June elections are an important part of the political process where voters decide who the final gubernatorial candidates are, and in some cases, candidates who have some serious propositions.
One such election is to happen this year, and there are a few propositions that require serious thought and attention from the voters. There are at least three propositions in the upcoming election that need consideration from not only students, but should be cause for concern for your parents and friends as well.
The first proposition I’d like to draw your attention to is, Proposition 15. This is one that you are bound to see a lot of commercials against, and maybe even some politicians coming out against, because of some of the “powers that be.” This proposition essentially gets rid of California’s ban on publicly funded elections, which will be creating an election that is free of monetary influences. Proposition 15 will start with the Secretary of State of California’s position having the availability of the public funding, as it is a political experiment to prove that publicly funded campaigns will not bankrupt the state. One of the most important points I can raise about Prop 15, is that it will in no way raise your taxes—the money is coming from fees imposed on lobbyists.
Proposition 16 is incredibly important, but I wish I could say it would be so in a positive way. If you watch television, you may have already seen a commercial for this proposition. It talks about giving Californians the right to vote on a public electrical company. These commercials are misleading, and as far as I’ve seen, there is no law in place to require a vote. This is something every city has voted on before implementing. The real goal of Proposition 16 is the opposite of what the commercial claims—it wants to enact a two-thirds majority vote for the creation of any public energy company, which would make it near impossible to pass. This bill is nothing more than PG&E trying to protect a monopoly by throwing $34.5 million into this proposition.
Proposition 17 is another prime example of corporate greed making its way onto the ballot. This bill claims to be about transferring over your persistent coverage benefits from insurer to insurer, but if it is really about saving you money, then why is Mercury Auto Insurance throwing $10 million into this proposition? The fact of the matter is that Prop 17 allows insurance companies to discriminate against you if you miss a payment or experience a period of time where you cannot be covered. This is evident by Mercury’s behavior in other states where they don’t have laws like Proposition 103 to protect you.
All in all, the primaries have some incredibly important ballot measures put forward for us to decide upon. It’s up to us to do the research, and vote on what we feel is right. Primaries generally only bring out the die-hards of each party, but it’s important that you and your families get out there and vote on these ballot measures. The future of our state’s prosperity is up to you.
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CORRECTION: The earlier version of this article erroneously stated that in Proposition 15 the seat of the Attorney General of California would have public campaign financing available, when it is actually the seat of the Secretary of State of California.
