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Yahoo!California voters faced a record 47 ballot issues in the 1914 general election, with such burning questions as whether to license “Drugless Physicians,” outlaw boxing on Memorial Day, and ban the sale of wild game — except for rabbits and geese. Three years after Governor Hiram Johnson transformed state politics with a set of reforms that included the right of Californians to put popular initiatives directly on the ballot, that election set a wild (and furry, if not woolly) tone for the future exercise of this new freedom.
Since Johnson’s big play, the people have spoken on 1,005 state ballot questions, according to state records, an average of about 10 per year. The weight of their decisions range from historic (abolition of the poll tax) to the most mundane (1914’s restriction on wild game sales exempted trafficking in ducks, but only in November).
On November 4, Californians will confront 12 issues that again present a broad sweep of policy questions, from who has the right to marry or undergo an abortion to what defines proper treatment of pregnant pigs. Under a law that exists only to manage numbering for ballot measures, the political odometer will turn over, as November’s Proposition 1 succeeds the June primary’s Proposition 99.
The debate of whether California’s ballot- box populism constitutes democracy in chaos doubtless will be rekindled in 2008. In the latest version of the annual budget stalemate, Sacramento’s elected policy makers are hamstrung in large part by past ballot measures earmarking billions for voter-blessed programs. Meanwhile, voters in November have the chance to okay $16.8 billion in new spending, a figure that, coincidentally, roughly matches the present deficit.
“I think Hiram Johnson’s idea ran amok a long time ago,” said Mervin Field, whose California Field Poll set the standard for independent political surveys. “But surveys show the public likes the initiative process, even though they recognize its excesses.”
As special interests of all stripes prepare massive bombardments of shamefully misleading TV ads backing or trashing measures, here is a roadmap to help navigate the fog of political war to come.
BILLIONS FOR BONDS: Four general obligation bond measures need a two-thirds vote for approval.
They include Proposition 1, a $9.95-billion plan for a high-speed rail system from Los Angeles to San Francisco and connecting points between; Proposition 3, a $980-million bond to build or expand hospitals that specialize in treating children; Proposition 10, a $5-billion green energy scheme to funnel the bulk of the money into cash payments for those buying alternative- fuel vehicles and the rest to renewable energy research; and Proposition 12, a $900-million program to help military veterans buy homes, farms, or trailers.
CULTURE CLASHES: From human rights to animal rights, three other measures calibrate the balance of power between government and individuals on emotional cultural issues. The most volatile is Proposition 8, a conservative effort that would overturn the historic state Supreme Court decision allowing gay people to wed, enshrining a state constitutional amendment to recognize as valid only marriage between a man and a woman. Proposition 4, replaying an issue previously decided by voters, would outlaw doctors from performing abortions on girls younger than 18 without notifying a parent, family member, or guardian in advance. Proposition 2, backed by the Humane Society and opposed by agriculture, would regulate treatment of farm animals, specifically “calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens, and pregnant pigs.”
THREE-WAY JUSTICE: This trio raises philosophical questions about how the state should deal with lawbreakers. Proposition 5 would increase public financing for “individualized” treatment and rehabilitation programs for nonviolent drug offenders. Proposition 6 is a law-and- order measure that would stiffen prison sentences for gang-related crimes, eliminate bail for jailed illegal immigrants, and permit hearsay evidence in some criminal trials. Proposition 9 would require that crime victims be notified of bail, parole, and other procedural hearings for alleged or convicted perpetrators and cut the number of parole hearings prisoners are permitted.
GREEN GRID BID: Proposition 7 would require utility companies to generate 20 percent of their power with renewable energy sources by 2010, 40 percent by 2020, and 50 percent by 2025, new standards that utilities seem likely to spend millions trying to defeat.
REMAP REFORM: Proposition 11 would overturn the once-a-decade process of redrawing district lines for state lawmakers and Board of Equalization seats, taking away the Legislature’s power to design their own districts and handing it to a commission of voters randomly selected from among those who volunteer, including five Democrats, five Republicans, and four independents. You can bet that the politicians’ bid to beat this will set the pace for campaign distortions.
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