Monday, November 1, 2010

Proposition 23- To Vote Yes or No, That is the Question

With elections just around the corner, opponents against proposition 23 have been out campaigning for weeks trying to gain support to stop prop 23 from being passed.  I decided to have a look at the facts myself and look at both sides of the argument.  For those of you who don’t know, if proposition 23 passes, then implementation of AB32 will be delayed until unemployment levels reach 5.5% or less for 4 consecutive quarters.  Currently, the unemployment rate is above 12% as shown in the graph below.  It has been predicted that it will take a few years for the unemployment rate to reach down to 5.5% in California.  

*Graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Supporters of proposition 23 are arguing that with the implementation of AB32, which will begin in 2012, it will hurt our economy further by increasing costs of gas, homes, cars, and hurt economic expansion in California.  However, opponents are arguing that this proposition will eliminate one of the most influential laws in the United States and that environmental progress will hinder, since unemployment levels will not drop for a few years.  They are arguing that our air quality will get worse and that job loss will occur from the new clean technology industry that is developing.  No one knows for sure what the effects on the economy would be once AB32 gets implemented.  

I am sure you are asking yourself, well this is great but how does this have anything to do with Los Angeles transportation?  Well to answer this question, I decided to ask one of the Prop 23 campaigners on campus who have been trying to rally support for weeks now.  They have been very persistent and in order to avoid them I would have to look down at the ground or pretend that I was on a phone call, since I never had time to stop except for today when I decided to go up to them.  The funny thing about this situation is that this week I have had literally no voice, so it has been impossible to talk to anyone about anything, so I had to bring one of my friends along to translate my silent whispers.  

So we went up to this guy, who was more than excited to talk to us, since it seemed that no one had bothered to approach him all day and instead he had to hustle to grasp people’s attention.  He explained that prop 23 has everything to do with transportation, since implementation of AB32 will stop, which will impact SB375, which was created to generate a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  All of these things are related and connected in a sense and AB32 and SB375 will be directly or indirectly impacted if prop 23 is passed.  

SB375 states that each city in California must create a “sustainable community strategy” or a general land-use plan that combines transportation and land-use elements to meet the emission targets outlined by AB32.  By 2020, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to 1990 levels.  SB375 promotes construction along transportation lines to increase public transit use and reduce urban sprawl.  If people were in close proximity to pubic transit routes and within walking distance from stops, then I believe that public transit use would increase and people would leave their cars at home.  

The worst part, he argued, is that California is the leader in paving the way for the implementation of environmental regulations and laws and if prop 23 gets passed than all of their hard work to reduce air pollution levels in California will be lost.  In addition, it will stop the momentum of other states implementing similar environmental laws and hinder the bright future that lies just beyond the horizon of providing a more environmentally conscious society that wants to take the necessary measures to reduce their carbon emissions.  

Another interesting fact is that 2 major Texan oil companies are supporting this measure and that none of the oil companies in California are.  Does anyone know why this is?  The prop 23 guy did not really explain why. 
 
Maybe I am missing some pieces of the puzzle, but it seems that there is something fishy going on behind prop 23 and maybe the proposition was not entirely thought out properly and some facts are missing.  Regardless, I am not sure what side I am going to take on this issue, but will probably vote no, since AB32 was a revolutionary law and took a long time to get passed.  For the momentum to stop now might have catastrophic effects and we might not get this close again for another few years in actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels.  AB32 gives us hope to achieve this overall goal.  Since 2006, when AB32 was first passed, it seems that no one has really come forward and stated any major problems with AB32 until now, so why the change?  

Please feel free to comment with any additional information that I might have left out or any thoughts that you might have (BTW I covered the major highlights and didn’t go into a lot of detail, especially in terms of AB32 and SB375).  I hope that I have been somewhat helpful in providing information about prop 23 and hopefully you are a more decisive person than I am.  If I can’t make up my mind about this proposition, how am I supposed to vote on the more important things on the ballot like Governor?  Well that will be for another time!  Happy voting tomorrow!