There are seventeen different propositions on the ballot this year in California. Following are the positions adopted by the Peace and Freedom Party, and supported by the Gloria La Riva for President Campaign:
Proposition 51, a $9 billion school bond (with $1 billion going to charter school construction), must be repaid with an additional $8.6 billion in tax-free interest. Vote NO.
Proposition 52 secures funding for MediCal and services for poor people from a hospital fee and prevents the state legislature from diverting the earmarked money to the general fund.Vote YES.
Proposition 53 requires an undemocratic supermajority vote to approve revenue bonds (financed by the proceeds from the funded projects). Vote NO.
Proposition 54 looks like a Republican answer to a dispute between the two major parties about how to make the legislative process more transparent. We are sitting this out for now.
Proposition 55 extends Proposition 30, which taxes the wealthy to increase funding for education and healthcare. Prop. 55 lets the one-half cent sales tax in Prop. 30 expire at the end of 2016. Vote YES.
Proposition 56 adds a $2 a pack excise tax on cigarettes and raises taxes on e-cigarettes. This regressive tax will hurt low-income people. Vote NO.
Proposition 57 reduces sentences for many non-violent crimes and stops the practice of immediately sending juveniles to adult court. Vote YES.
Proposition 58 repeals part of Prop. 227 (1998) to restore the option of bilingual education.Vote YES.
Proposition 59 (advisory) requires officials to push to amend the U.S. Constitution to reverse the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling. Money is not speech; corporations are not people. Vote YES.
Proposition 60 requires that actors in explicit sex scenes wear condoms on the job. This is about health and safety. Vote YES.
Proposition 61 places a limit on the amount pharmaceutical companies can charge the State for prescription drugs. Vote YES.
Proposition 62 abolishes the death penalty. We do not like the alternative, life without parole, and other onerous provisions of this proposition. But we can and must end the death penalty now, and counter the possibility of proposition 66 taking precedence by getting more votes.Vote YES.
Proposition 63 requires retailers to report anyone who purchases any ammunition to the Department of Justice. There is already a law prohibiting possession of large capacity magazine firearms. Vote NO.
Proposition 64 legalizes marijuana and hemp in Ca. It exempts medical marijuana from some taxation and authorizes re-sentencing and destruction of records for prior marijuana convictions. Vote YES.
Proposition 65 sounds like an environmental measure but is designed to reduce support for a plastic bag ban. Vote NO.
Proposition 66 would speed up the application of the death penalty and require inexperienced lawyers to take death penalty cases. Work to pass Prop. 62 and vote NO on 66.
Proposition 67 is a referendum on the plastic bag ban that was passed by the legislature to protect wildlife and prevent waste. Vote YES.
