Proposition 1A was a defeated

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

ballot proposition A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

that appeared on the May 19, 2009

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

ballot. It was a constitutional amendment that would have increased the annual contributions to the state's

rainy day fund A rainy day or rainy day fund is a reserved amount of money to be used in times when regular income is disrupted or decreased in order for typical operations to continue. In the United States, the term is usually used to apply to the funds mainta ...

. The proposition was legislatively referred to voters by the State Legislature.

Background

In February 2009 the State Legislature narrowly passed the 2009–2010 state budget during a special session. As part of the plan to lower the state's annual deficits, the State Legislature ordered a special election with various budget reform ballot propositions, among them Proposition 1A. The proposition was part of Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1 (Third Extraordinary Session), which was authored by

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

assemblymen

Roger Niello Roger Niello (born 2 June 1948) is an American politician who is currently in the California State Senate representing the 6th district, which includes portions of Sacramento and Placer counties. He is a Republican who had also served in the Cal ...

of Fair Oaks and

Anthony Adams Anthony "Spice" Adams (born June 18, 1980) is an American television host, actor, comedian, and former football defensive tackle. After playing college football for Penn State, he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of ...

of Hesperia. The amendment passed in the State Assembly by a vote of 74 to 6 and in the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

by a vote of 30 to 8.

Proposal

Proposition 1A would have increased the target size of the state's rainy day fund from 5% to 12.5% of the General Fund (the state's chief operating fund). The proposition also established a way of determining which extra revenues to contribute to the rainy day fund (officially the Budget Stabilization Account, however Proposition 1A would have changed the name of the fund to the Budget Stabilization Fund). Extra revenues would first be used to meet constitutionally mandated education funding obligations and the remainder would be deposited in the rainy day fund. Once the target size was reached, any other revenues would have been used to pay off Economic Recovery Bonds established by Proposition 57 in 2004. Once these obligations were made any further unexpected revenues could be used on other projects. If Proposition 1B also passed, then 1.5% of revenues would be subtracted from the rainy day fund annually until $9.3 billion was paid to public education. The State Legislature passed a different bill that included tax increases with the 2009–2010 budget. That bill had a provision that stated if Proposition 1A passed, the tax increases would continue for another two years.

Results

References

External links

Text of Proposition 1A
{{CA2009elections 1A Failed amendments to the Constitution of California