01-16-2008, 05:24 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-06-2008, 04:33 PM by Concillian.)
California Proposition 91 is quite an oddity. I'm sure very few of you are familiar with it.
The SF Chronicle does an adequate job of explaining the entire situation:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...0/BAE2UC4G6.DTL
The jist of it is that Proposition 42 passed several years ago. That proposition disallowed the state legislature from taking funds collected from gasoline taxes that were supposed to be appropriated for transportation improvement projects and using them for other purposes... unless there was a 2/3 majority vote of the legislature which declared a need to use these funds for something else.
Well, every year since prop 42 there has been a much larger than 2/3 majority of the legislature approving usage of the funds for other uses. Effectively making the proposition completely ignored since approval.
So Prop 91 supporters collected signatures to get it on the ballot in 2008 to close the loophole. Shortly after it had been approved for the 2008 ballot, the Governor called a special election for other reasons and managed to get a similar Proposition (1A) on the ballot. Prop 1A is essentially proposition 91 with a relatively minor difference (1A allows borrowing from this portion of the transportation budget if it is repaid within a year, 91 requires repayment within 30 days).
That very similar proposition was overwhelmingly approved, with 77% yes votes. This approval effectively nullified any reason for prop 91, but it was too late to get prop 91 off the 2008 ballot. Signatures had already been gathered and submitted.
In the voter information booklet people are receiving for the upcoming primary election (Feb. 5th in California) the argument FOR proposition 91 states: DO NOT VOTE FOR PROPOSITION 91. It then goes on to explain some of what I just explained myself. There is obviously no argument against proposition 91, after all if the argument for the proposition is not to vote for it, it should be in the bag right?
Well, I'm not entirely sure. 1A passed with 77% of the vote. I'm betting that a large percentage of voters read the short 2 sentence blurb on the ballot and never read the arguments for / against or do any other research.
So I'm starting an informal contest with no reward for the winner.
What percentage of voting Californians do you think will vote for proposition 91 given the people who put it on the ballot's argument FOR the proposition states: DO NOT VOTE FOR PROPOSITION 91?
I'm down for 30%.
The SF Chronicle does an adequate job of explaining the entire situation:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...0/BAE2UC4G6.DTL
The jist of it is that Proposition 42 passed several years ago. That proposition disallowed the state legislature from taking funds collected from gasoline taxes that were supposed to be appropriated for transportation improvement projects and using them for other purposes... unless there was a 2/3 majority vote of the legislature which declared a need to use these funds for something else.
Well, every year since prop 42 there has been a much larger than 2/3 majority of the legislature approving usage of the funds for other uses. Effectively making the proposition completely ignored since approval.
So Prop 91 supporters collected signatures to get it on the ballot in 2008 to close the loophole. Shortly after it had been approved for the 2008 ballot, the Governor called a special election for other reasons and managed to get a similar Proposition (1A) on the ballot. Prop 1A is essentially proposition 91 with a relatively minor difference (1A allows borrowing from this portion of the transportation budget if it is repaid within a year, 91 requires repayment within 30 days).
That very similar proposition was overwhelmingly approved, with 77% yes votes. This approval effectively nullified any reason for prop 91, but it was too late to get prop 91 off the 2008 ballot. Signatures had already been gathered and submitted.
In the voter information booklet people are receiving for the upcoming primary election (Feb. 5th in California) the argument FOR proposition 91 states: DO NOT VOTE FOR PROPOSITION 91. It then goes on to explain some of what I just explained myself. There is obviously no argument against proposition 91, after all if the argument for the proposition is not to vote for it, it should be in the bag right?
Well, I'm not entirely sure. 1A passed with 77% of the vote. I'm betting that a large percentage of voters read the short 2 sentence blurb on the ballot and never read the arguments for / against or do any other research.
So I'm starting an informal contest with no reward for the winner.
What percentage of voting Californians do you think will vote for proposition 91 given the people who put it on the ballot's argument FOR the proposition states: DO NOT VOTE FOR PROPOSITION 91?
I'm down for 30%.
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.