Santa Clara County voters will decide on two ballot measures, the statewide Proposition 50 and county-level Measure A, on Nov. 4. Both require a simple majority to pass.<\/p>\n
Prop 50, a direct response to Texas redrawing its congressional districts, would suspend<\/a> California\u2019s independent redistricting commission until 2030 and redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts to gain five additional Democratic seats. If passed, Prop 50 would affect the race for control of the House of Representatives in next year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n Measure A would raise<\/a> sales taxes in Santa Clara County by 0.625% for five years to offset federal funding cuts to county medical services and hospitals. The county board of supervisors argued<\/a> that increased tax revenue could provide extra funding for public hospitals, which rely on federal funding and treat a larger proportion of Medicaid enrollees.<\/p>\n In July, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced<\/a> his state would redraw its congressional districts to favor Republicans. California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced<\/a> Prop 50 in August as a retaliatory move. Several other states have since redrawn or announced that they will redraw their maps ahead of the 2026 midterms, including Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana and Virginia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think Newsom did the only thing that was possible,\u201d said Joe Nation, a public policy professor who served as a Democratic California state legislator from 2000 to 2006. \u201cIf in the end, Republicans win 55% of the seats in the House because they have better ideas, so be it, but at least it\u2019s a fair fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the proposed congressional map, the Stanford campus would remain<\/a> in the 16th congressional district represented by Democrat Sam Liccardo.<\/p>\n Robert Liu \u201928, vice president of Stanford Democrats and an opinions columnist for The Daily, also supports Prop 50. Liu says that growing up in North Carolina, whose current map received<\/a> an \u201cF\u201d from Princeton University\u2019s nonpartisan Gerrymandering Project, made him aware of the negative effects of gerrymandering.<\/p>\n Liu said that Stanford Democrats has phone banked and knocked on doors to advocate in favor of Prop 50. \u201cI\u2019ve been in a weird position where I actually feel like I can do something,\u201d Liu said. <\/p>\n Liu emphasized that the new maps would not be used if Texas abandoned its redistricting efforts and that the independent commission will draw maps after 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n Opponents of Prop 50 include former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who oversaw the creation of the current redistricting commission. <\/p>\n \u201cIt saddens me to see that we\u2019re going in the opposite direction rather than having an independent commission,\u201d Schwarzenegger said<\/a> in an Oct. 26 interview with CNN.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schwarzenegger believes that if Prop 50 passes, the independent commission would not return after 2030. \u201cThey will find an excuse\u2026 I don\u2019t think it is temporary,\u201d Schwarzenegger said. \u201cIf you really wanted to fight for democracy, why would you go and destroy the constitution of California?\u201d<\/p>\n Charles Munger Jr. \u201979, who led efforts to establish California\u2019s independent redistricting commission, has donated<\/a> over $30 million to campaign against Prop 50. <\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply disturbed that my state is considering a return to the days when a single party had unchecked power to draw lines that entrenched its power,\u201d Munger Jr. wrote<\/a> in an opinion piece. Munger Jr. wrote that Prop 50 would \u201csend a dangerous message to the rest of the country that reform is conditional and principles can be abandoned when they are convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n The Daily has reached out to Stanford Republicans for comment.<\/p>\n Liu and Nation both said that the only solution to gerrymandering would be a nationwide ban. \u201cIf people really care about democracy, there\u2019s a great opportunity to have democracy in every single state, in every single district,\u201d Nation said.<\/p>\n The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors added<\/a> Measure A to the ballot in August, citing a potential \u201cfiscal emergency\u201d resulting from cuts to Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) in President Donald Trump\u2019s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he signed into law in July.<\/p>\n \u201cIn California, the [Medicaid] funding split is about 60% federal, 40% state,\u201d said economics professor Mark Duggan. \u201cWhen the federal government is reducing that spending by making changes that are going to lead to fewer people enrolled in Medicaid, that\u2019s just going to mean less money coming into the system.\u201d<\/p>\n 53% of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center\u2019s revenue comes<\/a> from Medi-Cal patients, compared to 18% of revenue<\/a> at Stanford Hospital, which is private.\u00a0<\/p>\n Duggan added that Measure A\u2019s sales tax increase would have a greater impact on lower-income residents of Santa Clara County. \u201cIt\u2019s among the least affordable places to live in the country, and this is going to make that even more true,\u201d Duggan said. \u201cIn San Jose, the tax rate is literally going to go to 10%.\u201d<\/p>\n Nation also noted that Measure A would significantly increase the sales tax. \u201c0.625% is about the highest I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Nation said. \u201cWe should take an overall broader perspective\u2026 as opposed to just sort of continuing to use Band-Aids to hold things together.\u201d<\/p>\n Duggan said that California, with the nation\u2019s highest unemployment rates, is facing statewide fiscal pressure. \u201cWe should be looking further ahead, thinking about\u2026 how we facilitate stronger economic performance in the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa Clara County voters will decide on two ballot measures, the statewide Proposition 50 and county-level Measure A,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,25227,25228,6647,195,1362,1361,25229,198,202,25230],"class_list":{"0":"post-35676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-joe-nation","12":"tag-mark-duggan","13":"tag-measure-a","14":"tag-palo-alto","15":"tag-prop-50","16":"tag-proposition-50","17":"tag-sales-taxes","18":"tag-santa-clara-county","19":"tag-stanford","20":"tag-votes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}