California NOW

The Breakdown on Prop. 26

In the last days before the election, we'll be focussing on the ballot initiative propositions, and highlighting one that the CA NOW PAC has taken a position on each day.

Today we'll be covering Prop. 26, which requires that state mandated fees which address adverse impacts in the environment or society caused by the fee-paying business must be approved by a 2/3 majority.

The CA NOW PAC urges a NO vote, because this Proposition would make it more difficult to asess fees against businesses that pollute or harm the environment or society, such as tobbacco, alcohol, or polluting industries.

Big oil, tobacco, and alcohol corporations want you to pay for the damages they cause. Prop. 26 was written behind closed doors and without public input. Don't protect polluters. League of Women Voters of California, Firefighters, Police Officers, Nurses, and Sierra Club all say NO on 26.

Who put Prop. 26 on the ballot? Oil, tobacco, and alcohol companies provided virtually all the funding for this measure, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Phillip Morris. Their goal: to shift the burden of paying for the damage these companies have done onto the taxpayers. Prop. 26 redefines payments for harm to the environment or public health as tax increases, requiring a 2⁄3 vote for passage. Such payments, or pollution fees on public nuisances, would become much harder to enact—leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. California has enough problems without forcing taxpayers to pay for cleaning up after polluting corporations.

Companies that pollute, harm the public health, or create a public nuisance should be required to pay to cover the damage they cause. But the big oil, tobacco, and alcohol corporations want you, the taxpayer, to pay for cleaning up their messes. That's why these corporations wrote Proposition 26 behind closed doors, with zero public input, and why they put up millions of dollars to get Proposition 26 on the ballot. Proposition 26 is just another attempt by corporations to protect themselves at the expense of ordinary citizens. The problem isn't taxes “hidden” as fees; it's the oil and tobacco companies hiding their true motives:

One of the so-called “hidden taxes” identified by the Proposition 26 campaign is a fee that oil companies pay in order to cover the cost of oil spill clean-up, like the one in the Gulf. The oil companies should be responsible for the mess they create, not the taxpayers.

Proposition 26 will harm local public safety and health, by requiring expensive litigation and endless elections in order for local government to provide basic services. Fees on those who do harm should cover such costs as policing public nuisances or repairing damaged roads. The funds raised by these fees are used by state and local governments for essential programs like fighting air pollution, cleaning up environmental disasters and monitoring hazardous waste.

Again, you can follow the money to see really stands to benefit.  $16,152,305 has been given in support of Prop. 26, largely from five contributors: Chevron, California Chamber of Commerce, American Beverage Association, Philip Morris, and Anheuser-Busch. Read more at Maplight.

An Embarrassment of Riches

Sometimes a blogger is blessed with far too many things to blog about.

 The Marie Claire bullshit:  The editors at Marie Claire felt that it was a good idea to let a recovering anorexic blog about the new sitcom "Mike and Molly" and about how absolutely disgusting fat people kissing are.  Yes, winnars are them.  However, apart from a hearty "Fuck you in the ear, assholes!" I really don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said by:

Lesley at Fatshionista, who has been asked to submit a "counterpoint."  As if Maura Kelly had a point other than being hateful in the first place.
Jezebel.com has posted several articles about this since it started, including this one which includes links to several other articles taking Maura Kelly to task.  And this one asking who the hell thought this was a good idea.   As well as publicizing theFat Person Kiss-in at the Marie Claire offices scheduled for Saturday October 30th.
And the exceptionally profane response ofPuffPastry on Livejournal.

So, after reading everyone else's responses, I really don't think that there's much else I can add without the liberal use of several more expletives and the creative juxtaposition of impossible anatomical positions.

Also, there is the twitter kerfuffle in which Kate Beaton of Hark, A Vagrant fame found herself when she suggested to male fans that complimenting a female comic artist by suggesting you find her worthy of bearing your children is neither cute, funny or complimentary.  I'd link, but it plays out over several tweets.  You can find her on twitter as @beatonna.  Basically, she said that, and then immediately had several guys jump on her for impugning their intentions.  In response to their complaints, Gabby from Gabby's Playhouse created this cartoon.

Volunteer in Crucial California Races!

There are just a few days left before the election, and these crucial races need your help to ensure that California has elected officials who are looking out for the interests of our citizens, not deep-pocketed corporations.

Barbara Boxer- U.S. Senate
Main website
Volunteer with the Boxer campaign

Jerry Brown - Governor
Main website
Volunteer with the Brown campaign

Kamala Harris - Attorney General
Main website
Volunteer with the Harris campaign

Dave Jones - Insurance Commissioner
Main website
Volunteer with the Jones campaign

Debra Bowen - Secretary of State
Main website
Volunteer with the Bowen campaign

You can also watch and share the political ad videos we have up on our site today. Make sure your friends know who's realy looking out for Californians.

The Breakdown on Prop. 25

In the last days before the election, we'll be focusing on the ballot initiative propositions, and highlighting one that the CA NOW PAC has taken a position on each day.

Today we cover Prop. 25, which would lower the vote requirement for passing a state budget to a majority in each house, from the current standard of a 2/3 majority.  It would also penalize legislators by permanently forfeiting their daily salary and expenses if the budget is overdue until the budget bill passes.

Prop. 25 reforms California's broken state budget process by holding legislators accountable for late budgets, and brings California in line with 47 other states by allowing a majority of legislators to pass the budget. Prop. 25 also preserves the 2⁄3 vote required to raise taxes. California's Attorney General and the state's non-partisan Legislative Analyst have officially stated that Prop. 25 does NOT lessen the vote required to raise taxes. In fact, Prop. 25 specifically says, “This measure WILL NOT CHANGE the two–thirds vote requirement for the Legislature to raise taxes.”

Late budgets cost taxpayers millions of dollars, hurt schools and services, damage California's credit rating and give special treatment to interest groups at the expense of ordinary citizens. When last year's budget was late, California issued 450,000 IOUs to small businesses, state workers and others who do business with the state, costing taxpayers over $8 million in interest payments alone. More than 16,000 teachers were laid off last year and 26,000 pink slips were issued this year because of the budget mess. Prop. 25 ends the chaos, allowing schools to plan their budgets responsibly by letting them know what they can expect from the state. Last year when the budget was late, road projects were shut down then restarted days later, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and further damaging California's credit rating.

Under the current system, a small group of legislators can hold the budget hostage, with the “ransom” being more perks for themselves, spending for their pet projects or billions in tax breaks for narrow corporate interests. Meanwhile, taxpayers are punished and funding for schools, public safety and home health care services for seniors and the disabled becomes a bargaining chip. Real people suffer when legislators play games with the budget.

Follow the money on giving in this campaign, and you can see that those opposing Prop. 25 are special business interests are trying to preserve their special access and special deals in the state legislature. At the time of writing, total contributions in support of Prop. 25 were $11,364,987, five of the top ten contributors were teacher and school employee associations, and three more are service employye organizations. Opponents have spent $15,846,713 to fight Prop. 25, including two oil companies, four alcohol companies or associations, a tobacco company, and the California Chamber of Commerce. You can read more details and an updated report on contributions from Maplight.

Everyone can see that the state's budget process is dysfunctional, allowing ongoing stalemates that serve special interests and hurt the citizens of California.  Prop. 25 takes a huge step in solving these problems by instituting accountability and removing opportunities and incentives for political grandstanding and roadblocking.

Bobblehead Meg