Props 98 or 99 Rent Control Ruse @ CaliforniaRepublic

CaliforniaRepublic ^ | 6/2/08 | Gary M. Galles

[ParsifalCA]

The June ballot is bringing rent control back into the spotlight. Proposition 98 would protect all Californians from abuses of eminent domain and phase out rent control. Proposition 99 is a decoy measure which would override Proposition 98 if it attracted more votes, written by beneficiaries of eminent domain abuse, that the Legislative Analyst concluded involved so little reform that it “is not likely to significantly alter current land acquisition practices.”

Proposition 99 offers precious little protection. It wouldn’t protect farmland, churches, businesses or rental properties from eminent domain abuse. It wouldn’t restrict the almost unlimited purposes for which eminent domain is exercised. It leaves a gaping loophole for “blight,” which includes anything government decides not to like. It does not compensate owners for fighting abuses. So its backers are trying to re-frame the real reforms of Proposition 98 as an attack on renters.

Renters and renter advocates offer horror story scenarios if rent control ended. However, they omit the fact that Proposition 98 would only end rent control after current residents leave, revealing those scenarios as pure fiction. It also ignores the fact that rent control is simply a majority of voters in a jurisdiction (current renters) taking the property of a minority (landlords), which is why Proposition 98 includes it with other forms of government theft. [more @ CaliforniaRepublic]

[Carry_Okie]

Right or wrong, rent control won't sell.

To kill a chance for property rights protection by including it in Prop 98 was very stupid.

[Avoiding_Sulla]

That’s the second time that a poison pill was included to such a referendum. Imagine that! Wait. It’s not fiction.

In each instance the question’s writers somehow failed to consider the interests of the entirety of the voters. Once maybe was stupid. What should one make of twice? That thrice is has a high likelihood.

The fly in the ointment with “Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity” is the word “Never.”