Ballotpedia shows why this November’s elections are important

Ballotpedia shows why this November’s elections are important

With both houses of Congress passing the budget deal, and the Tea Party being smeared by both parties, I wanted to give my Legal Insurrection friends some reasons to have hope and a reason to focus locally.

Many of these reasons can be found in Ballotpedia, an essential encyclopedia of ballot measures designed to connect people to politics, as well as election resources.

As the Media Director for the San Diego Tea Party group, SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition, I prepare the group’s online voter guides.

One of the most useful sources of information on ballot measures, such as the section I put together last year pertaining to San Diego Pension Reform Measure B, is Ballotpedia.  Here is a snippet from Ballotpedia’s report on one of the few wins for taxpayers that occurred last November:

About Proposition B

Like Measure B, San Diego’s Prop B sought to curb pension costs via several different changes to the city charter. These changes included giving new city workers a 401(k)-style retirement plan with a city match instead of a guaranteed pension; maxing out the guaranteed pensions for newly-hired public safety workers at 80 percent, as opposed to the standard 90 percent; capping the city’s payroll for five years at its 2011 pay rate, which was less than $600 million annually; and striking a provision from the charter that required a majority vote of all city employees to approve any changes to retirement benefits.^[19]

Election and aftermath

Voters approved Prop B by a wide margin of 65.81 percent to 32.19 percent.

Our national government seems unable to curb its big spending ways.  However,  many cities around the country have pension reform measure on their local ballots for November 2013…and here’s where our vote can truly make a difference.  Here are some Ballotpedia entries to consider:

• Cincinnati Pension Reform Charter Amendment Initiative, Issue 4 (November 2013)
• City of Hialeah Pension Reform Charter Amendment Question (in Miami-Dade County, FL)
• City of Tucson Pension Reform Initiative, Proposition 201

There is also a pending pension reform measure for Torrance, CA, and San Fransisco is offering Proposition A (Retiree Health Care Trust Fund), which addresses shortfalls in their pension system.

As the magnitude of the Obamacare rollout failure becomes apparent and visits to its website continue to plummet, voters will want to take the opportunity to choose some measure of fiscal control.

Ballotpedia’s list of pension reforms offers some great opportunities to get involved and force our politicians into some semblance of fiscal responsibility.

The left loves to say “think globally, act locally.”  Okay, we will, but we’ll focus on thinking about the future of our country, and we will act locally.

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