November Ballot Measures Could Be ‘Far-Reaching’

The November statewide election "will not lack for meaty, even historic, political conflicts for voters to digest," including a measure to fund health care programs by increasing state tobacco taxes, columnist Dan Walters writes in the Sacramento Bee (Walters, Sacramento Bee, 5/17).

The proposed measure is expected to generate about $2.1 billion annually. The initiative calls for:

52.75% of the revenue to be used to fund hospital emergency services, nurse education, community health clinics and tobacco cessation programs;
42.25% to be used for children's health insurance, including an expansion of the Healthy Kids program; smoking prevention campaigns; and cancer, heart, asthma and other disease research; and
5% to be used for cancer- and tobacco disease-related research (California Healthline, 5/5).

In addition, the California Nurses Association and other groups are supporting a proposed initiative addressing public campaign financing that would "restrict corporate contributions" to political campaigns but leave union contributions "relatively unfettered," Walters writes.

These proposed initiatives and others addressing infrastructure bonds, tax increases on oil production and eminent domain rights "could trigger a big-money political shootout," according to Walters. "The ballot may not set a record for overall number of propositions, but no election of recent vintage has offered such a variety with such potential for far-reaching impacts," Walters writes (Walters, Sacramento Bee, 5/17). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.