By All day, results poured in from all over the state for ballots cast in Tuesday’s midterm election. Items on the ballots included 11 statewide propositions and five measures in Long Beach. Only six of the proposed 11 ballots passed statewide, and all of the Long Beach measures passed.
Statewide Propositions
Prop 1
Prop 1’s purpose is to address the housing crisis by investing in existing affordable housing for low-income residents, veterans and farmworkers, among others.
The investments will be paid for using obligation bonds which are seen as public debt. California already has $72.8 billion obligation bonds to repay, however, the state still has $33.5 billion not yet borrowed or issued in obligation bonds, as of Oct. 1.
$4 billion in bonds will be borrowed, which would cost $170 million a year over 35 years. The total cost is close to $6 billion including interest.
The law lays out eight different structures which will tackle housing in different avenues, including loans for veterans buying homes and encouraging more housing programs and methods.
Prop 2
Prop 2 takes funds from a preexisting tax revenue, the one percent millionaire’s tax, meant for the Mental Health Service Fund, in order to fund housing for the homeless who suffer from mental illness.
County mental illness programs could lose $140 million per year in order to pay the $2 billion bonds which the proposition will use.
Prop 2 was technically passed by the state under a different name in 2014. Due to a lawsuit claiming that voters didn’t vote for the tax revenue to be used for housing, the state attempted to bypass the courts by adding Prop 2 to the ballot.
Now that it has passed, the state will use $2 billion in bonds paid for by county mental illness budgets to finance housing for homeless, mentally ill individuals.
Prop 4
Prop 4 authorizes the state to borrow $1.5 billion in bonds to fund grants that will be awarded to children’s hospitals. The grants will be used for construction, expansion, renovation and equipping children’s hospitals that qualify.
The total cost will add up to $2.9 million with interest and to be paid over 35 years. Annual payments will average $84 million a year.
Private nonprofit children’s hospitals will receive 72 percent of the funds.
The University of California general acute hospitals will receive 18 percent of the funds. Among the five UC children’s hospitals are the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA and University Children’s Hospital at UC Irvine.
The last 10 percent will fund other public and private hospitals.
Prop 7
Californians change their clocks an hour ahead in March for daylight savings and an hour back in November when it ends.
Prop 7 allows the California State Legislature to establish a year-round daylight savings time or change daylight savings dates and times, eliminating the need to change the hours.
There is no direct fiscal impact with having a year-round daylight savings time.
According to the official argument: “University medical studies in 2012 found that the risk of heart attacks increases by 10 percent in the two days following a time change. In 2016, further research revealed that stroke risks increase 8 percent when we change our clocks. For cancer patients the stroke risk increases 25 percent and for people over age 65 stroke risk goes up 20 percent. All because we disrupt sleep patterns.”
California would be on a year-round daylight savings time once it’s approved on the federal level.
Prop 11
Prop 11 directly address the ambulance industry and stems from a lawsuit from 2016, Augustus v. ABM Security, in which the California Supreme Court ruled that work breaks must be uninterruptible including in the event of an emergency.
Although the Augustus case applies for private security, the California Legislative Analyst notes on-call break practices are similar for EMTs and paramedics.
Prop 11 allows things to stay as they are; EMTs and paramedics will continue to be on-call during their breaks, while also addressing issues in the field.
Companies are required to pay regular rates during breaks. Also, if interrupted, the break won’t count toward the mandated breaks. Finally, companies will need to manage staffing levels to provide adequate breaks.
The initiative also grants training to emergency responders for dealing with situations such as active shooters, natural disasters among others.
Prop 12
Prop 12 stems from 2008’s Prop 2, when voters passed an initiative which intended to ban the confinement of pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal and egg-laying hens in facilities where animals weren’t allowed to turn around freely, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs.
Prop 12 sets specifics square feet for the animals. Prop 12 also bans the sale of animal products to facilities that do not give the minimum space required.
Calves must have at least 43 square feet of usable floor by 2022, and egg laying hens must have at least 1 square foot by 2020. Prop 12’s fiscal impact is unclear. There may be a decrease in state and local tax revenue, while also costing California millions to enforce it.
Now, there is an established minimum space requirement for these animals, and a ban on the sale of products that do not meet the space requirements.
Emma DiMaggio | Daily 49er
Long Beach Measures
Measure “AAA”
This measure implements new duties for the city auditor such as being the general auditor of every department, commission and office in the city. The measure eliminates ambiguities and make the duties of the city auditor and their access to city records clearer. The city auditor will have access to copies of all reports relating to finances prepared by any city department, commission, office or agency.
Measure “BBB”
Measure “BBB” ensures that no person serves more than three four-year terms as mayor or city councilmember. The measure prohibits any candidate from either office from running as a write-in candidate.
The previous limit, according to the city charter, was two four-year terms with an unlimited number of terms possible as a write-in candidate. If a candidate won a primary election as a write-in candidate, their name could appear on a general election ballot.
Now, any write-in candidacy counts toward the three-term limit for all future elections.
Measure “CCC”
Measure “CCC” is a city charter amendment that establishes a seven-member City Ethics Commission to impartially administer and implement the provisions of the City Charter, statutes and ordinances concerning campaign finance, lobbying, conflicts of interest and governmental ethics.
This measure was placed on the ballot to enhance the monitoring, administration and enforcement of governmental ethics laws in Long Beach. The commission is meant to help monitor the city’s existing lobbying ordinance and promote and enforce improved government measures for both elected and appointed members of the local government.
Four members will be appointed by the mayor and city auditor. The remaining three members will be appointed by the initial four commissioners following a public recruitment and application process.
Measure “DDD”
Measure “DDD” is an amendment to establish the Long Beach Independent Redistricting Commission, which will be the only city commission authorized to establish council districts every 10 years. The previous city charter authorized the city council to establish or change council district boundaries.
According to the city of Long Beach’s official website, the measure was placed on the ballot to remove the City Council from the redistricting process, so that decisions about which neighborhoods and communities remain together in the same district for voting and representation are made as neutral or unbiased as possible.
Now that is has passed, 13-member commission will be established. Nine commissioners, one from each existing council district, will be selected from a pool of qualified applicants, which was not specified in the measure. After those nine are appointed, the commissioners will select the remaining four along with two alternates.
Measure “WW”
Measure “WW” is an initiative to change working conditions of hotel employees working in hotels with more than 50 rooms. According to the original scanned copy of the measure, hotel employees who work by themselves are vulnerable to crimes and other threatening behavior, including sexual assault.
This measure requires that workers who are cleaning guest rooms alone in these hotels be equipped with panic buttons which they may use to report threatening conduct and other emergencies, since many assaults go unreported to the police, according to information mentioned in the measure’s proposal.
At their Oct. 23 meeting, the City Council adopted a similar ordinance that mandates panic buttons at all hotels, regardless of the size of the institution, and other precautions in the event of an emergency. The City Council will conduct a second reading of the ordinance on Nov. 13, and then the mayor will have 30 days to sign it into law.
According to Deputy City Attorney Linda Vu, as told to the Signal Tribune, Measure “WW” will be compared to the ordinance that the council passed, and the one that imposes greater restrictions or requirements will control.
Oscar Carranza and Bryan Aparicio contributed to this story.
