regarding my checklist, these props fail:
1a, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, A, C, D
Prop A is especially offensive:
[quote]
San Diego County adopted a 2007-2008 budget of about $4.7 billion, over 8% higher than the previous year. County revenues have soared in recent years, but our Supervisors have chosen not to fund these firefighting improvements from their swollen budgets.
By supporting this tax, our Supervisors essentially are deciding that all other budget spending is more important than firefighting – that there isn’t $50 million to be found in a $4.7 BILLION county budget. That’s about ONE PERCENT of the budget.[/quote]
source: rebuttal against Prop A http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/sd/prop/A/
From my perspective only 7, 11, and 12 pass.
B may pass, but it isn’t on my ballot, so I’m not going to try to figure that one out.
Note that the costs of prop 12 are paid by the vets who get the loans, unless the vets default. I would rather that only combat vets were covered, but in a way that is splitting hairs (I meet the “combat vet” definition even though I was never in immediate danger while I was deployed in combat zones).
7 is hard to figure out, but I think I have a handle on what its consequences will be:
1. huge new solar-thermal generation facilities all over the deserts (the fast track process will make it harder for environmental groups to halt the destruction of desert habitat for these projects).
2. Higher electricty rates in the short term (10 years) — the cost of prop 7 will be in higher electricity rates, but the infrastructure built will have an exceptionally long functional life.
3. A drop in the price in photovoltaic cells as economies of scale kick in.
4. Framing the energy debate to where solar cell should be installed, and how decentralized the solar should be.
5. Job creation in SoCal at the expense of NoCal.
6. Local industry growth that will be able to fill the niche created by the eventual federal mandates that will come in five to ten years, if not sooner.
