California made a mistake yesterday

Yeah, so what else is new.

But Prop 98 was defeated almost 2 to 1 while Prop 99 won by 2 to 1.

Prop 99 was put on the ballot after Prop 98 qualified and basically was offered as a sham to divert attention from Prop 98. Its the same story that happened back in the 1970s with Prop 13 and Prop 8. But in that case, the right proposition won.

In a nutshell, Prop 98 would have prevented eminent domain when the government was going to give the land to a private entity to be developed. Your church would not have its building and land seized and sold to Costco so they could build a store as a city in LA County tried two years ago. It also would end rent control on all rental units as the person who lives in the unit vacates the unit due to death or moving on. That was the provision that sunk the proposition because the opponents scared seniors with stories their evil land lords were going to evict them and raise the rents.

Prop 99 in a nutshell would only prevent eminent domain on owner occupied residences when the land was to be given to a private entity for redevelopment. But that is the only a small minority of cases, less then 5% of all eminent domain abuses. So the church in the above case, would not have protection, the apartment owner or even house owner who rents the house can still have their land seized for a private party redevelopment as well as any businesses who are not as classy or as profitable as the city would like.

But Prop 99 people had better marketing skills then Prop 98 people and they won so we got a bad law that will not correct the problem as people will find out.