California proposition voting guide

I'm sure most of you have already figured out that I'm voting Republican down the ticket... Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor, Tom McClintock for Lt. Governor, Bruce McPherson for Secretary of State, Tony Strickland for Controller, Claude Parrish for Treasurer, Chuck Poochigian for Attorney General, and Steve Poizner for Insurance Commissioner. But when you get to the propositions it always gets a little trickier. There's so many ads saying different things. Who knows what's right? So I thought I'd take a look at what else is on the ballot and let you know what I thought. Yes on Prop 1A: Transportation Funding Protection Legislative Constitutional Amendment To me this one makes some sense. It will help dedicate all gas taxes to transportation needs like road construction, road repairs, & congestion relief where those taxes are supposed to go. In legal terms, the bill amends Prop 42 which allows for the easy transfer of money from gas tax revenues to the general fund where it can be spent on whatever. I think it can help force the state to balance the books better, by not allowing them to use the gas revenues as a credit card, forcing them to use that money for infrastructure repair. No on Prop 1B: Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act Basically it wants us to borrow more money for more infrastructure repairs and increased port security. I’m going to bet it will pass, but I’m tired of borrowing. It will sell almost $20 billion in bonds and will cost us nearly $40 billion to repay over the next 30 years. It’s not that we don’t need the things this would pay for, but do we need to borrow the money to do it? I say trim the fat on the budget. The money’s in there, you guys will just have to find it. No on Prop 1C: Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act It’s a feel good proposal, borrowing $2.85 billion to help fund battered women shelters, low income housing for seniors, and homeownership assistance for the disabled, veterans, and working families. It will cost $6.12 billion to repay. I’m sorry, but no more borrowing. No on Prop 1D: Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act Save our kids; borrow $10.4 billion more to do it. Must we continue to throw more money at our public schools? We spend more per kid on education than just about every other nation on the planet, yet our kids seem to do worse every year. Obviously throwing money into the system doesn’t solve the problem, so why waste the cash? No on Prop 1E: Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act More borrowing. Should we borrow $4.1 billion to rebuild levees to help prevent flooding? Seems to me that this is an important issue and being that important that the state legislature would do everything in it’s power to squeeze that into the annual budget. But no… they want us to borrow the money. Arnold is encouraging voters to approve 1A, B, C, D, and E, and something tells me they’ll pass. Unfortunately… Now for some of the big gun propositions… Yes on Prop 83: Sex Offenders, Sexually Violent Predators, Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring (aka Jessica’s Law) Makes life hard for the perverts who sexually abuse children… How can you argue with that? No on Prop 84: Water Quality, Safety and Supply, Flood Control, Natural Resource Protection, Park Improvements Borrow, borrow, borrow! For crying out loud! Borrow $5.4 billion to improve water supply. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s a total of over $42 billion that people are voting on. It will cost double that to pay back: $84 billion over 30 years to pay back. Where do we stop? Yes on Prop 85: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy This one seems like common sense to me. Parents are responsible for their children in every other legal capacity, so why not this too? Parents should be notified if their girl is looking to get an abortion… No on Prop 86: Tax on Cigarettes I don’t smoke but increasing the tax on cigarettes from $0.87 to $2.60 is outrageous! No way. No on Prop 87: Alternative Energy, Research, Production, Incentives. Tax on California Oil Producers. Al Gore and Bill Clinton are doing commercials for 87. Do I really need to say more? When commercials first started airing for 87 I was actually on the fence. Then I saw Al Gore pimping 87. I made up my mind real quick... No on Prop 88: Education Funding. Real Property Parcel Tax. Throw more money into the money pit that is our public education system with an added bonus of higher property taxes. If we had school vouchers, maybe (and that’s a big maybe) I’d think about voting for this one. We don’t need to throw more money at the schools. Period. No on Prop 89: POltical Campaigns. Public Financing. Corporate Tax Increase. Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Limits. It looks to similar to the disaster that McCain-Feingold’s campaign finance reform was. And it increases taxes on state companies. No on Prop 90: Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property. What exactly are property damages that will be sustained to properties by new laws and rules? This one appears to be a trap. That about sums it up... if anything changes I'll update the post. Other than that, make sure you get out and vote tomorrow!