June 2014 Election, California, Proposition 41

A proposition on the ballot for the June 2014 Election, California.

Our recommended vote: No

Financially, the proposition seems innocuous enough. The idea is to repurpose already approved bonds so that they can be issued now for a cause that is deemed more needy.

One problem with this idea centers on the fact that we (The Shtick) never would have recommended that the bonds be approved in the first place. Giving them a new purpose that makes them more easily issuable and spendable does not seem to improve the problem inherent in this. We would imagine that it would be better if the bond were never issued, and lacking that, were issued more slowly. If they were repurposng unborrowed funds it would be one thing, but repurposing money we don't have is quite another.

We admit this is a nuanced issue to raise, and there is something to be said for the idea that denying this proposition will just lead the legislature to seek new borrowing to cover this perceived need. (We do not agree that this is a fundamental government responsibility.) This is a legitimate point. (There may be others, but the official ballot arguments are fairly lame and nobody else seems to be offering better.) If we accept some doubt cast by this (and any other yet unknown) line of reasoning, we would tend to fall back on the principle that when we are in doubt, we vote no.

Another point to be made, is that in repurposing this money, we would be recognizing a new reason to spend money. We would be creating a new unnecessary bureaucracy which will not only spend this money faster, but will likely lead to our legislators rationalizing the spending of even further borrowed money.

Resources

• "Proposition 41: Official Voter Guide" - Secretary of State
• "Proposition 41: Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2014" - SmartVoter