Yes on 45

This will require the elected State Insurance Commissioner to sign off on health insurance rate increases just like is done for other forms of insurance in CA, and just like 35 other states do for health insurance.  I just got a letter from Anthem today informing me that my Covered California insurance for Mike and Russ is going up 20% over last year...to $950/month! We need someone answerable to the voters to keep an eye on this.  The insurance companies are spending buckets of money to stop it. Ignore them. Yes on 45.

Yes on Measure P

This Santa Barbara County measure will prohibit new oil operations that involve fracking/ acidification/ steam injection.  I see this as an oil development vs. water resource protection issue. New, intensive oil extraction technologies are proliferating around the country and the environmental risks are not fully understood or are being minimized. The only protection our local ground water has from risky oil extraction is a 3 to 2 vote on the board of supervisors. If the always closely divided third district goes to a pro-oil candidate in the future, that's it. We can wait forever for the State or Feds to regulate while we risk more and more high intensity projects getting into the pipeline, or the people of the county can say that we prioritize water over oil and hold any future board to that standard. The is a lot of talk about how this will cause a raft of lawsuits.  Possible. The oil interests often sue when they hear NO and it will happen without Measure P as well.  The only alternative to lawsuits is to let powerful unscrupulous people get their own way regardless of the cost to the community. We need to prioritize our tourism, agriculture and the integrity of our water over oil extraction. That is prudent self governance.

Ann's Voter Guide

The Election is Nov 4 and it is important that you vote!  I have put in some serious time thinking about the ballot propositions and have summarized below. I am not going to bother with candidates except State Superintendent because that's an obscure one.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction:
                   Tom Torlakson

Propositions:
1    No
2    No
45  Yes
46  No
47  Yes
48  Yes

Measures:
S    No
O   Yes
P    Yes

And here are more details on my thinking:

Tom Torlakson
Read what this guy says about his opponent.  I agree.

Propositions:

1    No. Water Bond.  7.5 billion for more dams is not going to fix our water problems in a sensible way. We need to get serious about ground water regulation which we DO NOT have AT ALL right now in CA and we need to ask ourselves if growing massive crops of a tropical plant, cotton, is the central valley desert is the wisest use of our water resources.

2    No.  "Rainy Day Fund" I have done a lot of reading on this one and I am convinced it is Sacramento giving itself weasel room to get out of full school funding in part by raiding local districts cash reserves.  If this passes all local school districts will be required to spend their cash reserves, which currently average 16 weeks of expenses, down to just 2-3 weeks of expenses.  That is scary. SF Gate on the subject.

45  Yes. Insurance Commission Approves Health Insurance. My Mom was suspicious of this one so she made me really look into it.  This comes from Consumer Watchdog not some fly by night astro turf crew with a fishy agenda.  It may get the Insurance Commissioner up in Covered California's business but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Just because I think Obamacare (ACA) is a lot better than NOT-Obamacare does not mean we all look the other way.

46  No.  Drug tests for Doctors/ Increase in Medical Malpractice Cap.  Drug Testing for Doctors...really? That part was supposed to sweeten the bitter pill of increasing malpractice liability limits for pain and suffering.  I would actually have considered upping the limit which was set to the fixed dollar amount of $250K in the '70s back when that would buy you a big fancy house on the Riviera instead of half of a dump next to the freeway in Goleta ...but the drug testing idea is so dumb I choked on that poison pill.

47  Yes. Changes some non-violent felonies to misdemeanors. Yes Yes Yes. OMG can we please stop sending everyone in California to prison for everything. Who doesn't want this? Prison guards, for-profit prison operators, fear mongering politicians, racists.  Who wants this? Sane people.

48  Yes. Indian Casinos. They happen. The State and the Feds negotiated this one. Other tribes and their casino operators/investors with nearby casinos put this on the ballot to stop the competition.

Measures:

S    No.  City College Bond.  I love SBCC. I really do. And I am willing to cough up property taxes to support the school. But $288 million in bonds covering a 10-year wish list is too much money all at once.  Especially since SBCC did not spend it's last bond on exactly what they said they would.  I think this community will agree to support campus upgrades. But the board need to get the message that they have to communicate better with us about out of state/country students, housing, facilities for Adult Ed and exactly what projects it is planning and why.  SBCC doesn't need to sneak stuff by us. We are eager to be on their side.

O   Yes.  Bed Tax.  Get's Hotel Bed Tax in unincorporated parts of county closer to amount in our cities. Helps fund services that make people want to come here.

P    Yes.  Prevent new oil operations that involve Fracking/ Acidification/ Steam injection.  I see this as an oil development vs. water resource protection issue. New, intensive oil extraction technologies are proliferating around the country and the environmental risks are not fully understood or are being minimized. The only protection our local ground water has from risky oil extraction is a 3 to 2 vote on the board of supervisors. If the always closely divided third district goes to a pro-oil candidate in the future, that's it. We can wait forever for the State or Feds to regulate while we risk more and more high intensity projects getting into the pipeline, or the people of the county can say that we prioritize water over oil and hold any future board to that standard. The is a lot of talk about how this will cause a raft of lawsuits.  Possible. The oil interests often sue when they hear NO and it will happen without Measure P as well.  The only alternative to lawsuits is to let powerful unscrupulous people get their own way regardless of the cost to the community. We need to prioritize our tourism, agriculture and the integrity of our water over oil extraction. That is prudent self governance.