I’ve been using the 2020 Advent Of Code challenge as a motivator to teach myself the Rust programming language. I’ve been uploading my solutions to github, and my README file has become a blog of sorts of the lessons I’m learning along the way.
We approved a similar bond in 2004 in response to President Bush cutting all federal funding this kind of research. That was an exceptional circumstance, and there’s no need for this industry to be singled out again for special treatment.
👍 YES on 15: Fair taxes on commercial real estate
This proposition rolls back the Reagan-era “Prop 13” tax break for commercial properties. Under the Reagan-era Prop 13 rules, increases in assessed property value was capped at 1% per year, and as a consequence many commercial properties are no longer paying their fair share of the tax burden, decimating school budgets. Since Prop 13 went into effect, the ranking of California schools in the nation has dropped from #1 to #37. This proposition rolls back Prop 13 for commercial properties only, generating an extra $10B in revenue for public schools.
As the law stands now, 1996’s Prop 209 has banned affirmative action considerations from all state business. This prop rolls back 209, allowing the legislature to choose to implement affirmative action policies as needed. Regardless of whether you support or are against affirmative action, there is no particular reason for the state constitution to tie the legislature’s hands in this way. Let the legislature make the decision.
👍 YES on 17: Restore voting rights to ex-felons
Often, having a felony is an indicator of being too poor to pay for a legal defense. We’ve seen the law abused in California and many other states as a tool to disenfranchise Black Americans. Voting is a fundamental right in a democracy, and the judicial system should never be allowed to disenfranchise voters for life.
👍 YES on 18: Lower voting age
This proposition would allow the overwhelming majority of high school seniors to vote, making voting something that can be taught and encouraged in schools. We know that citizens who start voting often continue voting throughout their lives, so giving young citizens a hand up into civic participation will likely improve voter participating overall.
👎 NO on 19: Assorted Tax Law Changes
I’m both conflicted and confused by this proposition, which contains an assortment of tweaks to our tax code that creates different winners and losers.
SPUR supports this proposition because it closes a loophole on the inheritance of non-primary-residence property.
The League of Women Voters opposes this proposition because of the way it earmarks tax revenue and imposes budgeting restrictions on the legislature.
Even though I found myself liking some parts of this proposition, I ultimately followed the rule of Proposition’s Razor, which says: when in doubt, vote it out.
👎 NO on 20: Increase criminal penalties, especially shoplifting
There are many problems with the US justice system. Having insufficiently draconian punishments for non-violent offenses is not one of them.
I get it: some Californians are upset by the way the current legal system is being used to enable petty theft rings. The right fix is to go after the people organizing those rings, not this. This bill would promote minor theft of $250 to a felony. Fuck that. Let she among us who did not steal some fancy eyeliner as a teenager throw the first stone.
👍 YES on 21: Allow local governments to enact rent control
I am not crazy about rent control. I think it’s often implemented badly, and a means-tested housing subsidy is probably better policy. I believe the mainstream economists (Krugman, others) who say that rent control has a negative effect on housing development and depresses supply.
But: I also see the value of rent control in creating stable communities, especially in boom-and-bust areas like the Bay Area — and also especially during a pandemic. I also think that the NIMBYs that are crippling new housing construction in California are having a far larger impact on the housing supply than rent control.
Right now, rent control is controlled by the state legislature, whose decisions might not fit all municipalities. This proposition would allow local city governments to enact their own rent control policies. As long as expanding the supply isn’t happening anyway, we might as well allow local cities to experiment with rent control and see if we can find a policy that strikes the right balance between renters, owners, and developers.
👎 NO on 22: Repeal AB5, allow Lyft/Uber to screw their workers
Lyft/Uber/Doordash largely funded this proposition in response to AB5, which was a response to a court case that required these companies to treat their drivers as employees, providing unemployment insurance and sick leave.
Worker protection and benefits are complex, and shouldn’t be decided by voters at the ballot box. The state courts and legislature have already arrived at a set of pretty good protections for rideshare drivers, and Prop 22 is an Uber-sponsored attempt to do an end-run around the state government. Nobody should fall for this.
Again, as a proposition, if we get this wrong, the only fix will be yet another ballot proposition. It’s much better to simply leave this issue in the legislature’s hands.
👎 NO on 23: Require physician during dialysis treatment
The private dialysis clinic industry in California is problematic, but this is the wrong fix. There is no obvious benefit to the requirements imposed by this proposition, and there are lots of ways this could backfire and harm dialysis patients (such as, by forcing some dialysis clinics to close). If we get this wrong, we won’t be able to fix it except by passing another expensive ballot initiative. The right fix is for patient advocates to lobby for and negotiate regulations in the legislature.
This does not belong on the ballot: we should not be asking ordinary citizens to be making complex medical decisions for others.
👎 NO on 24: Tighten privacy laws
I trust the EFF to have my back on these issues, but the EFF has declined to endorse Prop 24. My (shallow) understanding of the issue is that the EFF supports regulating how companies collect, use, and share personally identifiable information about customers, but it’s not clear from Prop 24 implements protections correctly. There is a real concern that Prop 24 might be instead inching us closer to a pay-for-privacy world where the 1% are protected and the rest of us are not.
In general, I think that we need to tighter regulation to protect the privacy of Americans online. There are some good parts to Prop 24, but there are also some confusing parts, and this proposition might in fact be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. My general policy on propositions that cannot be clearly understood is to reject them.
👍 YES on 25: Eliminate cash bail
This proposition replaces cash bail with a public safety and flight risk assessment. This kicks the legs out of one big source of inequality in our criminal justice system: a system where rich people get to pay to get out of jail, while poor people languish awaiting trial. Many of these poor people are induced to enter guilty pleas despite provable innocence, just to be able to get back to caring for their children and keeping their jobs. Cash bail should burn in a fire.
This proposition is just one step. Because America is racially biased, it is likely that the risk assessment process will be racially biased as well. We have to address that problem as well, but that second step should not prevent us from taking this important step first.
“You’re a loose cannon, jonmayer. A maverick, a disgrace to the department! I’m gonna need your badge and your laptop. Put them both in this pre-paid fedex box.”
Today was my last day at Google. I’m sad to go, and excited to do what’s next.
Friday, August 21st will be my last day at Google, where I’ve been for over fifteen years. It will be my first span of unemployment since high school.
My intentions for the next few months are: to improve my physical health, to ride my bike every day, to teach myself Rust and migen, to get back into making music, and to help raise my nephews. I also intend to spend on time reflecting on the last fifteen years and see if there are fruitful lessons to extract.
The Continuing Adventures Of Space Monkey 