Sunday, May 18, 2014

2014 Primary Election

Smart Voter, HUMBOLDT
United States Representative; District 2 Voter Information 2014
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Dale K. Mensing, Republican

STATE:
State Legislature Contests for California State Government (complete list)
State Senator; District 2 2014
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Lawrence R. Wiesner, Republican
Member of the State Assembly; District 2 2014
◼ Matt Heath, Republican
(Note, Humboldt GOP has endorsed Matt Heath)
Governor Voter Information 2014
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Tim Donnelly, Republican
◼ Neel Kashkari, Republican
◼ Andrew Blount, Republican
◼ Glenn Champ, Republican
◼ Alma Marie Winston, Republican
◼ Richard William Aguirre, Republican
Lieutenant Governor Voter Information 2014
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Ron Nehring, Republican
◼ David Fennell, Republican
◼ George Yang, Republican
(Note, Humboldt GOP has endorsed Ron Nehring)
Secretary of State 2014
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Roy Allmond, Republican
◼ Pete Peterson, Republican
Controller
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Ashley Swearengin, Republican
◼ David Evans, Republican
Treasurer
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Greg Conlon, Republican
Attorney General
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ David King, Republican
◼ John Haggerty, Republican
◼ Phil Wyman, Republican
◼ Ronald Gold, Republican
Insurance Commissioner
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ Ted Gaines, Republican
State Board of Equalization; District 2
Republican Candidates ON THE BALLOT
◼ James E. Theis, Republican
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

COUNTY
Assessor; County of Humboldt
Auditor-Controller; County of Humboldt
Coroner-Public Administrator; County of Humboldt
District Attorney; County of Humboldt
Recorder-County Clerk Registrar of Voters; County of Humboldt
Sheriff; County of Humboldt
Treasurer-Tax Collector; County of Humboldt
County Supervisor; Humboldt County; Supervisorial District 4
County Supervisor; Humboldt County; Supervisorial District 5
__________________

BALLOT MEASURES:
PROP 41: VETERANS HOUSING AND HOMELESS PREVENTION BOND ACT OF 2014.
PROP 42: PUBLIC RECORDS. OPEN MEETINGS. STATE REIMBURSEMENT TO LOCAL AGENCIES. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

There are two measures for the upcoming primary election in June, Props 41 and 42. Both propositions were placed on the ballot by the Legislature. The CFRW Voting Body has voted to OPPOSE Prop 41 and SUPPORT Prop 42.

After extensive research and analysis, the CFRW has come out against Prop 41. Prop 41 is titled the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act. Taken at face value, this would seem like a proposition we should support. But upon further review and analysis, Prop 41 does little to fix the homeless veteran problem and actually does more harm to veterans looking to purchase homes.
Prop 41 would take $600 million away from the CalVet program, a $900 million bond program passed by voters in 2008, and instead uses that money to build multifamily, low income housing for homeless vets.

The original CalVet program helped vets secure loans for purchasing property, homes, and farms. This new prop is leaving only $300 million for those vets and instead using $600 million in bond money to support approximately 19,000 homeless vets in the state of California. California has almost 2 million vets living here, yet we are shifting 2/3rds of already approved bond money to help 1% of vets in the state. We believe that the homeless vets should be helped- with a hand up, not a hand out.

Prop 41 would build all new multifamily, low income housing, which is why labor unions are big supporters of the bill. But Prop 41 would also create a new tax liability for Californians, averaging in at least $50 million annually in new costs over the next 15 years.

Prop 41 would also create new bureaucracies for its implementation, many of these overlapping with already established state and federal programs for our homeless vets. This creates more waste and unnecessary spending when this bond money could be better spent to help our vets.

We believe that our vets deserve creative solutions. A robust economy and affordable, competitive college programs would help Californian veterans. How about tax credits for businesses that employ vets? Or reworking the CalVet program for better loan options for vets to purchase property themselves.

Prop 41 is the easy answer, not the right answer. We OPPOSE Prop 41!

By contrast, Prop 42 is a straightforward bill. The CFRW Voting Body voted to SUPPORT Prop 42. Prop 42 is called the California Compliance of Local Agencies with Public Records Act. It would require that all local agencies comply with the California Public Records Act (CPRA) and the Brown Act. A good question would be: why weren’t localities already complying with these important transparency acts? Prop 42 would guarantee a private citizen’s right to open, public records and to attend public meetings. This could save the state millions of dollars by eliminating the requirement that the state reimburse local agencies for compliance with these laws. Now the local agencies must comply with these transparency laws and will be incentivized to keep costs down since the state will no longer reimburse costs. In an increasingly paperless world, most local agencies should make their records available online to keep costs low and transparency high. We SUPPORT Prop 42!

You'll find this and other links on our ◼ CANDIDATES page