Propositions demystified: What are you voting on?

The+cigarettes+are+in+a+cabinet+from+the+Safeway+in+Cupertino.+A+customer+would+have+to+ask+customer+service+for+a+pack+and+the+clerk+would+unlock+the+cabinet+and+sell+it+to+them.

Nisha Shankar

The cigarettes are in a cabinet from the Safeway in Cupertino. A customer would have to ask customer service for a pack and the clerk would unlock the cabinet and sell it to them.

by Nisha Shankar, Reporter

The Nov. 8 ballot for the Santa Clara County contains 17 propositions numbered 51 through 67, and the voters can select yes or no to approve or reject the respective proposition.

Marijuana Legalization

The state has put forward Proposition 64 on the Nov. 8 ballot, which aims to legalize marijuana for recreational use for adults 21 or older.

If passed, the state would tax businesses that would then be allowed to grow non-medical marijuana, resulting in tax revenues of over $1 billion. This money would be used for law enforcement, environmental production and youth programs.

“My opinion is that [marijuana] should be legal,” said Tiffany Gelineau, substitute nurse for the lower, middle and upper school campuses. “That way it should be legal for people who are 21 and older who can use it, hopefully responsibly. Alcohol is a far more worse substance impairing people’s judgement. I know that it should definitely be in the hands of people who medically need it and they should not be violated for having it.”

Carryout Bag Charges

Proposition 67, a referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot, will uphold the ban of single-use plastic bags if approved.

Currently, grocery stores and pharmacies can only issue recycled paper bags and reusable bags at a charge of 10 cents per bag. Customers can bring their own reusable bag if they wish.

“A lot of stores do offer discounts when you bring your own bag,” said Devin Mitchell, Guest Service Team Lead (GSTL) at Target in Cupertino. “Personally in our store, we give you five cents off for every reusable bag that you do bring. So, you can even pay for a bag that is paper and then bring it back two times and it is like you did not even pay anything. I would vote to keep it just because in my opinion, it just does not make that much of a difference in our community.”

Cigarette Tax

Proposition 56 on the Nov. 8 ballot suggests increasing the cost of cigarettes by $2 per pack.

The tax will yield $1 to $1.4 billion in the 2017-18 financial year. The money will go to funding health care, preventing of tobacco use, research and law enforcement.

“I am hoping that increasing the cost of a pack of cigarettes will make those people who are just wanting to start or the casual smokers say “Hey, it is not worth it”,” Clare Elchert, upper school nurse, said. “Hopefully there will be education and cessation programs to help those who are already smokers because it is an addiction and your body and brain do crave it when you try to stop.”

Death Penalty

Proposition 62 on the Nov. 8 ballot replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

This proposition decreases the criminal justice cost by around $150 million annually.

“I do not disagree with it, only because  [there have been] a lot of people who have been sentenced to death penalty, and a lot of those sentences have never been actually taken to the full extent of seeing it through,” upper school history teacher Roxana Pianko said. “[There are] very few death sentences that actually make it to the point where the person is executed. There is probably a lot of money that goes into that. A lot of these people who end up sentenced die of other reasons.”

Another proposition also addresses the death penalty. Proposition 66 would require changes to the existing process for appeals such as time limits on those appeals.

School Bonds

Proposition 51 on the Nov. 8 ballot allows public schools, charter schools, vocational education facilities and California community college facilities to issue bonds to build new classrooms and modernize the schools.

The bonds would raise about $9 billion for the construction of the school facilities.

“I am very much in favor of Proposition 51 because it is a matching program, and if a local school district raises some money, the state will agree to give you some matching money and help you pay for the cost of building the new buildings,” said Graham Clark, associate superintendent of Fremont Union High School District. “I think it is very important for local communities to pay for some of the costs of building the building. I don’t think the state should pick up the whole cost. It will be helpful if [local communities] match it.”

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on November 16, 2016.