Politics: Cal Ballot Measures - If I Don't Know I Vote No

I confess, I haven't been following the Cal ballots this year. The ads are all over the place but I tune them out. Well, next Tuesday I'll be voting.

My general rule is to vote NO unless given a good reason to vote YES.

Tonight, I'm going to take my first look and give my gut reactions. Hopefully, I'll gather more information before I vote next Tuesday.

The measures that qualified are listed on the Secretary of State web page.

Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E all look to be money matters. They always have nice sounding names:

Proposition 1A-Transportation Funding Protection. Legislative Constitutional Amendment.
Proposition 1B-Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006
Proposition 1C-Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006.
Proposition 1D-Kindergarten - University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006.
Proposition 1E- Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006.

If we had all the money in the world, I'd vote yes on all of them. I mean who could be against any of these things?

But we don't have all the money in the world so we have to pick and choose. After what happened to New Orleans after the Hurricane, I think a YES on 1E makes sense. As someone who lives in the most congested part of LA, I'm going go with a YES vote on 1B and 1A.

1C and 1D look like good causes but I'm going to have to vote NO on those for this election cycle.

The remainder of items on the ballot are initiatives.

Proposition 83-Sex Offenders. Sexually Violent Predators. Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring. Initiative Statute.
YES. Looks to tighten up the laws on sex offenders. Makes sense.

Proposition 84-Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control. Natural Resource Protection. Park Improvements. Bonds. Initiative Statute.
NO. Over $5 billion in bonds. If the legislature can't agree to request the bonds then I'm not going to support bond spending by initiative. Good cause but we don't have an unlimited pocketbook.

Proposition 85-Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
YES. This measure provides some time for a minor (under 18) to consider such a huge decision. There are bypass provisions for special circumstances.

Proposition 86-Tax on Cigarettes. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
NO??? A tax increase but only on cigarettes. I dunno. Even though I'm not a smoker, I'm still leery of tax increases.

Proposition 87-Alternative Energy. Research, Production, Incentives. Tax on California Oil Producers. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
NO. A tax increase. No thanks.

Proposition 88-Education Funding. Real Property Parcel Tax. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
NO. A tax increase. No thanks.

Proposition 89-Political Campaigns. Public Financing. Corporate Tax Increase. Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Limits. Initiative Statute.
NO??? A tax increase but it is to help clean up political campaigns with some public financing. I'll have to hear more about this one.

Proposition 90-Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
YES??? Looks to put some restrictions on the government power to seize land which SCOTUS didn't want to stop in Kelo but invited other levels of government to stop.

UPDATE: I'm moving from YES??? on 90 to ??? A friend was saying that the restriction on eminent domain might be too severe. The coalition against 90 is pretty diverse. You got to wonder when enviro groups team up with chambers of commerce to oppose something.

To sum up:
1A-YES
1B-YES
1C-NO
1D-NO
1E-YES
83-YES
84-NO
85-YES
86-NO???
87-NO
88-NO
89-NO???
90-YES??????NO

I am open to being persuaded!