California Proposition 5 (2008)

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California Proposition 5, or the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (or NORA) was an initiated state statute that appeared as a ballot measure on the November 2008 ballot in California. It was disapproved by voters on November 4 of that year.

In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place new legislation on a popular ballot, or to place legislation that has recently been passed by a legislature on a ballot for a popular vote. Initiatives and referendums, along with recall elections and popular primary elections, are signature reforms of the Progressive Era; they are written into several state constitutions, particularly in the West.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Contents

Provisions of the initiative

Proposition 5:

Fiscal impact analysis

According to the state of California, the initiative, if it passes, would lead to:

Supporters

The official proponent of the measure is Daniel Abrahamson.

Argument in favor of Prop 5

Notable arguments that have been made in favor of Prop 5 include:

Donors to the Prop 5 campaign

As of September 6, 2008, the five largest donors to the "Yes on 5" campaign are:

George Soros Hungarian-American business magnate, investor and philanthropist

George Soros, Hon is a Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist. As of February 2018, he had a net worth of $8 billion, having donated more than $32 billion to his philanthropic agency, Open Society Foundations.

John Glen Sperling was an American businessman who is credited with having led the contemporary for-profit education movement in the United States. The fortune he amassed was based on his founding of the for-profit University of Phoenix for working adults in 1976, which is now part of the publicly traded Apollo Group. For ventures ranging from pet cloning to green energy, he has widely been described as an "eccentric" self-made man by the Washington Post and other media.

Path to ballot

The petition drive conducted to qualify the measure for the fall ballot was conducted by Progressive Campaigns, Inc. at a cost of about $1.762 million. [3]

Opposition

People Against the Proposition 5 Deception is the official committee against the proposition.

Other opponents include:

Martin Sheen American actor

Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez, known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor who first became known for his roles in the films The Subject Was Roses (1968) and Badlands (1973), and later achieved wide recognition for his leading role in Apocalypse Now (1979) and as President Josiah Bartlet in the television series The West Wing (1999–2006).

Rational Recovery is a commercial vendor of material related to counseling, guidance, and direct instruction for addiction designed as a direct counterpoint to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and twelve-step programs. Rational Recovery was founded in 1986 by Jack Trimpey, a California-licensed clinical social worker. Trimpey is a recovered alcoholic who works in the field of treatment of alcoholism and other drug addictions. Rational Recovery is a commercial trademark, along with the Addictive Voice Recognition Technique (AVRT). The organization published a periodical, the Journal of Rational Recovery, from at latest 1993 until at least June 2001

Arguments against Prop 5

Notable arguments that have been made against Prop 5 include:

Donors to no on 5 Campaign

As of October 16, 2008, the ten largest donors for 'No on 5' are:

Lawsuit to remove from ballot

Opponents of Proposition 5, including thirty-two district attorneys and former California governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis, petitioned the California Supreme Court to issue a preemptory writ of mandate to remove Proposition 5 from the November ballot. The lawsuit alleges that Proposition 5 attempts to alter the constitution via statute, which is unconstitutional. [8] [9]

The California Supreme Court declined to issue the preemptory writ. Generally, initiatives' constitutionality are not reviewed until after a vote has passed and the initiative becomes law. [10]

Newspaper endorsements

Editorial boards opposed

Results

Proposition 5 [14]
ChoiceVotes%
X mark.svg No7,566,78359.48
Yes5,155,20640.52
Valid votes12,721,98992.57
Invalid or blank votes1,021,1887.43
Total votes13,743,177100.00

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References

  1. Sacramento Bee, "George Soros adds $400,000 to Yes on 5", September 3, 2008
  2. Details of $5,000+ donations
  3. Campaign expenditure details
  4. "L.A. Now". The Los Angeles Times. August 27, 2008.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  6. "Sacramento Bee, "Our View: Judges believe Proposition 5's flaws are fatal", October 3, 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  7. "PEOPLE AGAINST THE PROPOSITION 5 DECEPTION" . Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  8. "No on Prop 5 Campaign Files With State Supreme Court to Remove It From the Ballot, July 17, 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  9. Calif. justices asked to reject drug initiative
  10. "California Supreme Court rejects efforts to strike prop 5 from ballot. ". Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  11. Huffington, Arianna (October 30, 2008). "The Battle Over CA Prop 5: Special Interests Overwhelming the Public Interest". The Huffington Post . Retrieved 2008-11-08.
  12. Los Angeles Times, "No on Proposition 9", September 26, 2008
  13. "Pasadena Star News, "Dangerous Prop 5", September 2, 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  14. "Statement of Vote: 2008 General Election" (PDF). California Secretary of State. 2008-12-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2009-02-21.

Official campaigns

Further reading

Basic information