Inspiring Fear--and Bad Government

The state Supreme Court ruling overturning a half-cent sales tax for jails and courts passed by a majority of San Diego County voters--but not a two-thirds majority--is a major disappointment, especially in a year with a record number of homicides and an increase of more than 16% in violent crime. The ruling may also create trouble for other governments around the state, which have used approaches similar to San Diego’s to avoid the super-majority requirements of Proposition 13.

What the San Diego County Board of Supervisors did--poorly it turns out--was set up an agency to administer the tax to build and operate jails and courts. The county argued that because the agency was an independent board it was exempt from the Proposition 13 two-thirds rule. But the court said a special agency could not be “essentially controlled” by existing local government. San Diego’s was, in part, because two county supervisors sat on the agency board.

San Diego County may have been inept in its attempt at an end run around Proposition 13. But what choice do local governments have? The search for loopholes will continue as long as a minority of California voters can prevent a majority from building jails, libraries, roads and public transit, from hiring more police or improving schools.

Voters can always turn down tax increases, as recent elections have shown repeatedly. But Proposition 13 makes it virtually impossible for them to exercise their rights to pass a tax for the public good.

The two-thirds restriction should be changed. Fortunately a simple majority of the electorate can do it. But to get such a measure on the ballot requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Perhaps this case will provide the impetus for change.

For San Diego County, the $1.6 billion that the tax would have generated was a way out of a crisis. The jail system is under a court-ordered limit of 3,829 inmates, and that number is about 1,200 more than the jails were built to accommodate. To comply with the order, thousands of misdemeanor arrestees are now just cited and released. Jail sentences are regularly shortened.

The options for San Diego County are bleak. If it can find a way to reconstitute the special agency, it can go back to the voters for a tax increase requiring only a simple majority, and should. Otherwise it will need two-thirds voter approval, which has dim chances in these economic times.

It’s hard to believe that the Californians who voted for Proposition 13 meant to make it this tough to build something as essential to public safety as jails.