The governor’s plan to balance the state budget is in jeopardy
tonight as propositions 1A through 1E were failing. With 11 percent
of the precincts reporting, the Secretary of State’s Office
reported none of Propositions 1A through 1E was capturing more than
40 percent of the vote. Only Proposition 1F, which would freeze the
salaries of state elected officials in bad budget years, was
winning – and it was winning big.
The governor’s plan to balance the state budget is in jeopardy tonight as propositions 1A through 1E were failing. With 11 percent of the precincts reporting, the Secretary of State’s Office reported none of Propositions 1A through 1E was capturing more than 40 percent of the vote. Only Proposition 1F, which would freeze the salaries of state elected officials in bad budget years, was winning – and it was winning big.
Voter turnout was expected to be very low. Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters spokeswoman Elma Rosas said election officials expect about a 40 percent countywide turnout today. That’s vastly lower than November’s turnout of about 85 percent.
The governor and legislative leaders were counting on voters to help fill a gaping hole in the state budget for the current fiscal year and the one that begins July 1.
Defeat of the measures would mean a projected $15.4 billion gap in the state’s budget would grow to $21.3 billion. The governor has proposed that if the propositions fail, the lost revenues would be made up by cutting an additional $2.3 billion from elementary and high schools and community colleges; borrowing $2 billion from cities and counties and agencies; transferring some prison inmates to county jails and cutting more from health, social services and other programs.
Proposition 1A , which would impose new state spending restrictions and temporarily extend a series of tax increases adopted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February to help erase a $42 billion budget shortfall through June 2010, was losing, with 63.3 percent of the voters rejecting it.
Proposition 1B, which would give schools and community colleges $9.3 billion that educators say they are due under state law, garnered 40.2 percent yes votes.
Also on the ballot is Proposition 1C, a plan to borrow $5 billion based on the value of future lottery revenue. It was going down to defeat with 61.4 percent casting no votes.
Proposition 1D, which would tap nearly $1.7 billion in early childhood program funds over the next five years, was losing, with 62 percent of voters casting no votes.
And, Proposition 1E, which would take $460 million over the next two years from mental health services to ease the state’s budget problems, was losing with 62.4 percent of the voters casting no votes.
The only Proposition that appears headed toward victory at this early stage was Proposition 1F, which would bar state elected officials from getting pay raises in years in which the state runs a deficit. It had garnered 76.4 percent yes votes.
