Proposition 31: Prop.
31 is a boondoggle. It purports to
reform the state budgetary process by 1) locking in a two-year state budget and
2) granting local governments the power to alter or even disregard
implementation of laws, regulations or programs created through statewide funding.
We can dispense with issue #1 in short order: For the past
45 years (yes, since Prop 13 was passed), the California legislature has rarely,
if ever, ever delivered even a single-year budget on time; a two-year budgetary
requirement only grants Sacramento even more opportunity to kick the can down
the road, and limits what little flexibility already exists for reforming
spending priorities.
With regard to item #2, If Prop 31 were to pass, local
governments would be granted authority (through what the measure calls a “Community
Action Strategic Plan”), to pre-empt statewide legislation, which could prove
disastrous to the environment, to labor standards and to health and human
services programs.
Prop 31 also comes with a poison pill: The initiative would be embedded in the
California Constitution, meaning it would be close to impossible ever to go
back and revise the measure should it prove as unworkable as its opponents are
predicting.
Vote NO on Proposition 31.
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