California votes on 13 state-wide initiatives this November
There are 13 statewide propositions on the ballot this year, ranging from Proposition 64, which would legalize the recreational use of marijuana, to Proposition 62, which would repeal the death penalty.
Other propositions include an initiative to force drug companies to sell the state prescriptiom drugs at the same price that they charge to VA (Proposition 61), and a measure to allow non-English languages to be used as a method of instruction in public schools (Proposition 58).
Robb Davis, City of Davis mayor, has not formally endorsed any statewide initiatives at this time but is supportive of Measure H, a local initiative which would renew and slightly increase a previous tax which goes towards funding Davis’ public schools.
“We have a long history here of parcel taxes, meaning it’s a flat tax on a niche parcel for the city, to fund various school programs,” Davis said. “The citizens of this community, over the years, have pretty much systematically said, ‘we want to tax ourselves to provide more resources for students.’ It’s basically to provide a broader array of opportunities for students than they would get if we just relied on state funding.”
While many long-time Davis residents, like Davis, are aware of the local initiatives on the ballot this year, some of UC Davis’ 30,000 students are voting in their hometowns and therefore might not be as interested in Davis-specific measures.
Nick Talbott, graduate student in the Department of Comparative Literature, is voting in Berkeley and is supportive of Proposition 64, which would legalize marijuana in California. However, he admitted that while there are a few propositions that his colleagues are aware of, many of the smaller initiatives get very little attention.
“I think that there are three or four Propositions’ that people know about, but some of the lettered one’s go unnoticed,” Talbott said. “I think there should be more done to advertise some of the individual ones, instead of the larger ones that people are getting a lot on already.”
Carlos Castaneda, a first-year biochemistry and molecular biology major at UC Davis, is interested in a few propositions on the ballot this year, but agreed that much of the talk surrounding the November election has focused on the presidential election rather than the initiatives.
“I’ll be honest and say that I’ve only talked to a few friends [about the election] and, for most of them, the general conversation goes to the Presidential race. I feel like [the propositions] should be taken into account [more] because […] the impact of the propositions is also important,” Castaneda said.
To see a detailed list of all the initiatives on the ballot this year, please visit ballotpedia.org.
Written By: Juno Bhardwaj-shah – city@theaggie.org
