How I’m voting for the environment on Nov. 7, 2006.
My vote on Prop 1A: No
Prop 1A’s basically about making sure that tax money from gas sales goes towards transportation issues and projects.
Which on the surface sounds cool. After all, back in 2002, Cali voters passed Prop 42 by 68.2%, to require that Cali gas sales taxes be used for transportation projects.
The problem’s that a loophole in Prop 42 let the Legislature move that money to the general fund in times of fiscal difficulty — something that the Legislature took advantage of when the Cali budget was falling short.
Thus: Prop 1A, which would close up that loophole.
The problem, for me, is this. The money that Prop 1A would ensure goes toward transportation isn’t about PUBLIC transportation. This means that the money could very well be used to, say, just improve freeways and stuff.
And while I agree that some of our freeways could use some help, I don’t think that that’s our top priority, especially during times of financial crises. In hard times, this prop could mean that we allocate money to fix up highways while cutting back on much-needed social services for education and health care. I’m not cool with that.
I don’t agree with the LA Times on a lot of stuff, but I agree with the paper’s contention that “The underlying problem is that California’s spending on transportation infrastructure isn’t keeping up with demand. The 18-cent gas excise tax hasn’t been raised in more than a decade, hasn’t kept up with inflation and hasn’t been supplemented adequately by general budget funds.”
A better move than Prop 1A would be a push to up the gas excise tax, finally.
Understandably, both the Sierra Club and the California League of Conservation Voters haven’t come out with a position on this prop. And unless I find a compelling reason to do so, I’m not going to put further restrictions on our state govt. to allocate our resources as it sees needed.
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:53 pm
ok, it looks like greenlagirl and the CA green party are in agreement about ALL ballot initiatives except this one - 1A. green party sez yes, girl sez no.
i guess i’ll need to do a little of my own research! thanks, siel!