Proposition 1D. Protects Children's Services Funding. Helps Balance State Budget. - recommend Yes
Now, that's a misleading title.
I've had this conversation with a good friend of mine in the past, about how every proposition is pretty much named "The Save the Puppies and Kittens and Babies Act" regardless of content.
This bill is utterly straightforward. It pulls Proposition 10 revenues (taken from a state excise tax on cigarettes) that are currently required to be assigned to First 5 programs and lets them be used instead for other state programs for children. This will effectively pull about $600 million into the General Fund and cut the same amount from First 5 programs. In other words, we'd be cutting the First 5 program for the next two years.
As I said, straightforward. This is the kind of program cutting that other states are already planning in response to the current budget crunch. It's also likely to be the kind of budget cutting that is facilitated by not requiring a supermajority to pass a budget (see the Prop 1A analysis for more on this issue.
I'm not at all a fan of cutting children's programs, but looking at the overall state budget, it's not clear to me that there are any specific programs one should be sanguine about cutting. The fact that we have various propositions that have mandated specific spending from certain taxes hinders the state legislature, limiting its flexibility and agility in response to budget problems like our recent economic crash. For this reason, I'm recommending a "yes" on Prop 1D.
Once again, I'll take a moment to highlight some pathetic rhetoric from an argument, in this case the argument against Prop 1D:
Prop. 1D was placed on the ballot by Sacramento politicians to take local funding from children’s health and education programs in every community. These funds were approved by voters in two previous elections. Don’t be fooled by the deceptive ballot description written by Sacramento politicians. Prop. 1D seizes money from local medical, health, and education experts and puts it in the hands of Sacramento politicians and bureaucrats.
Damn those politicians! Oh, wait, no. We voted for them in two previous elections, too.
I'm tired of the lame approach of treating the people we elected to represent us as if they were aliens. You voted for your representative (or, minimally, a majority of people in your district did). If you don't want the budget to operate the way it does, let them know. If they still aren't representing your needs, vote for someone else. If, in the extreme, you think that our legislative system doesn't work, then it's time to promote a proposition that does away with it in favor of something else.
But seriously, the argument that these weird aliens are out to steal your money for nefarious purposes is stupid. Prop 1D "seizes money" and "puts it in the hands of Sacramento politicians" who will then, in turn, use it to pay for different child and family health programs. Well, shucks. That's evil, right?
You can get to the full text of the proposition and the legislative analysis here.