I was listening to NPR just before the elections and the reporter was interviewing the “King of Propositions” in Washington state. The reporter commented that states that allow propositions are generally in financial disarray compared to states that don’t. Being from California, where the state is on the verge of running out of funds to continue operation, I can certainly relate to that concept. The joker from NPR then made the [probably] off the cuff remark that this was because people in proposition states constantly vote to reduce taxes. Say what?!?
Well, I finally got around to researching the California propositions that passed in the last 8 years (since 2000). Guess how many times Californians voted to reduce taxes … Zero. Nada. Not once since 2000. That said, they voted to raise taxes six times – a total of $942,600,000 annual increase in taxes.
Okay, if it’s not because they vote themselves tax cuts, what about spending increases? Since 2000, Californians have voted to increase the annual state spending commitments by $7,920,000,000 dollars. Most of that is servicing the $188,627,000,000 bond cost ($98,385,000,000 in bonds and $90,242,000,000 in interest payments).
So once again we have a complete misrepresentation of reality by NPR. They took something that could easily be researched and instead decided to overlay their own ignorant political biases on what could have been a decent investigative report.
Click the more link below for more details.
Numbers in millions of dollars.
| Election | Prop # | Title | bond amount | bond interest | bond total | annual tax change | annual commitment | |
| 2008-11 | 1A | Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train | 9950 | 9460 | 19410 | 647 | ||
| 2 | Standards for Confining Farm Animals | |||||||
| 3 | Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program | 980 | 933 | 1913 | 64 | |||
| 8 | Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry | |||||||
| 9 | Criminal Just System. Victim’s Rights. Parole | 300 | costs amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually; savings in the low tens of millions of dollars annually on parole procedures | |||||
| 11 | Redistricting | |||||||
| 12 | Veteran’s Bond Act of 2008 | 900 | 856 | 1756 | 59 | |||
| 2008-06 | 99 | Eminent Domain. Acquisition of Owner-Occupied Residence | ||||||
| 2008-02 | 94 | Amendment to Indian Gaming Compact | 42.5 | |||||
| 95 | Amendment to Indian Gaming Compact | 36.7 | ||||||
| 96 | Amendment to Indian Gaming Compact | 20 | ||||||
| 97 | Amendment to Indian Gaming Compact | 23.4 | ||||||
| 2006-11 | 1A | Transportation Funding Protection | ||||||
| 1B | Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security | 19925 | 18975 | 38900 | 1296.67 | |||
| 1C | Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund | 2850 | 3270 | 6120 | 204 | |||
| 1D | Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities | 10416 | 9900 | 20316 | 680 | |||
| 1E | Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention | 4090 | 3910 | 8000 | 266.67 | |||
| 83 | Sex Offenders. Sexually Violent Predators. Punishment | 200 | ||||||
| 84 | Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control | 5388 | 5112 | 10500 | 350 | |||
| 2006-06 | all propositions failed | |||||||
| 2005-11 | all propositions failed | |||||||
| 2004-11 | 1A | Protection of Local Government Revenue | ||||||
| 59 | Public Record, Open Meetings | |||||||
| 60 | Election Rights of Political Parties | |||||||
| 60A | Surplus Property | |||||||
| 61 | Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program | 750 | 756 | 1506 | 50 | |||
| 63 | Mental Health Services Expansion, Funding | 800 | ||||||
| 64 | Limit on Private Enforcement of Unfair Business | |||||||
| 69 | DNA Samples. Collection. Database. Funding | 20 | ||||||
| 71 | Stem Cell Research. Funding. Bonds. | 3000 | 3000 | 6000 | 200 | |||
| 2004-03 | 55 | Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities | 12300 | 12400 | 24700 | 823 | ||
| 57 | Economic Recovery Bond | 4300 | 4300 | 545 | Refinance 10.7B in debt by borrowing 15B and extending the repayment from 5 years to 9 to 14; commitment assumes 5% interest and 10 year repayment of the 4.3B difference … actual costs are higher | |||
| 58 | California Balanced Budget Act | |||||||
| 2003-10 | all propositions failed | |||||||
| 2002-11 | 46 | Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund | 2100 | 2600 | 4700 | 157 | ||
| 47 | Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities | 13050 | 13150 | 26200 | 873 | |||
| 48 | Court Consolidation | |||||||
| 49 | Before and After School Programs | 455 | ||||||
| 50 | Water Quality, Safety and Supply. | 3440 | 2240 | 5680 | 227.2 | |||
| 2000-11 | 32 | Veteran’s Bond Act | 500 | 475.56 | 975.56 | 32.52 | Calculated by comparing to other Veteran’s Bond Act information | |
| 34 | Campaign Contributions and Spending Limits | |||||||
| 35 | Public Works Projects | |||||||
| 36 | Drugs. Probation and Treatment Program | -165 | Net savings by diverting drug offenders from jail to rehab | |||||
| 2000-03 | 1A | Gambling on Tribal Lands | 20 | |||||
| 12 | Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air | 2100 | 1500 | 3600 | 144 | |||
| 13 | Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed … | 1970 | 1430 | 3400 | 135 | |||
| 14 | California Reading Literacy Improvement | 350 | 250 | 600 | 24 | |||
| 16 | Veteran’s Bond Act | 26 | 24.73 | 50.73 | 2.03 | Analysis went out the window; they said “costs of $33 million over 25 years, with costs of around $1 million per year†… um, 33 million over 25 years would be over 1 million a year | ||
| 17 | Lotteries. Charitable Raffles | |||||||
| 18 | Murder: Special Circumstances | |||||||
| 19 | Murder. BART and CSU Peace | |||||||
| 20 | California State Lottery | |||||||
| 21 | Juvenile Crime | 330 | ||||||
| 22 | Limit on Marriage | |||||||
| 29 | 1998 Indian Gaming Compacts | |||||||
| Totals: | 98,385 | 90,242.28 | 188,627.28 | 942.6 | 7,920.08 |
