The California propositions

91 No, 92 Yes, 93 Yes, 94-97 No, Measure S Yes.

Just what you’ve been waiting for: my magisterial pronunciamento.

Prop 91 (Transportation.) NO. Now obsolete.

Prop 92 (Community college funding). YES. Yes, the state is squeezed, but taking it out of the hides of community college students is no way to deal with the problem.

Prop 93 (Term limits) YES. Not as good as a complete repeal, but probably as much as we can get.

Props 94-97 (Indian gaming compacts). NO. Given how badly Gray Davis sold us out, it’s going to be hard to get anything substantial for the state, but giving away what bargaining position we have for less than half a billion dollars a year over the next twenty years can’t be the right move. That’s about a half a percent of the total, and less than 5% of the current shortfall: chump change.

At some point we’re going to have to convincingly threaten to repeal the Indian monopoly to get a fair share of the loot for the state. But that’s a problem for another day.

Measure S (Los Angeles telephone tax). YES. No reason to let cell phone users escape the tax on landlines, and the city can certainly use the money.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com