30 Candles for Prop 13

Thirty years ago today, California voters passed Prop 13. At the time, inflation was soaring, the president was losing popularity, and Jerry Brown was running for governor again. So nothing's changed.

The impact of the initiative, which limited property tax increases and required a two-thirds vote in the legislature for any tax increase, is still popular and still being debated. In general, descriptions of its impact are overblown. It's blamed for big declines in school and local government funding that exist only in fevered imaginations. But its impact on state politics and the structure of state government is undeniable. In general, Prop 13 has been a great distorter, separating constituencies and their funding, spawning an initiative industry that dominates politics in California and other Western states, and pushing California towads a volatile, income tax-based system that produces constant uncertainty and crisis. Prop 13 isn't solely to blame for the state's dysfunction, but it's a significant part of the problem.

While we're talking about birthdays and dysfunction, don't forget Prop 98, the education funding guarantee that celebrates its 20th anniversary this November. Props 13 and 98 are the two most important initiatives passed by California voters since World War II--they affect life in the state every single day. And we might be better off without both. I sometimes wonder if there's a trade to be made. The education lobby and unions -- the first and most powerful interest in California -- agree to give up Prop 98's protections if the real estate and anti-tax folks -- a close second in power -- agree to drop Prop 13. Unfortunately, I suspect the education people would agree to the trade. But Prop 13's supporters wouldn't.