CCN has been following the movement to reform Eminent Domain closely for close to a year. In fact, CaliforniaCityNews' first post ever was a guest piece by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, who wrote: Eminent Domain Reforms Imminent. On Tuesday, California voters fufilled that prophesy, passing Proposition 99 by a wide margin -- 63% - 37%.
Prop 98, the Howard Jarvis sponsored measure that would have eliminated rent controls across the state, failed by a nearly inverse margin, garnering just 31% voter support.
CCN loves elections, and can never help itself from pouring over returns on the very well run Secretary of State website. Some notes on these campaigns in particular:
- Prop 99 passed in every California county except Colusa, who rejected it by a 60 - 40 margin.
- Prop 98 passed in just 19 of the state's 58 counties. These wins were primarily in the Central Valley and far northern areas of the state, and many of these victories were narrow -- less than 52%.
- Prop 98 failed in every major metro area (and anywhere virtually close thereto), suggesting the spate of TV ads in recent weeks had a strong effect on the outcome.
The Prop 99 coaltion should be congratulated on a well run campaign. This was a critical effort to intiate eminent domain reform and defeat a deceptive measure in Prop 98. Here's a rundown of major media coverage of the election: SacBee, LA Times, San Jose Merc, SFChron.
Comments