They begin with the 1978 property tax revolt and the victory of Proposition 13. As California experienced a dramatic escalation in home values, property tax assessments skyrocketed. Especially vulnerable were seniors on fixed incomes ... Howard Jarvis put a seductively simple sounding proposition on the ballot. Under Proposition 13, the annual real estate tax on a parcel of property would be limited to 1% of its assessed value and this assessed value would only increase by a maximum of 2% per year, until a change in ownership. Voters responded and Proposition 13 scored a dramatic victory with 65% of the vote. Property tax rates dropped an average of 57%.

I was not a California resident at that time, but even in Oregon we realized this could spell disaster. And, as O'Leary tells it, "... the ax did not fall as Sacramento, flush with a multibillion-dollar surplus, bailed out local governments and the schools. But the state rescue was accompanied by a loss of local control. As a result of Proposition 13, school districts, county governments and cities were forced to compete with state priorities for a slice of the state budget.

O'Leary quotes David Menefee-Libey, Pomona College political scientist: "In the first years, the state was able to get by because of the surplus, but because the state was responsible for funding local government and school districts the demands on state resources became too great."

O'Leary goes on: "Prop 13 further altered California politics by requiring a 2/3 majority for tax increases ... and to pass a budget ...  For more than 30 years California has been living with a system of minority rule in which 34% of the legislature or a local community can stonewall the majority.

"Before Prop 13 California public schools were among the finest in the nation. After Prop 13, education spending per pupil dropped to 48th in the nation."

And in the past 30 years, a patchwork of ballot measures have resulted in what Bob Hertzberg, former Assembly Speaker, calls "this crazy government structure held together by duct tape and bailing wire."

So now Arnold vetoes budgets that both parties have at long last agreed to -- "because it's not a complete solution" ???? Come on, Governor, do what needs to be done NOW so that this state neither splits apaart nor creates a permanent underclass or, indeed, takes the federal government down with it.

It took 30 years to get here -- don't be so self-righteous as to reject beginning steps to solve the problems as we California citizens deserve better!

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Positively,
Carolan