California Proposition 1 A-E

No one wants my opinion on the California ballot, but this psycho one, I had to address.

Prop 1 A-E, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act (why port security was lumped in is a mystery, except for the fact that oil arrives in the state via ports along the coast), essentially levies a tax on oil companies to pay for road improvements. At the moment, road maintaince is funded in part by property taxes, income taxes, and two sales taxes applied to gasoline and petrol sales. This measure wants to put it into law that all gasoline taxes should go directly to road repair. Nothing wrong with that proposal. However, the additionof Prop's 1B-E is another issue.

The idea behind these measures is that a $20 billion (yes, that's a 2 followed with 11 zeros) bond will go directly to highway maintainence, and be repaid - with intererst- from the state's general fund over the next 30 years.

Let's think about this for a moment. The system as it is now repairs the roads as they need to be repaired... why fix something that's not broken. The Highway system in California, outdated as it may be, cannot be repaired over night, whether legislators have $10 or $20 billion. There should be a proposal drawn for fixing the problem before the bond is issued. It's that simple.