California voters all over the map on propositions
Same-sex marriage is banned while parental notification abortion bill is turned down. Some big-ticket projects lose, but $10-billion bullet train is approved.
Reporting from Sacramento — It was a good day for chickens and children's hospitals, but not for alternative-fuel vehicles and Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens. A law-enforcement funding measure fell flat, but a proposition restricting parole was victorious.
Voters may have banned same-sex marriage, but they rejected a measure that would have required parents to be notified before a girl could obtain an abortion. And they turned down several big-ticket funding initiatives while backing the most expensive of them, a nearly $10-billion bond to build a bullet train.
With all but a few results in on Wednesday, the reliably quirky Golden State electorate proved that ballot-box lawmaking lives on here -- with a scattershot flair.
Was it the clutter of TV ads? The plethora of first-time voters? The phases of the moon?
"This is just one of those times you say, hey, voters are unpredictable," said Ken Khachigian, a Republican strategist.
The outcome of Proposition 4, the parental notification measure that lost a tight race with 52% opposed, might have seemed preordained -- it was the third time such a proposal had been on the statewide ballot since 2005.
But this was the year of Proposition 8, the white-hot battle that instituted a new ban on same-sex marriage. Proposition 8 drew social conservatives to the polls and scored a victory but failed to provide coattails for Proposition 4.
Undeterred, boosters of parental notification say a fourth attempt at the ballot box is inevitable.
"The only questions are exactly when, exactly where and exactly how," said Don Sebastiani, a vintner and former state lawmaker who was one of the measure's top backers.
More than 53% of voters gave a nod to Proposition 9, the only winner among three initiatives related to the criminal justice system. Proposition 9 boosts crime victims' rights while reducing the number of parole hearings. Now it could face a different test -- legal challenges from advocates for inmates.
Opponents say the initiative -- funded with $4.8 million from Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas III, a billionaire who is under indictment on federal fraud, conspiracy and drug charges -- will raise incarceration costs by keeping inmates behind bars. Backers counter that it will save the state money by cutting down on parole hearings.
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