Most think Prop. 13 remains a good thing

The California Business Roundtable recently conducted a statewide survey of likely voters in the 2016 election.  They were trying to find out if voters still supported Prop 13, the 1978 constitutional amendment that caps property taxes until there is a transfer of title.  There are several proposals flying around Sacramento for amending Prop 13 especially regarding taxes on commercial and industrial properties.

As a backdrop to the Prop 13 findings, there are some other interesting results.  When asked if the state was on the right track or the wrong track, 54.9 percent said the wrong track with 45.1 percent saying right track. 

As one might expect, Democrats are feeling better with 70.5 percent saying the state is on the right track while 83.4 percent of the Republicans believed it is the wrong track.  The Independents sided with the Republicans - 62.8 percent said wrong track compared to just 37.2 percent believing things are going well.

The answer to the question of what is the biggest issue facing the state currently is no surprise - the drought - 60 percent of respondents agree.  The next highest issue - lack of leadership claimed a mere seven percent followed by jobs and the economy at six percent.

When it comes to where government should spend more, assuring a long-term adequate supply of water tops the list followed closely by fixing roads and bridges.  Programs on which the respondents thought the state was spending the right amounts included long-term debt reduction, social services and investments in addressing climate change. 

Democrats, Republicans and Independents all agreed there is one program that is getting too much money - prisons and the correctional system.

Surprisingly, 62.8 percent of respondents said that California is still in a recession.  Every day there is more good news about the economy, more jobs, and more people back to work.  But it doesn’t seem to be “trickling down” to voters - 52.5 percent of Democrats, 76.7 percent of Republicans and 62.7 percent of Independents say California is not out of the recession.

After 37 years, it is no surprise that only 35.8 percent of the respondents said they are very familiar with Prop 13 while 42.4 percent are somewhat familiar.  One in five said they are not familiar at all with the proposition.  

Yet, while the details may not be well known, 60.7 percent say Prop 13 is a good thing while only 20 percent say it is a bad thing for California.  Strong support is true regardless of the party:  Democrats 56.2 percent good, 28.9 percent bad; Republicans 77.9 percent good and 10.3 percent bad; Independents 60.7 percent good and 18.6 percent bad.

If the Proposition were on the ballot today, 65 percent of Democrats, 82.2 percent of Republicans and 72.2 percent of Independents say they would probably support it for combined survey result of 72.3 percent support. 

The results provide policymakers with several take-aways: the economy is still fragile for many people, most voters have no desire to “fix” Prop 13, but they certainly want lawmakers to fix the long term challenge of providing Californians with reliable supplies of water. I hope Sacramento is listening.