Voters No Longer Feel Like Propositioning

Are Californians finally propositioned out?

For the first time since 1964, no voter-sponsored initiatives will appear on the state ballot in the June election.

Just over a year ago, in the last statewide election, 13 measures were on the ballot--and only two passed.

Among the 30 propositions failing to qualify this time were ones calling for legalized sports wagering, universal health care coverage and reinstatement of campaign contribution limits.

Also not measuring up to public demand was a proposal that attracted the most publicity nationwide--a tongue-in-cheek one guaranteeing upstanding California workers six weeks annual vacations. At least 384,974 voter signatures were needed to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

“The long ballots in the past have led to a certain amount of disenchantment with the initiative process,” said Melissa Warren of the secretary of state’s election office.

Other factors included the Middle East war and the state’s economy.

“You basically start planning 18 months in advance of the election and we found that everybody was paralyzed politically after the invasion (of Kuwait),” said Kelly Kimball, owner of a Northridge consulting firm that specializes in gathering signatures for ballot measures. “(And) many groups just don’t have the money for initiatives this year.”

“Another year like this and I’ll be flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s.”

Yet, decision-happy voters can take solace.

The Legislature is still likely to place several bond measures and perhaps a constitutional amendment or two on the June ballot.

Moreover, petitions dealing with gay rights, snack taxes, welfare cuts and the initiative process itself are in circulation--for the November ballot.

SURFACE STATE

California’s ‘groundswell’: Not only did California’s population skyrocket in the 1990 census, its land mass increased.

A new U.S. Census Bureau survey reports that the state’s total size is 163,707 square miles--compared to 158,706 in 1980.

The 3.15% increase represents no purchases or seizures of land. Rather, it results from a new federal method to determine the nation’s geographical area.

For the first time, researchers counted coastal and territorial waters out to the three-mile limit. As well, the measurements were done by computer rather than by hand.

For the statisticians out there: California now contains 155,973 square miles of land, 2,674 square miles of inland waters and 5,060 square miles of territorial and coastal waters.

And for the snobs out there who claim that there is nothing beneath the surface of most Californians: at least the Golden State contains more surface area than all but two other states--Alaska and Texas.

Doctors in California

As of June 30, 1991, there were 165,204 physicians and other health care specialists licensed by the Medical Board of California. About a quarter of all physician licenses here are held by residents of other states or nations. Below are selected numbers of different health professionals who are currently licensed to practice in California versus the numbers three years ago:

NO. LICENSES ON NO. LICENSES ON LICENSE TYPE JUNE 30, 1988 JUNE 30, 1991 *Physician / Surgeon 90,450 101,344 *Physical Therapist 10,519 12,421 *Respiratory Care Practitioner 10,870 11,739 *Psychologist 8,162 9,840 *Speech Pathologist 5,520 6,571 *Acupuncturist 2,060 2,681 *Podiatrist 2,133 2,035 *Hearing Aid Dispenser 1,370 1,671 *Audiologist 887 1,102 *Research Psychoanalyst 45 52

SOURCE: Medical Board of California

Compiled by editorial researcher Tracy Thomas

MEDIA WATCH

Sorry state: In a year of bashing by the national media, California is finally getting some respect, albeit at the expense of the Democratic Party.

A report in the Boston Globe points out that the Golden State, with its tantalizing prize of 54 electoral votes, is the key to any Democratic upset victory in the 1992 presidential race.

“Since the last presidential election, Californians have lived through war, plague, recession, earthquakes, drought, a killer freeze and a pestilent infestation by the poinsettia whitefly,” writes the Globe’s John Aloysius Farrell. “The accumulation of woes seems almost biblical in nature, yet now the residents of the Left Coast are being asked to shoulder what may be the most onerous burden of all: the presidential hopes of the Democratic Party.”

With California’s surging joblessness, taxes, budget deficits and real estate slump, the climate could prove conducive to a Democratic triumph, the Globe continues. “(But) it’s a testament to the sorry state of the Democratic Party that its hopes now rest on a state it has won just once since Harry Truman’s victory in 1948.”

The big ones: So what do the state’s news editors view as the top stories of the year?

Number one, according to an Associated Press poll, was the massive Oakland Hills blaze that claimed 25 lives and gutted more than 3,000 residences. Second was the videotaped Los Angeles police beating of Rodney G. King, which spurred investigations, and the temporary ouster and planned permanent resignation of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

The rest: 3) the bleak state economy 4) Magic Johnson’s retirement because of infection with the virus that causes AIDS 5) the state’s military support role in the Persian Gulf War 6) the snack tax and other new fees to cope with a $14-billion budget deficit 7) sixth year of drought 8) Sacramento River train derailment that caused a pesticide spill near Dunsmuir 9) Interstate 5 dust storm that killed 17 motorists 10) the conviction of former Lincoln Savings & Loan chief Charles H. Keating Jr. in the costliest S&L; collapse in U.S. history.

EXIT LINE

“It was the ultimate irony to make history for such a mild year for loss of acres, and at the same time make history for the greatest structure loss.”

--State Department of Forestry spokeswoman Karen Terrill, commenting on the state’s bizarre 1991 fire season. The record low total of 24,698 acres charred included the Oakland and Berkeley neighborhoods devastated in the Oct. 20 conflagration.