Grit teeth and vote yes on all six
| Saturday, May 16 2009 08:52 PM
Last Updated Saturday, May 16 2009 08:52 PM
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The six propositions on the May 19 special-election ballot.
Prop. 1A: Two-year extension of emergency taxes. YES
Prop. 1B: Education funding. YES
Prop. 1C: Lottery-based borrowing. YES
Prop. 1D : Diverting children's services funding. YES
Prop. 1E: Diverting mental health services funding. YES
Prop. 1F: Elected officials' salaries. YES
Tuesday's special ballot asks voters to choose the least painful of two unsatisfying possibilities: Two additional years of assorted tax increases and the plunder of two worthwhile programs, or a dramatic worsening of the most dire set of fiscal circumstances the state has seen in generations.
The options: An extension of emergency taxes (including the 1-cent sales increase), but the reasonable certainty that essential services, though diminished, won't be devastated or bankrupted; or the layoff of tens of thousands of teachers, law enforcement officers, park rangers and other state workers, with all the chaos, waste and potential danger it might bring.
Our reluctant conclusion: Keep teachers in classrooms, cops on the street, asphalt on the road. Support Props. 1A through 1F.
Voters are sick of the budget deficit, and they're even more sick of the legislature, but the reality is this: Rejection of all or most of the six ballot measures would lead to another budget crisis in Sacramento.
The most vital is Prop. 1A, which would perpetuate new taxes but require the state to increase the amount set aside each year in the state's "rainy day" account -- and make it more difficult to withdraw those funds. That would make the state less vulnerable to economic fluctuations.
Prop. 1B, which can only take effect if 1A passes, would strengthen funding for K-12 and community college education at a time when they're already making unacceptably deep cuts.
Prop. 1C would plug holes by borrowing against future lottery profits. Sad but necessary.
Prop. 1D would redirect a large portion of tobacco tax revenues from children's programs and use it to subsidize the general fund. Children would suffer far more in a state fiscal meltdown.
Prop. 1E would temporarily tap mental health money for general fund purposes -- a reasonable if difficult allocation of unspent money.
Prop. 1F won't have any meaningful impact, but it's the only thing here that addresses populist outrage, which is something. This ballot is a bitter pill, but six "yes" votes beats the alternative.
