PROPOSITIONS: Prop. 10 Passes, Barely; Prop. J Looks Like A Winner
Proposition 10, which will raise cigarette prices by 50 cents per pack to fund early childhood development programs, narrowly passed yesterday. With 100% of the precincts reporting, the measure passed 50.1% to 49.9%, according to the California Secretary of State website (returns, 11/4). The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Prop. 10 "was locked in a dead heat as late returns came in" Tuesday night, and the "measure appeared to be losing early in the evening, but the race tightened as returns from the more liberal urban counties came in" (Lynch, 11/4). The Los Angeles Times reports that the tobacco industry spent more than $28 million trying to defeat Prop. 10 (Barabak, 11/4). Click here for previous coverage of the ballot initiative.
Prop J Looks Good
Proposition J, which would direct the city of San Francisco "to study ways to obtain health care coverage for uninsured residents," was "winning by a comfortable margin" as the Chronicle went to press. Mayor Willie Brown (D), who sponsored the initiative, said placing the uninsured into the pool for city employees was the only way to "promote preventive care and save the city the cost of unnecessary emergency care treatments" (Wilson, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/4).