California Proposition Guide

[The River]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Propositions.
We Californians have a lot of them on the ballot this year. Don't
wait for the paper version in the mail.
It's all on line here:
http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/en/propositions/

[Nictuku]

1. Looking for Progressive opinions on the Propositions

Does anyone know of any reliable sources?

[Brother Buzz]

5. The California Democratic Party is a good starting point

http://www.cademvote.org/endorsements

Prop 51 | SUPPORT | Repairs and upgrades older schools, and relieves classroom overcrowding so all children can learn in safe schools.
Prop 52 | SUPPORT | Ensures continued access to Medi-Cal healthcare for children, seniors, the disabled, and working families.
Prop 53 | OPPOSE | Stop right-wing millionaire’s attack on the local control and infrastructure repairs your community needs.
Prop 54 | OPPOSE | Don’t give Special Interests the power to block needed and timely legislation on key issues facing California.
Prop 55 | SUPPORT | Maintains tax rates on the wealthiest Californians to prevent $4 billion in cuts to public education.
Prop 56 | SUPPORT | Increases cigarette tax by $2/pack to keep children from smoking, improve healthcare, and save lives.
Prop 57 | SUPPORT | Authorizes parole consideration for nonviolent inmates for good behavior, education and rehab achievement.
Prop 58 | SUPPORT | Helps students learn English as quickly as possible and allows for all students to learn a second language.
Prop 59 | SUPPORT | Asks lawmakers to overturn Citizen’s United and stop the flood of secret corporate money into our elections.
Prop 60 | OPPOSE | This measure gives every person in California the authority to sue adult film performers and other workers, violates their privacy and reduces workplace safety.
Prop 61 | NO POSITION | Would change the standards by which state agencies negotiate the prices of, and pay for, prescription drugs.
Prop 62 | SUPPORT | Will replace California’s outdated, costly, and failed death penalty system with life in prison without parole.
Prop 63 | SUPPORT | The “Safety for All Act” will keep our communities safe with common sense laws to curb gun violence.
Prop 64 | SUPPORT | Controls, regulates, and taxes adult use of marijuana, ends criminalization of responsible adult use.
Prop 65 | NO POSITION | Revenue from carry-out bags would go into a new state environmental fund instead of the state’s General Fund.
Prop 66 | OPPOSE | Increases risk that California executes an innocent person.
Prop 67 | SUPPORT | Protects our state ban on plastic grocery bags, reducing plastic pollution, protecting wildlife and the ocean.

[Nictuku]

6. Thank you!

[TeamPooka]

8. How can the state party have No Position on #61? Seriously? WTF!?

[nolabels]

11. Use your imagination, just think of all the money politicians will get to fleece from big pharma

The truth is most of that over-counter crap is actually making us more ill. The medical establishment and many others have been captured by big pharma's funding. The people propelling them are living the illusion that was put in front of them. I hope 61 gets the yes but don't underestimate the scare big pharma will try to put in to defeat it.

A little side note, just got to hear a doctor on a TV commercial as i was typing this with one of those scare crap commercials. They are just so predictable and so full of crap

[mackerel]

13. I think Bernie Sanders and Richard Reich support 61

[IcyPeas]

16. Bernie Sanders and AARP both support it

I got a robo call asking me to vote yes. But it seems like every other organization in the world is against it. It's just so confusing to me.

[bbmykel]

2. Thanks!

We have some big decisions to make here in CA. I'm feeling somewhat optimistic about voters in CA these days!

[KamaAina]

4. I'm hearing some pushback on 64 on FB

MMJ patients are worried the price will go up, and someone said "You can still be arrested."

I sure as hell hope it isn't as flawed as 19 was.

[Mr.Bill]

7. I'm visiting relatives in the state of Washington right now.

We went to a marijuana store and I can assure you the prices are far less here than in California dispensaries.

[TeamPooka]

9. Every step towards full legalization needs to happen in each state to show TPB what needs to occur.

MMJ is keeping prices artificially high. More competition will lower them but not that much because the taxes will even it out some.

[proverbialwisdom]

12. The Intercept: Big Pharma Fights California Drug-Price Ballot Measure (Prop 61)

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/28/lgbt-drug-price/

Big Pharma Paid LGBT Groups and Others That Opposed California Drug-Price Ballot Measure
Lee Fang

October 28 2016, 9:39 a.m.

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The drug industry, led by its lobbying giant the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), is furiously attempting to defeat Prop 61, fearing that if the measure succeeds in California, the largest Medicaid market, similar ideas could spread to other states and embolden politicians already facing pressure to act on the national level.

To snuff out the drug price revolt, PhRMA has raised an astounding $109 million from its member companies, including Pfizer, Merck, Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and other drug firms. That’s more than has been raised by both the Republican and Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate races in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Nevada combined — and those are among the most costly races in the country.

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The No on Prop 61 war chest has been used to buy a seemingly endless stream of digital and broadcast advertisements across the state. A portion of the drug industry fund has been used to influence critical endorsements.

<>

The U.S. pays far more for pharmaceuticals than any industrialized country in the world. Bloomberg found that Roche Holding AG’s Herceptin breast cancer drug, for example, “cost about 85 percent more in the U.S. than in other high-income countries.”

One driver of the higher costs is a provision of the Medicare Part D law, essentially authored by PhRMA, which prevents Medicare from using its collective bargaining power to negotiate for better drug prices. (Congressman Billy Tauzin, R-La., the lawmaker who helped usher in the PhRMA legislation, later became a PhRMA lobbyist earning $11.6 million in annual salary.) A recent study found that $16 billion could be saved annually by simply allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower rates.

Eli Lilly chief executive John Lechleiter, during on a conference call on Tuesday, sought to reassure investors by pledging that he is doing everything in his power to stop Proposition 61.

His company has been in the news recently for price gouging, especially for its Humulin R U-500 insulin medicine, a very profitable product for the firm that Eli Lilly hiked in price by 325 percent from 2010 to 2015.

“Prop 61, we’re fighting that tooth and nail in California,” Lechleiter said. “We have a pretty big campaign underway,” he added, noting that his company hoped to “shift voters toward a position of being against it for a whole variety of reasons.”

[mackerel]

14. Prop 65 is opposed by the Green Party

the GOP support it.