California Ballot Measures November 3, 2020
California
has 12 qualified Ballot Measures which will appear on the November 3, 2020
ballot. According to the Alex Padilla
(CA Secretary of State) web site they are as follows:
·
Proposition
14: Authorizes Bonds ($5.5 Billion) to
continue funding stem cell and other medical research.
·
Proposition
15: Taxes: Requires commercial
and industrial properties to be taxed based on market value resulting in
increased funding for K-12 public schools, community colleges and local
governments.
·
Proposition
16: Affirmative Action: Repeals
Proposition 209 (1998) which says the state cannot discriminate or grant
preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin
in public employment, education, or contracting.
·
Proposition
17: Suffrage - right to vote: Restores the right to vote to people convicted
of felonies who are on parole.
·
Proposition
18: Suffrage - right to vote: Allows 17-year-olds who will be 18 at the
time of the next general election to vote in primaries and special elections.
·
Proposition
19: Taxes: Repeals Propositions 58
(1986) which allowed a home up to $-one million to be transferred from parents
to children without tax reassessment.
This proposition would force reassessment of inherited or transferred
property within families - but would allow homeowner's who are over 55,
disabled or victims of natural disaster to take a portion of their property tax
base with them when they sell their home and buy a new one.
·
Proposition
20: Law Enforcement: Amends
Proposition 47 (2014) and Proposition 57 (2016) - makes changes to policies
related to criminal sentencing, parole and prison release and DNA collection.
·
Proposition
21: Housing: Amends state law to allow local governments
to establish rent control on residential properties over 15 years old. Exempts individuals who own no more than two
homes from new rent-control policies.
·
Proposition
22: Business: Allows Application-(app-based) drivers to be
independent contractors and enacts several labor policies related to app-based
companies.
·
Proposition
23: Healthcare: Imposes new rules for dialysis clinics
including an on-site physician, same level of care regardless of insurance
coverage, reporting of infections and consent from the state for a clinic to
close.
·
Proposition
24: Business: Expands the provisions of the California
Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and creates a new agency (California Privacy
Protection Agency) to implement and enforce consumer privacy.
·
Proposition
25: Trials: This is a referendum to over-turn a 2018
law that replaced the money bail system with a system based on public safety
risk.
Because the coronavirus epidemic has decimated California's economy
resulting in a declared budget deficit of $54 billion, some degree of attention
should be paid to Propositions 14, 15 and 19.
Proposition 14, for example, is another bond issue
which, according to the Secretary of State Alex Padilla, will cost taxpayers
approximately $310 Million per year for 25 years (or $7.8 Billion total) to pay
off. Of the $5.5 Billion bond measure,
only $1.5 billion is dedicated to research and therapy for Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's, stroke, epilepsy, and other brain and central nervous system
diseases and conditions. The remaining
funds provide grants to non-profit and private entities for stem cell, medical
research, medical training and construction of
research facilities - whatever that means.
California already has approximately $83 billion of General
Fund-supported bonds on which it is paying $6 billion in annual principal and
interest. In addition, the voters and
the Legislature have approved another $39 billion of General Fund-supported
bonds that have not yet been sold.
In addition to all this, California voters approved four
bond measures which appeared on the November 6, 2018 Ballot. Together, these measures would authorize the state to
borrow an additional $14.4 billion. It
will cost approximately $26 billion (including interest over a period of 40
years) to pay off these new bond measures with annual general fund payments of
$650 million.
Proposition
15, is listed on the November ballot: "Increases Funding for Public
Schools, Community Colleges and Local Government Services by Changing Tax
Assessment of Commercial and Industrial Property."
This is one more
assault on Proposition 13, passed in 1978, which established property tax at
one percent of purchase price and limited tax increases to no more than two
percent per year.
Under Proposition
15, commercial properties valued at $3-million or more (including fixtures and
equipment) would be deleted from provisions of Prop 13 and taxed at market
value.
Thousands of
Californians depend of large business interests for not only their salary but
the reporting and collection of Social Security, FUTA, SUTA, disability, health
insurance and retirement programs. These
large enterprises can often be relied upon to offer financial assistance to
some worthy program.
These larger businesses are burdened
with additional obligations such as sick leave, vacation leave, Crime Victim
& Domestic Violence leave, emergency duty leave, retirement income , organ
and bone marrow donor's leave, paid family leave, pregnancy disability leave,
school activities leave, school appearances leave, and volunteer civil service
leave just to name a few. The continued
legislated obligations has led to self service counters and the use of independent
contractors to cut down of employee expense.
And now Prop 15 removes property tax
rights granted under Prop 13 in favor of an unlimited tax burden. One wonders at what point big business in
California will finally give up and move elsewhere.
Proposition 19, is listed as:
"The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families, and Victims
of Wildfire or Natural Disasters Act."
The selling point of this measure allows homeowner's
who are over 55, disabled or victims of natural disaster to take a portion of
their property tax base with them when they sell their home and buy a new one -
one has to ask "Why not take all of their property tax base with them?"
Part two of this
measure deletes the Proposition 58
protections and opens the door to higher
property taxes. Some might recall that
in 1986, to prevent families from getting hit with huge tax increases, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 58 changing the state constitution
to ensure that transfers of certain property between parents and children could
occur without triggering the sticker shock of reassessment.
Proposition 19 (2020) would repeal Proposition 58 and force the reassessment of inherited or transferred property within families. The only exception is if the
property is used as the principal residence of the person to whom it was
transferred, and even that exclusion is capped.
Piper's Papers