California rejects far-left ballot initiatives on numerous fronts

[Senate Minority Leader Lord Voldemort]

The proposition system here is disastrous, and 2020 was a banner year for haphazard legislating from the ballot box.

For example, Prop 15 in concept should absolutely be passed. Industrial and commercial properties in particular have long exploited the property tax system (one infuriating example of this abuse are country club golf courses sitting on valuable land in the middle of cities who pay property tax rates from the 1980's). Trump has probably taken advantage of our property tax system for his golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes.

However, Prop 15 was written so that any commercial or industrial property over $3,000,000 in value should be taxed at market value instead of sale value. Because the value of land in California is so astronomically high in areas like LA, OC, and the Bay, this can hit small landowners hard, especially during COVID. You really only need to own one corner lot or maybe a small strip mall to hit $3,000,000 in LA.

If small landowners can't afford their property taxes, then the land goes on the market and it is just gobbled up by gigantic real estate firms... which is obviously not desirable, particularly because that was already occurring en masse after the Great Recession. Because the ballot initiatives are state constitutional amendments, there is no way for the legislature to go back and adjust the valuation threshold of Prop 15 to something like $6,000,000 or $9,000,000, or whatever is actually a workable level.

Prop 22 was horrendous as well. Just goes to show that if you spend enough money, any corporation can carve out loopholes to state laws for your own profit.

The proposition system enables legislators to abdicate their duties and leave helpless voters to legislate from the ballot box. And the worst part is, no one seems to care enough to reform it.