Has California seen its last honest ballot measure?
Perhaps. One unintended consequence of next month's special election may be the demise of ballot initiatives that are "self-funding" -- that is, initiatives that include new taxes to pay for the programs they mandate.
The problem lies with Propositions 1D and 1E, two of six measures that legislators placed on the ballot as part of an attempt to close the state budget gap. The two measures are twins: Each asks voters to divert a piece of the tax revenues that previous ballot initiatives had created to fund particular programs and instead put the money toward closing the deficit.
Proposition 1D would permit the seizure of $1.6 billion over the next five years in tobacco taxes that voters imposed, via Proposition 10 in 1998, to fund new health and education programs for young children. Proposition 1E would repurpose more than $500 million over two years from an income tax surcharge on millionaires imposed by Proposition 63 in 2004 to pay for mental health programs.
Commentary and newspaper editorials have generally hailed the raids as necessary because of the state's fiscal troubles. Some commentators have even celebrated 1D and 1E as blows against "ballot-box budgeting," the California habit of establishing budget priorities via ballot initiatives.
But such commentary obscures an important truth: There is good ballot-box budgeting and bad. And 1D and 1E target the good. As a result, they will produce more of the bad.
What's the difference? The two initiatives being raided under 1D and 1E were about as fiscally responsible as initiatives get. Each created new taxes to fund the programs they proposed. Both programs have been run conservatively and run surpluses.
But Propositions 10 and 63 were rare birds. Most initiatives don't pay for themselves. They require spending without identifying a funding source. (Most tough-on-crime initiatives, including measures on three-strikes sentencing and sexual predators, work this way.) Or they create new programs through general obligation bonds (as was the case with initiatives on construction of children's hospitals and stem cell research). In effect, most initiatives, by making claims on the treasury without providing funds, take away money that would be spent on existing programs, or add to the state's deficit. In politics, this irresponsibility is smart. It's easier to sell the public on a new program or law if there's no new tax attached.
