ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 53

Proposition 53, the Stop Blank Checks initiative, is simple. It only does two things:

1) It requires California voter approval for STATE projects that would use over $2 billion in state revenue bonds.

2) BEFORE THAT VOTE, it ensures full disclosure of the TOTAL COST of any state revenue bond project greater than $2 billion.

Currently, other state bonds for water, school and transportation projects require voter approval. But a loophole in state law allows politicians and unaccountable state agencies to circumvent a public vote and borrow BILLIONS in state revenue bond debt for massive state projects WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL.

Proposition 53 will STOP POLITICIANS FROM ISSUING BLANK CHECK DEBT to complete billion dollar state boondoggles. Take California's bullet train. They told us it would cost California taxpayers $10 billion. Now we know it's going to cost more than $60 billion! Yet, you don't have a right to vote on that huge increase!

Right now, there is NO VOTE BY THE LEGISLATURE OR THE PEOPLE required to issue these massive state mega‐bonds. Unelected and unaccountable state bureaucrats have all the power and you have to pay through higher water rates or increased fees!

Proposition 53 says IF YOU HAVE TO PAY, YOU SHOULD HAVE A SAY.

Proposition 53 just GIVES YOU A VOICE, A VOTE, added TRANSPARENCY, and it HOLDS POLITICIANS ACCOUNTABLE. That's it! Read the initiative for yourself.

Proposition 53 STOPS POLITICIANS FROM LYING about the real cost of state mega‐projects. Willie Brown, once the state's most powerful politician, wrote that lowballing initial budgets is commonplace with public projects. He said, "The idea is to get going. Start digging a hole and make it so big, there's no alternative to coming up with the money to fill it in."

Despite the scare tactics of the politicians, bureaucrats and corporations that feed off of the state's public debt, Proposition 53 DOES NOT IMPACT LOCAL PROJECTS, the University of California, freeway construction or needed response after a natural disaster.

Proposition 53 SIMPLY APPLIES THE LONG‐STANDING CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION against politicians imposing higher debt without voter approval to MASSIVE STATE REVENUE BONDS.

Proposition 53 just ENSURES FULL BUDGET DISCLOSURE AND VOTER APPROVAL of state revenue bonds for California's mega-bucks projects that will affect future generations.

Join California's leading state and local taxpayer organizations, small businesses, working families and nearly one million Californians who put Proposition 53 on the ballot. Vote YES on 53!

DINO CORTOPASSI, Retired farmer

JON COUPAL, President

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

JOHN MCGINNESS, Elected Sheriff (Retired)

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 53

Prop. 53 doesn't give you a say. Quite the opposite. Prop. 53 erodes your voice and the voice of your community. Please read it for yourself.

PROP. 53 ERODES LOCAL CONTROL BY FORCING STATEWIDE VOTES ON SOME LOCAL PROJECTS

Local government groups representing California's cities, counties and local water districts, including the League of California Cities and Association of California Water Agencies, oppose this measure, warning it could give voters in faraway regions the power to deny local projects your community needs.

PROP. 53 DOES NOT INCLUDE AN EXEMPTION FOR EMERGENCIES/DISASTERS

California Professional Firefighters warns Prop. 53's failure to contain an exemption for emergencies "could delay our state's ability to rebuild critical infrastructure following earthquakes, wildfires, floods or other natural disasters."

PROP. 53 WOULD JEOPARDIZE MUCH NEEDED REPAIRS TO WATER SUPPLY, BRIDGES, AND OTHER CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Prop. 53 will jeopardize your community's ability to fix aging infrastructure, including improving water supply, making bridge and freeway safety repairs, and renovating hospitals to make them earthquake safe.

PROP. 53 IS A SELF‐INTEREST ABUSE OF THE INITIATIVE PROCESS

Prop. 53 is a multi‐million dollar attempt to stop one single project. We cannot allow one well‐financed individual to abuse the initiative process and jeopardize vital infrastructure and safety projects around the state.

PROP. 53 IS OPPOSED BY A BROAD, BIPARTISAN COALITION OF ORGANIZATIONS INCLUDING:

• California Professional Firefighters • California State Sheriffs' Association • Association of California Water Agencies • California Hospital Association • League of California Cities • Firefighters, paramedics, family farmers, environmentalists, nurses, cities, counties, local water districts, and law enforcement.

www.NoProp53.com

LOU PAULSON, President

California Professional Firefighters

KEITH DUNN, Executive Director

Self-Help Counties Coalition

SHERIFF DONNY YOUNGBLOOD, President

California State Sheriffs' Association

ARGUMENT AGAINST PROPOSITION 53

PROP. 53 ERODES LOCAL CONTROL AND CONTAINS NO EXEMPTION FOR EMERGENCIES/NATURAL DISASTERS

Prop. 53 is opposed by a broad, bipartisan coalition of organizations including California Professional Firefighters, California Chamber of Commerce, California Hospital Association, firefighters, paramedics, family farmers, environmentalists, nurses, law enforcement, and local governments because it would erode local control and jeopardize vital infrastructure improvements in communities across California.

ERODES LOCAL CONTROL BY REQUIRING STATEWIDE VOTE FOR SOME LOCAL PROJECTS

Groups representing California's cities, counties and local water agencies, including League of California Cities and Association of California Water Agencies, all oppose Prop. 53. Under this measure, cities and towns that come together to form a joint powers agency or similar body with the state to build needed infrastructure could have to put their local project on a statewide ballot. That means voters in faraway regions could veto some local projects your community needs and supports—like water storage or bridge safety repairs—even though those voters don't use or care about your local improvements.

NO EXEMPTION FOR EMERGENCIES OR NATURAL DISASTERS

California Professional Firefighters, representing 30,000 firefighters and paramedics, warns: "Prop. 53 irresponsibly fails to contain an exemption for natural disasters or major emergencies. That flaw could delay our state's ability to rebuild critical infrastructure following earthquakes, wildfires, floods or other natural or man‐made disasters."

THREATENS WATER SUPPLY AND DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS

The Association of California Water Agencies says: "Prop. 53 could threaten a wide range of local water projects including storage, desalination, recycling and other vital projects to protect our water supply and access to clean, safe drinking water. Prop. 53 will definitely impede our ability to prepare for future droughts."

JEOPARDIZES ABILITY TO REPAIR OUTDATED INFRASTRUCTURE

Our communities already suffer from a massive backlog of local infrastructure needs, including improving water supply and delivery, making safety repairs to bridges, overpasses and freeways, and renovating community hospitals to make them earthquake safe. Prop. 53 will jeopardize local communities' ability to repair aging infrastructure. The California State Sheriffs' Association says: "Reliable infrastructure is critical to public safety. This measure erodes local control and creates new hurdles that could block communities from upgrading critical infrastructure such as bridges, water systems and hospitals."

FINANCED AND PROMOTED BY MULTI‐MILLIONAIRE WITH A PERSONAL AGENDA

This measure is financed entirely by one multi‐millionaire and his family, who are spending millions in an attempt to disrupt a single water infrastructure project. Irrespective of one's position on that single project, his initiative has far‐reaching, negative implications for other infrastructure projects throughout California. We cannot allow one multi‐millionaire to abuse the initiative system to push his narrow personal agenda.

OPPOSED BY A BROAD BIPARTISAN COALITION:

• California Professional Firefighters • California State Sheriffs' Association • Association of California Water Agencies • League of California Cities • California Hospital Association • California Chamber of Commerce

Prop. 53 is a misguided measure that:

• Erodes local control by requiring a statewide vote on some local projects. • Disrupts our ability to build critically needed water storage and supply. • Contains no exemptions for emergencies/natural disasters.

www.NoProp53.com

LOU PAULSON, President

California Professional Firefighters

TIM QUINN, Executive Director

Association of California Water Agencies

MARK GHILARDUCCI, Director

California Office of Emergency Services

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT AGAINST PROPOSITION 53

Proposition 53 trusts voters. Proposition 53's opponents are afraid of voters.

OPPONENTS INCLUDE SPECIAL INTERESTS WHO HAVE FOUGHT TAX REFORM FOR DECADES, EVEN PROPOSITION 13. They include insiders who profit from massive state revenue bond projects, and politicians and bureaucrats who don't trust you to decide whether to approve boondoggles like the $64 billion bullet train and the $6 billion Bay Bridge fiasco that now requires $6 tolls.

IF TAXPAYERS HAVE TO PAY, THEY SHOULD HAVE A SAY! Prop. 53 holds politicians accountable by giving you a vote on state mega-projects paid for by state revenue bonds over $2 billion. Voters will have the right to decide, just as we do with all other kinds of state bonds. And Prop. 53 finally unmasks the true cost of all multibillion dollar state bonds.

PROP. 53 TRUSTS VOTERS to decide whether to approve the massive multibillion dollar increase in the bullet train’s price tag.

PROP. 53 TRUSTS VOTERS—California taxpayers—to decide by a simple majority whether to spend $17 billion to tunnel water under the Delta to Southern California.

PROP. 53 WOULD HAVE TRUSTED VOTERS to decide whether extravagant design changes on the Bay Bridge were worth $5 billion in cost overruns and outrageous tolls that working families can't afford.

Prop. 53 clearly exempts local projects. Read it yourself at www.YESon53.com.

The Sacramento Bee said Prop. 53 won't hurt disaster relief because " . . . emergency repairs are traditionally paid for by the federal government or other sources—not revenue bonds."

IF YOU TRUST TAXPAYERS AND VOTERS more than lobbyists, politicians and bureaucrats, VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 53!

JON COUPAL, President

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

KAREN MITCHOFF, Contra Costa County Supervisor

MAURY HANNIGAN, California Highway Patrol Commissioner (Retired)