WATCHING THE California Elections : Statewide Propositions: The Tobacco Lobby Vs.The Health Lobby and a Fight Over Aids Testing

Tackling the longest state ballot since the Jazz Age, California voters on Tuesday will decide a dizzying variety of measures, from a proposal to force health officials to revise their basic strategy for dealing with AIDS, to a plan to let judges moonlight as teachers.

In addition, voters will be asked if they want to subsidize health programs by taxing smokers, let the governor revoke parole for murderers, and authorize a record amount of bonds--$3.3-billion worth divided among nine programs.

They also will be asked to referee a dispute between Gov. George Deukmejian and the Legislature over the fate of a worker safety program, and another fight between the governor and state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig over the financing of public schools.

Several of the more controversial measures--including those involving AIDS and smoking--try to balance questions of public health and personal freedom.

Together, the 29 statewide measures make up the longest state ballot since 1922 and the third-longest in state history. The state record was set in 1914 when 48 measures, including 17 initiatives, were put to voters.

Although they often were squeezed off the front page or priced out of television by higher-profile, bigger-budget races, the lesser-known ballot measures could have a significant effect on California.

For example, two propositions--96 and 102--attempt to override the advice of the medical community and weaken state laws assuring the confidentiality of acquired immune deficiency syndrome tests. Another, Proposition 98, would mandate a larger share of the state budget for schools, thereby squeezing all other programs up against the strict Gann spending limit enacted by voters in 1979.

The ballot also includes three measures to amend 1978’s Proposition 13, the landmark initiative that revamped state property tax law. One would amend the law to lower the cost of paying off bonds, another would ease senior citizens’ tax bills when they move, and the third would give to veterans a tax break they already enjoy in other states.

Despite the potential consequences of such proposals, a recent Los Angeles Times Poll found that many voters--from one-third to one-half--were confused or unclear about what many of the measures would do or which of them they would support.

Most of those polled also blamed the burdensome ballot on the Legislature’s failure to deal with politically difficult issues, as well as special-interest groups who try to “get around the Legislature.”

Nearly one-third of the ballot measures are bond acts. Totaling $3.3 billion, they set a state record for proposed debt. The old record of $3.24 billion was set in June when only one bond measure failed--a $1-billion transportation plan, which lost by only 355 votes.

There are some equally large proposals in this election, such as a combined $1.4 billion for school construction--$800 million for elementary, middle and high schools and $600 million for colleges and universities--and $1.3 billion for state and county correctional facilities.

In a more emotional vein, there are the issues of public health and private freedom.

Proposition 96, for example, would permit victims of sex crimes and certain other physical assaults to seek court orders forcing their suspected attackers to take an AIDS test. It also would require that prison and jail staff members be told when an inmate tests positive for the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.

Proposition 102 would mandate a basic change in the way California attacks the AIDS epidemic. It would require doctors to report people known or even suspected of carrying the HIV virus and require that officials trace their sexual contacts. People could be tested for AIDS against their will, and the results could be used to deny jobs or insurance to those afflicted with the disease. Some criminal suspects would routinely be tested and their sentences extended if test results were positive. The state’s legislative analyst estimated that this measure could cost hundreds of millions of tax dollars to implement.

The debate over 102 did not attract widespread attention until recently, despite the concerted opposition of medical, academic and religious leaders. But its popularity has waned as time passed. In August, the California Poll found that 72% of voters supported the measure; a recent Los Angeles Times Poll found that only 36% still supported it. However, that poll was conducted before Deukmejian announced on Oct. 28 that he supports the measure. The governor is the only statewide officeholder to back 102.

Proposition 99, another health issue, would hike the state cigarette tax by 25 cents a pack, raising an estimated $600 million a year to subsidize medical care for uninsured poor people, fight tobacco-related diseases and try to stop young people from developing the habit.

This proposal has been hammered hard by the tobacco industry, which has run $10 million in TV ads contending that it would foster crime, bankrupt the poor, crush smokers’ freedom and enrich doctors. Supporters warn that without the measure some public hospitals could be shuttered because of growing deficits caused by uninsured poor people; they add that the measure also would counteract the negative social costs of smoking.

A California Poll showed that 72% of those queried supported Proposition 99 in July. Negative ads shaved that lead to 51% last month, with 30% opposed and 19% still undecided. A subsequent Los Angeles Times Poll gave Proposition 99 a more comfortable 58%-36% margin.

Proposition 95 would allow health and safety inspectors to fine grocers, restaurants, contractors and other businesses for violating state regulations. Now such matters are routinely handled with warnings and voluntary compliance. The fines, which the affected industries say could easily top the $50-million-a-year minimum goal set by the initiative, would be used to feed, house and train homeless people.

Despite warnings from restaurateurs, grocers and even some health inspectors that this proposal could change routine inspections into tense confrontations, voters appear to support this creative method of funding projects for homeless people. The California Poll in September found that 70% of those asked favored the measure.

Proposition 97 is the measure to reinstate California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the worker-safety body that Deukmejian axed earlier this year as purportedly duplicating the mission of a similar federal agency. Supporters of the measure, such as doctors and labor unions, assert that the $6.8 million saved by closing the agency is minimal, while its absence may have resulted in hundreds of needless injuries and 35 avoidable deaths.

Polls indicate that voters agree, though they may be reconsidering. In July, the California Poll gave the proposal a 59%-24% lead; last month, that lead had slipped to 46% to 20%, with a significant 34% undecided.

Proposition 98 would reduce the governor’s options by forcing the state to allocate a fixed minimum share of its budget to local schools and community colleges. Increases would be based on inflation and enrollment and the schools would have first crack at budget surpluses now rebated to taxpayers. Increases would end if state schools--now well below average in some respects--rise up to be among the nation’s leaders in per-student spending and class size.

Opponents warn that the measure would repeal sections of the 1979 voter-approved cap on state spending while forcing severe cuts in other programs, such as law enforcement, health care and state universities. A Los Angeles Times Poll last month found that voters like the idea nonetheless, by a 54%-31% margin.

Proposition 89, on the other hand, would give the governor added authority. It would require the chief executive to affirm, modify or reverse parole board decisions releasing prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for murder.

Critics argue that the measure would politicize the criminal justice system, but advocates say it could prevent a repeat of a 1983 situation in which a man was paroled after being convicted of murdering a teen-ager and raping two teen-age girls and a 43-year-old woman. Both sides expect the measure to pass handily.

Sprinkled in among such life-and-death issues are several measures of somewhat less profound proportions, such as Proposition 88, which would let government agencies bank at industrial loan companies if they offer attractive interest rates, and Proposition 91, which would raise Justice Courts up to the lofty status of Municipal Courts.

There is even a measure, Proposition 94, that would allow sitting judges to moonlight as lecturers at public universities. A complete listing of what the statewide propositions would do, what the arguments are for and against each one, and who is backing the positions can be found on Page 27.