November 2014 ballot propositions (Santa Clara, Anderson: health insurance, violent crime, felony)

[aboveordinary]

Proposition 1: $7.12 billion bond for California's water system

Proposition 2: Increase amount of potential savings in the state 'rainy day' fund from 5% to 10% of the General Fund

Proposition 45: Public notice required for insurance company rates initiative

Proposition 46: Increase the cap on damages that can be assessed in medical negligence lawsuits to over $1 million

Proposition 47: Reduces the penalty for most nonviolent crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor

Proposition 48: Ratification of gaming compacts with the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians and the Wiyot Tribe

What will you vote on each prop? Which do you think will pass and which do you think will fail?

[marcopolo666]

I haven't received my voting pamphlet yet (the one with the text of the propositions) so I don't know yet - I haven't read them.

FYI, you can generally find information on the ballot (including the balloting pamphlet) at :

Smart Voter by the League of Women Voters. Comprehensive, Nonpartisan Election Information


Info on the upcoming election WILL BE found at (not posted online yet) : Santa Clara County, CA Ballot

[DMenscha]

What happened to the break it up into 6 states thing?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

What happened to the break it up into 6 states thing?

The Humpty-Dumpy initiative? Some of the pieces got lost. Looks like it can't be glued be together again.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by dmenscha

what happened to the break it up into 6 states thing?

2016.

[Des-Lab]

Seeing the word "bond" is an immediate and emphatic NO from me, I don't care what it's ostensibly earmarked for or what the cause is. Time and time again, history has shown that those bond issues (a.k.a. 'voter indebtedness') NEVER end up doing more than a small percentage of what they were sold as. If that. They always end up A) turning into albatross pork projects that get paralyzed or castrated by litigation and B) end up getting a substantial amount of that money skimmed and diverted to God-knows-where. How many "but this will save our schools" bonds have we passed in the last twenty-five years and yet they are still in shambles.

I fully expect it to pass as largely an emotional knee-jerk reaction to the current drought. That, and Californians as a whole have seldom met a bond they didn't like. "Hey, it's only a buck here, a few cents there extra...but for such a good cause", or so goes the reasoning.

But that shidt adds up. We are already suffocating on existing bonds passed over the last several decades. With people wondering why taxes are so high and why there's so little to show for it.

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by aboveordinary

Proposition 1: $7.12 billion bond for California's water system

Proposition 2: Increase amount of potential savings in the state 'rainy day' fund from 5% to 10% of the General Fund

Proposition 45: Public notice required for insurance company rates initiative

Proposition 46: Increase the cap on damages that can be assessed in medical negligence lawsuits to over $1 million

Proposition 47: Reduces the penalty for most nonviolent crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor

Proposition 48: Ratification of gaming compacts with the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians and the Wiyot Tribe

What will you vote on each prop? Which do you think will pass and which do you think will fail?

1. No. We need to reduce state debt, not increase it. Plus building dams will not make it rain.

2. Yes

45. am not familiar

46. No. This measure will increase the cost of doing business for medical practioners. We will lose them to other states.

47. got to read up on that one.

48. Eh, why not....

[cb73]

I'm under the impression on Prop. 1 that it's not for dams, but for pipelines to move water. We do need a better water infrastructure but I sure wish we could move the High Speed Rail money to this instead.

Do we really need more Indian Casinos?

[aboveordinary]

I haven't received the voter pamphlet yet either. I thought it would be nice to get into an early discussion on the props.

I got the information from this site: California 2014 ballot propositions - Ballotpedia

Here's more information on each prop via that website

Prop 1:
-Authorize $7.12 billion in general obligation bonds for state water supply infrastructure projects, such as public water system improvements, surface and groundwater storage, drinking water protection, water recycling and advanced water treatment technology, water supply management and conveyance, wastewater treatment, drought relief, emergency water supplies, and ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration.

-Appropriate money from the General Fund to pay off bonds.

Prop 2:
-Require the director of finance to submit estimates of general fund revenues and expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year and the three fiscal years thereafter within ten days following the submission of proposed adjustments to the governor's budget.

Prop 45:
-Require changes to health insurance rates, or anything else affecting the charges associated with health insurance, to be approved by the California Insurance Commissioner before taking effect.

-Provide for public notice, disclosure, and hearing on health insurance rate changes, and subsequent judicial review.

-Require sworn statement by health insurer as to accuracy of information submitted to Insurance Commissioner to justify rate changes.

Prop 46:
-Increase the state's cap on damages that can be assessed in medical negligence lawsuits to over $1 million from the current cap of $250,000.

-Require drug and alcohol testing of doctors and reporting of positive tests to the California Medical Board.

-Require the California Medical Board to suspend doctors pending investigation of positive tests and take disciplinary action if the doctor was found impaired while on duty.

Prop 47:
-Mandate misdemeanors instead of felonies for “non-serious, nonviolent crimes,” such as petty theft and drug possession, unless the defendant has prior convictions for violent and serious crimes.

-Permit re-sentencing for anyone currently serving a prison sentence for any of the offenses that the initiative lists as misdemeanors. About 10,000 inmates would be eligible for resentencing, according to Lenore Anderson of Californians for Safety and Justice.

Prop 48:
-Ratify two gaming compacts between California and, respectively, the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, and the Wiyot Tribe.

-Exempt execution of the compacts, certain projects, and intergovernmental agreements from the California Environmental Quality Act.

[Tulemutt]

Don't vote. It only encourages 'them'.