Propositions matter

Editorial

• Prop. 101 - State Trust Land. NO: The measure fails to offer sufficient change or safeguards needed to preserve open space while ensuring trust-land income for public education.
  
  
• Prop. 104 - Aggregate Expenditure Limitation. YES: The voters in 2000 approved Prop. 301, an increase in taxes for public education funding. Prop. 104 would exempt those revenues from constitutional limits on spending, allowing our schools to take advantage of much-needed funds.
  
  
• Prop. 200 - Indian Gaming. YES: Money would fund state college scholarships as well as programs for senior citizens, tribal education and tribal elderly care. It is the most efficient of the three Indian gaming propositions.
  
  
• Prop. 201 - Indian Gaming and Racetrack Expansion. NO: There is no need to expand gaming at privately owned racetracks. Further, Prop. 201 would direct larger payments to the state than Prop. 200, depriving tribes of revenues for health care, education and housing.
  
  
• Prop. 202 - 17 Tribe Indian Gaming. NO: This proposition would divert millions of dollars from the tribes into a bureaucratic morass that could be manipulated to balance the state budget rather than provide needed public services.
  
  
• Prop. 203 - Medical Use of Marijuana. YES. This proposition would ensure those found in possession of more than two ounces of marijuana will be fined, rather than charged with a civil offense and dragged through an overloaded court system. It would allow those using marijuana for medicinal purposes to possess even more. It is a red herring that this proposition would force the state to acquire and distribute marijuana, turning the Department of Public Safety into a drug dealer.
  
  
• Prop. 300 - State Trust Land. YES: Revenues from state trust land fund public education. However, past legislatures have diverted some of this money to the state's General Fund. Prop. 300 would make it more difficult to do so by requiring a 3/4-majority vote.
  
  
• Prop. 301 - State Lottery. YES: This measure would continue the Arizona State Lottery until July 1, 2012. Lottery revenues fund life-enhancing programs, services and initiatives, including mass transit, street repair, playgrounds, arts and humanities programs, and services for abused and neglected children.