The initiative numbers for November’s election have been announced. The numbers have been reset, so we start again with Prop 1. I think that the legislature can still add more, but here’s the list of what we have so far:
- High Speed Rail
- Treatment of Farm Animals
- Children’s Hospital Bond Act
- Parental Notification
- Sentencing Reform
- Sentencing Increase
- Renewable Energy Laws
- Anti-Gay Marriage
- Victims’ Rights
- Alternative Energy Bonds
- Redistricting
This is, if I am not mistaken, the third time in the last 3 years we’ve had to put up with a “parental notification” initiative. There’s something pretty broken about an initiative process where any misogynistic asshole with a couple million dollars can get one of these almost-identical propositions on the ballot again and again and again.
There is some controversy about the renewable energy propositions, which I will be trying to sort out soon. One of them has been roundly condemned by organizations that work on renewable energy, but I need to confirm which one it is, and sort out why.
I’m also a little confused about why children’s hospitals, in particular, represent a specific need for more money, unless it’s a way to try to get more funding for hospitals in general by playing the “won’t somebody think about the children?” card.
Obviously, the marquee battle on this ballot is Prop 8, the anti-marriage initiative. I think that now people have tasted actual joint-tax-statement (at least on the state level) marriages, I think there’ll be activism and donations against 8 like never before.
Finally, the proposition that I have my eye on is 1, the High Speed Rail bonds. For all the social criticism that has been focused on cars’ impact on the environment in recent months, airplanes are also pretty terrible for the environment. And, of course, the two main ways to get from SF to LA are cars and planes. So a high-speed train that goes the same distance nearly as fast as a plane seems like a great solution. As fuel costs rise and airlines start charging for every piece of luggage one brings on board, this can only make more sense.