A surprising amount of information and linkage is to be had at the Wikipedia.
CA Ballot Initiatives:
- (1A) Bond for high speed rail: UNDECIDED (requires federal matching funds, probably will run far over budget because it was priced years ago when commodities were cheaper, won’t be functional for many years, now is a crappy time to take out a loan, but it sure would be nice to have a high speed train between LA and SF… would tickets cost more or less than Southwest?)
- Revised CAFO standards (more space for chickens, pigs, veal): YES? (Seems petty – unclear how slightly more space for chickens will result in fewer antibiotics being used, and better water quality near CAFO facilities… it’s still a hundred million chickens, isn’t it? but it’s a step in the right direction – similar to legislation in the EU, doesn’t fully take effect until 2015… dunno)
- Children’s Hospital Bond: NO (Provides public subsidies for private for-profit hospitals, without also giving public sector a share of the profits, or any control over the organizations they are funding, nearly identical bond measure passed in 2004 – and they’ve only spent half *that* money!)
- Require parental notification and waiting period for abortions: NO
- Reduction in non-violent drug offense penalties, treatment in lieu of incarceration: YES
- Capital expenditure for more prisons: NO (we have enough prisons already! Just let out the non-violent drug offenders if there’s not enough space)
- Renewable energy portfolio standards: NO (based on UCS analysis)
- Outlaw Gay Marriage: NO
- Victims rights and harsher parole requirements: UNDECIDED
- Subsidies for some fuels (esp. natural gas): NO (based on UCS analysis)
- Non-partisan congressional districts for CA: YES
Local Measures:
- Measure R (transportation sales tax in LA County): UNDECIDED No bike/ped call outs (does complete streets apply to this?), way too much focus on highway projects.