CA EVENT: Blockbuster Democracy (San Jose)

Once more, California's elected leaders have tossed the budget hot potato into the laps of the state's voters. As part of the long-delayed budget deal struck in late February, the Legislature and Governor have placed six measures on a May 19 special election. The passage or defeat of these measures will powerfully shape California's  course both in the current recession crisis and in the decade ahead.

As is so often the case, the measures on the ballot require voters to make sense of, and make judgments about, some of the most complex issues in state government. Voters will be deciding whether to reform many of the reforms they have adopted over the last quarter century, including the state's spending limit, its rainy-day budget reserve, the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee for schools, the California lottery, and financing for mental health and early childhood programs. Proposition 1A would also extend the length of the temporary tax increases enacted as part of the budget.

On April 21st, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and the New America Foundation hosted a panel of some of the state's leading experts, from a variety of points of view, to demystify the measures on the May 19 ballot and assess what their passage or defeat might mean for California's future.

Participants

Jon Fleischman
Publisher
FlashReport.org

Loren Kaye
President
California Foundation for Commerce and Education

Joe Mathews
Irvine Fellow, New America Foundation
Author, The People's Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy

Jean Ross
Executive Director
California Budget Project

Moderator
Mark Paul
Senior Scholar & Deputy Director, California Program, New America Foundation