California Props

    We've been following, from time to time, the situation with Proposition 75, which is an Arnold Schwarzenegger-backed initiative that would require government employee unions to give prior notice to members before using dues on political activity.

    Here is a poll that looks at the support for Prop 75 and a set of other propositions.  The good news here is that Prop 75, which was drawing majority support just a few weeks ago, seems to be  slipping--though this is only one snapshot. And I'll also stick down below there quick explanations of the key propositions:

PROPOSITION 73 – Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy -Waiting Period and Parental Notification. This would require parental notice and a 48-hour waiting period before a minor could receive an abortion. Does not provide exceptions for incest and defines life as starting at conception. The bottom line is the health of the minor. If minors seeking abortions are required by law to notify their parents, a certain number of them will seek abortions from non-medical providers -- which will endanger their health, and in some cases, their lives. For more than 50 years, California law has provided for minors to consult with their doctors about who should be notified, instead of being forced to notify specific people. It is better and safer if minors know that such discussions will remain confidential.

Hidden Agenda:  This is an amendment to the State Constitution that defines abortion “As causing the death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born.”-  A hidden attack on Roe v Wad by right wing strategists.

PROPOSITION 74  -Public School Teachers -Waiting Period for Permanent Status. Dismissal. Increases waiting period required before teacher receives basic job protection from two to five years. This includes the right to a hearing if dismissed. This would discourage qualified teachers from working in California public schools since tenure wait is much longer than elsewhere. Top-ranked educators will be less interested in working in our schools if they have to work five years before receiving basic rights, such as the right to only be fired for cause. We will need an additional 100,000 teachers in the next ten years. Proposition 74 discourages the recruitment of the “best and the brightest”.

Hidden Agenda:  To shift the focus by blaming teachers for poor performance of the educational system in the State.

PROPOSITION 75 –Public Employee Unions Dues – Requires employee consent for union’s political contributions. Prohibits public employee’s labor organizations from using dues or fees for political contributions unless each employee provides written consent annually. Union leaders are elected representatives who may act for unions without having to ask each member again for permission. Union members already have to give permission for their dues to be used for political purposes and may rescind that permission at any time.  No equivalent restraint applies to corporate money.

Hidden Agenda: This initiative is crafted to create a bureaucratic hurdle for organized labor.

PROPOSITION 76 - VOTE NO State Spending. School Funding Limits state spending to prior year’s level plus three previous years’ average revenue growth (or decline). Reduces minimum school funding. Under this proposal, as few as 14 members of the state legislature (12% of the total) would be able to block adoption of the state budget, and thereby transfer to the governor unilateral control over the state's expenditures. This also cuts school budgets $4 billion a year ($600 per student). We are now ranked with the 5 lowest States in the amount spent per student in the nation.

Hidden Agenda: To remove checks and balances in the State’s financial matters.

PROPOSITION 77 – Reapportionment This would require a three-member panel of retired judges to draw and immediately implement new district lines for California's Senate, Assembly, Congressional, and Board of Equalization districts. The proposal gives the power to draw districts to retired judges, because most of them were appointed by previous Republican governors. Adopting new maps in mid-cycle without the benefit of new census information would be meaningless as to fairness and throw the next election into chaos.

Hidden Agenda : Governor hopes to be able to advantage Republican candidates and increase the Republican legislative contingent in the 2006 election.

PROPOSITION 78 –Prescription Drug Discounts – Drug Company initiative Provides for prescription drug discounts to Californians who qualify based on income-related standards. Endorsed by pharmaceutical companies, this measure simply asks such companies to provide discounts, without providing any incentive to make sure the discounts are actually offered. Unfortunately, this means the discounts it promises are illusions. The pharmaceutical industry is spending millions to persuade voters to support this measure, instead of the more serious alternative, Proposition 79.

Hidden Agenda: The purpose of this initiative is to confuse the voters by presenting a similar sounding proposal.

PROPOSITION 79 - Prescription Drug Discounts - State-Negotiated Rebates- Consumer Initiative This would provide lower-income Californians with relief from the high cost of prescription drugs by giving drug companies a strong incentive to offer such discounts. If a company chose not to offer these discounts, its products would be excluded from the Medi-Cal market, which is an important source of profit for pharmaceuticals. More people meet the income levels to qualify for the discounts than under Prop. 78

Comments

[janinsanfran]

These polls look a lot better than a week or so ago, but we still have to do the work -- turn voters out. The problem with this election is that the people on our side are furious with Arnold for calling it at all, so disinclined to work on it, or even vote. Meanwhile, the Republicans, though not jazzed except about the anti-choice and anti-union props, will always vote.

[ellen]

Thanks for the poll data...do you know how 78-90 are doing?

Also, isn't there a "hidden agenda" behind Prop. 79 too? It opens up the door to tons of useless lawsuits...that's enough to make me uncomfortable with it. I think it is important to have prescription drug discounts but I think Prop. 78 is the better way to do it. Voluntary programs have worked well in other states so there's no reason not to believe that Prop. 78 can do the same in CA.

[Tasini]

Sorry, not tracking other props...c'mon, I live in NYC, I can't follow everything out west :):)

[Doug]

Prop 78 is sponsored by Big PharMa to the tune of $90 million. Prop 79 is sponsored by Consumer and Labor groups. That should identify any hidden agendas.

[ellen]

I think it confuses the issue to focus on who is sponsoring what...I'd much rather try to understand what each proposition can actually accomplish. If 79 passes, aside from the needless lawsuit component, it would also launch a huge legal battle that would likely go on for years before anything could be put into action...which wouldn't really do much for getting people discounts in the near future. But 78, if it passes, can start providing discounts right away. I think that is the biggest difference between the plans - 78 would get things done and 79 wouldn't, at least for a long time...

[Hollie]

The boilerplate rationale for supporting Proposition 74 is absurd. Imagine the impact that the proposition would have on public safety personnel. Would advocates approve restricting rookie Police Academy graduates to carrying bullet-less firearms while performing their law enforcement duties for five years before they can be trusted with real ammunition? Or would supporters deny rookie fire fighters from climbing a ladder to save a life until they have proven themselves for five years beyond extensive training and certification? Imagine the impact on public safety personnel if they were terminated from their chosen profession on the basis of two unsatisfactory evaluations without any opportunity to improve or right to due process before termination. Yet, supporters of Proposition 74 would not have any qualms imposing this draconian proposition on the teaching profession even though they would readily admit that it would be utterly absurd to apply it public safety personnel. Where is the equity and integrity in that position?

There are approximately 1000 school districts in the State of California. Each of them is governed by an elected school board of directors, overseen by a superintendent, and each school site is managed by a principal, and every student has a parent or care provider. Given all those layers of oversight, how is it possible that a so-called “bad” teacher cannot be terminated? The administrator who whines about the fact he or she cannot remove an ineffective or ungovernable teacher from the classroom should be relieved of duties for incompetence and malfeasance. With so much at stake, why would an administrator not remove a teacher who is not working in the best of his or her students? Instead of the Governor, school boards, and superintendents demanding that administrators perform their well paid jobs, Proposition 74 will reduce the amount of documentation required to legitimately relieve a teacher from duty to virtually zero.

Proposition 74, aka “Blame the Teachers Act,” shows a fundamental contempt for teachers and for children as well. It is tantamount to legislative bullying and using the public as accomplices. Students and teachers are inextricably linked. They are the most vulnerable in the hierarchy of education. They are the easiest to pick on and blame for all the societal ills of California. This point would laughable if it did not have merit. This proposition will enshrine bullies in the educational system and endow them with ultimate power. Is that the kind of climate in which you want your children to be taught?

Who will enter the teaching profession under Proposition 74? There is a reported need for approximately 100,000 new teachers over the next decade, which in all likelihood substantially increases if this proposition passes. Will proponents of Proposition 74 be willing to fill those positions if it passes? If the short answer is, “NO,” then in all fairness and integrity, the same answer must be NO on Proposition 74. If not, woe to California in the future and the voters and non-voters will have themselves to blame.

[D Flinchum]

"Who will enter the teaching profession under Proposition 74? There is a reported need for approximately 100,000 new teachers over the next decade, which in all likelihood substantially increases if this proposition passes. Will proponents of Proposition 74 be willing to fill those positions if it passes? If the short answer is, “NO,” then in all fairness and integrity, the same answer must be NO on Proposition 74. If not, woe to California in the future and the voters and non-voters will have themselves to blame."

Well, Hollie, now that you asked, the answer is this: "They" don't care if US citizens fill these jobs. They are perfectly happy to import cheap labor from abroad to fill them, just as was recently done for teachers in the Las Vegas area. US citizens are seeing jobs that can be off-shored sent abroad and jobs that can't be sent abroad filled by immigrants who will work for a fraction of what US workers can afford to work for.

Yesterday (Nov. 3), the US Senate voted against the Byrd Amendment that would have prevented over 350,000 work visas from being slipped into the Omnibus spending bill. Only 14 Senators voted in favor of this AFL-CIO supported measure. Both Senators from Louisiana voted in favor of it. I have to believe that the recent events in New Orleans where US workers in that area - many of whom had been victims of Katrina - are either not being hired or are actually being fired to make room for illegal immigrants who will work for less, thereby making more profits for their employers, must have been a factor in their votes. Senators Clinton, Kennedy, Kerry, Boxer, Levin, Reid, and Obama - among others - stabbed US workers in the back. Only the following voted in favor of Senator Byrd's bill:
DEMOCRATS: Akaka of Hawaii, Byrd of West Virginia, Dayton of Minnesota, Dodd of Connecticut, Dorgan of North Dakota, Durbin of Illinois, Feingold of Wisconsin, Landrieu of Louisiana, Rockefeller of West Virginia, Stabenow of Michigan; REPUBLICANS: Inhofe of Oklahoma, Sessions of Alabama, Vitter of Louisiana. INDEPENDENT: Jeffords of Vermont.

[Dino]

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