. Vote NO.

Prop 72 - Health Care Coverage Requirements Referendum - Legislation requiring health care coverage for employees, as specified, working for large and medium employers. Fiscal impact: significant expenditures full offset, mainly by employer fees, for a state program primarily to purchase private health insurance coverage. Significant country health program savings. Significant public employer health coverage costs. Significant net state revenue losses. Overall unknown net state and local savings/costs. Health care coverage is already required. Getting the state to serve as broker for health care isn't practical. Vote NO.

County/City Issues:
Prop A - Transportation Improvement Program - It's utter choas on the streets, and what this proposition offers falls short of what's needed. Vote NO, it'll be rewritten and come up again.

Prop B - Repeal the Gregory Canyon Landfill/Recycling Center - approved by voters in 1994. It's one of the few options available to us without hauling our garbage for miles and miles over the highways and through neighborhoods - to dumps that are well out of the way and struggling to keep up with the trash from their communities. Vote NO

Prop D - Amends charter of City of San Diego by adding section 216.1 - Access to government information - Do the people have the right to access information concerning the conduct of the People's business? Yes. We should. At city level, there's nothing "sensitive" to the security of the county, state, or country. Your choice.

Prop E - Amends charter of City (sections 40 and 41D) to provide for independent legal counsel for the Ethics Commission - Can anyone say no-brainer? The way the system is set up now, the Ethics Commission may be represented by the City Attorney, who also represents city officials who may be investigated by the Ethics Commission. Confused yet? Separate counsel is the right thing to do. Vote YES

Prop F - Amends charter of the city by adding Article XV for a "strong mayor" form of governance - currently, the mayor is sort of like the chief of the city council. His hands are tied. He doesn't wield any real power as long as the committee gets to make the big decisions. Vote YES. Give our mayor the power he should have.

Prop G - City charter relating to city contributions to retirement system - right now, the pension plan is the quagmire that the Left would like you to believe Bush's administration is. A lot of the problem is directly related to the debacle we like to call "The City's Screwed." Unfortunately, this gets so muddled that I couldn't figure out what was what and I voted NO. (The number one rule - "if you can't make heads or tails of an issue, vote NO.")

Prop H - Changing the composition of the Retirement Board - put in people who don't have interests in the City's pension system. Straight-forward and an easy YES.

Prop J - Transient Occupancy Tax - Vote NO. By raising the taxes on hotel rooms and transportation around town, we'll kill tourism. Vote NO. Let me repeat this for the hearing impaired - Vote NO.

Prop K - Mount Soledad Natural Park - controversy is nothing new for this site. With some clever language and fancy footwork, we can keep the cross on top of the mountain. Vote YES

District Issues:
Prop BB - Trauma Center Improvement and Repair - necessary, but contains some tie-in issues involving our freeways. Strip away all the extras and you still have an essential service that saves lives. With all the trauma centers in San Diego County (and it's a BIG county), they're spread out far enough that you have to pray you can get to one in time. This one was an easy YES

Posted by DaGoddess at October 24, 2004 11:47 PM