The 2010 Primary -- Propositions

Propositions

No	My Analysis	Vote
13	It eliminates a 15 year limit to the period where improvements to property cause by mandatory earthquake fixes are not assessed as improvements.  I see nothing in proposition 13 which would prevent the Legislature from establishing what the new Prop 13 purports.  Let them do it, I don't know what is hidden in 13.  A lot of "shalls" in the original law are changed to active verbs: Shall be applied -> applies, shall affect -> affects.  These may be dangerous if Shall is used as a requirement, but active verbs are only descriptive.  That is the case with government contracts (DOD) ------------------------------------------------------------ No Con Provided, my analysis up to the "shalls" is the "Pro" analysis.	NO
14	Eliminates party line choice of candidates which means only Republicans and Democrats count (the others would get too small a vote) and if 2 Democrats have more votes that the republicans, it becomes a single party election.  Final elections would consist of the 2 largest vote gatherers in the primary. ------------------------------------------------------------ Pro: Hides the party affiliation of office seekers, chooses the top 2 for the final election.  Widens the choice of voters a the primary. Lessens Partisanship. ------------------------------------------------------------ Con: Eliminates all smaller parties (they never get to the final ballot.)	NO
15	Provides public funding to those willing to stay within the funds provided by the State. Funds these by hiking taxes on lobbyists. Does this only for the office of Secretary of State.  ------------------------------------------------------------ Rant: Eliminate the office or make it appointive, since the office controls how lobbyists interact with the state politicians.  We have seen how well public financing works in the Federal Program. No need to redo the experiment at the local level. ------------------------------------------------------------ Pro: It frees the secretary of state from the influence of special interests. ------------------------------------------------------------ Con: Lifts the restriction against public funding permitting the legislature to later use it for its own benefit.	NO
16	Makes a complex situation much more complex by requiring 2/3rds majorities to expand services of various types. If the amendment would remove restrictions on free enterprise I'd be for it. ------------------------------------------------------------ Pro: Makes the voters have the right to vote on who provides service (wrong, only new service). ------------------------------------------------------------ Con: Its an attempt by PG&E to keep its monopoly.	NO
17	Seems like a scheme by Mercury to eliminate the Prop 103 which places an insurance commissioner in charge of approving property and casualty rates before they go into effect. ------------------------------------------------------------ Rant: Again law after law. Eliminate the office of Commissioner, make all insurance companies free of the state yoke, and eliminate government complexity	NO