Recommendations for the May 19 special election

Yes on 1A: Proposition 1A is a common-sense, rational and long-needed reform. It will not guarantee the end of deficits. If a future decline is steep enough or long enough, no rainy-day fund will be big enough to cover all of the shortfall. But it will cushion the blow. And it is far better than what we have now. The ups and downs of state taxes have allowed legislators to binge on spending one year and starve programs the next, creating unpredictability and false expectations of what the state will provide. Previous rainy-day funds have proven porous. Prop. 1A would patch the holes. This should be seen as a down payment on comprehensive reform. That has to include lowering the requirement for two-thirds of the Legislature to approve a state budget and new taxes, but voters won't agree to that change without spending controls. Under Prop. 1A, yearly overall spending would be based on a 10-year average of state revenues, adjusted for inflation and population growth. Three percent of revenues each year, plus additional windfalls, would go into a rainy-day fund that would be used when revenues fall or, once the fund is full, to pay off debt and unmet obligations such as retirees' health benefits.

Yes on 1B: This provides $9.3 billion for K-12 schools and community colleges — about $1.5 billion a year over the next six years — but goes into effect only if Proposition 1A passes. Because of plunging revenue and budgeting shenanigans, the Legislature substantially lowered funding under Proposition 98 for K-12 schools and community colleges. With Proposition 1B, the Legislature acknowledged that it needed to gradually restore the Proposition 98 base spending, or California schools would be crippled for years.

No on 1D and 1E: Among all the special election ballot measures, Prop. 1D & 1E stand out for the long-term fiscal damage they would do by cutting children’s services and mental health care.Proposition 1D will divert $268 million a year for the next five years from voter-approved children's programs (Prop. 10 of 1998); and Proposition 1E will raid $230 million a year for the next two years from voter-approved mental health programs (Prop. 63 of 2004). Together, these programs provide little in terms of a budget solution, but the negative impact they'll have on children's and mental health programs will be devastating and have long-term consequences that will cost California taxpayers more money than the expected savings.

1C and 1F: No recommendation.

The above endorsements reflect the views of the Sun’s editorial board, not necessarily those of others connected to the Sun.