turn our attention to the propositions. we're going to explore proposition 30.t is jerry ♪ just put a little bit of yourself ♪ ♪ in everything you do [ female announcer ] add your own ingredients to hamburger helper for a fresh take on a quick, delicious meal. it's one box with hundreds of possibilities. of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant >>> riot now we're going to talk about proposition 30 that would temporarily raise taxes and guarantee local funding. to talk about it. prop 30 is ken tray, lowell high school teacher and howard epstein the vice chair of communications for the san francisco republican party. he is against proposition 30. ken, let me start with you, i wanted to know more about it. why should people vote yes on this? >> unfortunately california is 47th for people spending in the nation. it's time to step up and support our kids. we need to lower class size. we need to hire the best and brightest college grads. that is what prop 30 does. it will bring in needed funds t

then, in 1978, voters passed proposition 13, which capped property taxes. >> before proposition 13, california schools received the largest share of their dollars from local property tax revenues. after proposition 13 passed, local property tax revenues in the state fell by over 50%. >> in response, voters passed prop 98 in 1988, which guaranteed a minimum funding level for k through 12 education. today, schools get more than half their revenue from the state, with the rest coming from the federal government, property taxes and fees and other local revenue. but it hasn't completely worked, according to the california budget project's jonathan caplan. >> because the state provides a large portion of its budget to schools, when the state experiences revenue shortfalls, when the state goes through a budget crisis as we've been experiencing, what that means is that schools are going to be in the cross hairs. >> the result? schools that once were tops in the nation are no longer. >> california ranks dead last when it comes to the number of students per teacher. it also ranks dead last when it comes

supervisor chiu, please explain why we should be voting for this proposition. >> so proposition e is a measure it reform our current business tax. over a decade ago, a lawsuit forced our city to use a business tax that is problematic for many reasons. first and foremost, it is a tax on jobs. every time a local employer hires someone there is a business payroll tax that's levied on that person. secondly, it is a tax that is only levied on 10 percent of all businesses and many of these are small businesses who have really been asking for reform for many many years. currently we are the only city in the state of california that uses this business payroll tax. our city government, we spent 6 months earlier this year in conversations with many leaders within the community to propose a change to a so-called gross receipts tax, which is superior on a number of levels. first and foremost, it's a tax on revenue. it's a tax on profit. it's also a progressive tax, unlike the current flat tax it's a tax that exempts small businesses that have revenues of less than a million dollars but it also i

but proposition a is really a component of that. it's not everything that needs to happen at san francisco city college right now, but it is a huge component and it will make a tremendous difference in ensuring that city college is here for san franciscoans in the future. >> thank you. is there any further response you have, starchild? >> every time we take more money from the taxpayers remember that's cutting into the budgets of families and individuals of san francisco who have to pay for their own education. outside city college they have to pay for housing and health care and food and other family needs, so it's a little bit misleading when we talk in terms of, well, what's going to happen to city college? we also need to think about what's going to happen to the people, hundreds of thousands of san franciscoans which have to pay this little bit of extra tax every year, which could be a lot for some of them, $80 a year. city college is spending 92 percent of their budget on staff when realistic budget is 85 percent. there's room

to proposition 36.chael romano, you had the three strikes program here at stanford law school and helped draft this proposition. explain who you worked with and how the three strikes law works today. give us some examples of people who have been imprisoned for life. >> the three strikes project at stanford law school began as an organization to represent individuals who have been sentenced to life under california's three strikes law, the harshest sentencing law in the country for extraordinarily minor crimes. we represent someone who is currently sending -- spent a life sentence for shoplifting a $2 pair of socks. >> the person who shoplifted a pair of socks, how many years to they get imprisoned? what a life sentence. he has already served 12 years. >> because it was his third strike? parks he never hurt anybody before in his life. i'm not saying people are innocent and are not repeat offenders, they are. but someone who should get a life sentence for nonviolent crimes, i don't think that is what peop

proposition e would create a

proposition c would amend the charter to establish a housing trust fund.he city would contribute $20 million dollars to the fund in 2013. each year the city contribution would increase by 2.8 million dollars up to 50.8 million dollars in 2024. after 2024, the city would contribute an annual amount base the on the 50.8 million dollars but adjusted for changes in the city's general fund revenue. the city would use the fund to build, purchase and improve affordable housing, provide 15 million dollars for a loan program for down payment assistance for moderate income home buyers and emergency first responders and provide up to 15 million dollars for a program that would help eligible households avoid foreclosure. proposition c would change the affordable housing requirement for private residential developments in two ways. first, it would reduce the on site affordable housing requirement to approximately 12 percent for most projects. second, it would prohibit the city from increasing affordable housing requirements beyond those in place on january 1st, 2013. p

proposition f is about san francisco's values, it's about their environmental values. in real short explanation, it requires the city to develop a plan for the future to guarantee our water security and begin to undo the damage that our current water system does to the environment. the plan would then be brought back to the voters in 2016 for their aprafl or disapproval so it's placing the city on a trajectory we're not currently on. we don't recycle any water, we've abandoned most ground water since hetch hetchy became available and we've done real damage to the tuolome river and we begin it's time to get in line with the city's values. it's a plan the voters ultimately get to approve. >> i disagree. i think proposition f is about one thing and one thing only, about forcing the city to spend $8 million dollars to conduct a plan that would require us to drain hetch hetchy reservoir at a cost of anywhere between 3 and 10 billion dollars that gets translated to our rate payers at anywhere between $2,000 and $2700 per year per rate payer. this is a proposal largely hoiste

as we choose a president, california will also vote on 11 state propositions. here to caulk us through this are two bay area political analysts that know the political arena and continue to inform us on print and in the air. we have belva davis and san francisco chronicle political reporter, paula maranoochi, welcome back. >> thank you for having us. >> i know you mow 2 political beat. >> my chain has been less than a bit, but i have had a little exposure to the real world of it. >> on the conventions, campaign trail and new hampshire together, it is an exciting election year. this one i think will come down to the wire. >> you think it will be really, really close. >> yes. >> i think a lot of people are predicting the same thing. >> maybe not in california, but when you talk about the swing states, it will be nerve racking. >> ohio seem to be that way. >> oh, yes. >> i want to ask awe few things about the presidential race in general and then we will get to the propositions. first of all in the debate and ever since, everybody is talking about reaching across

>> proposition 37 is very simple. it is about our right to know what is in the food rereading and feeding our families. it is about our right to decide if we want to eat food that has been fundamentally altered at the genetic level by companies like monsanto, to contain bacteria, viruses, our foreign genes that have never been in the food system before. genetic engineering has been hidden from american consumers for 20 years. 61 other countries require labeling laws, but we have not been able to get labeling year because of the enormous influence of monsanto and the chemical companies. what is happening in california is a grassroots movement has risen up to demand labeling. proposition 37 was put on the ballot by a million moms, dads, and consumers in california who want to know what is in our food. it is backed by all the state's leading health, labor, environmental, a consumer groups. and on the other side, the world's largest pesticide and junk food companies, who are spending $40 million carpet bombing california

vote " yes ". , proposition 38 will bring a lot of money to or schools. >> proposition 385 billion ofdollars on the education st. >> if you listen to this it is to listen there are conflicting in similar assertions creating confusion. >> there is more many in education. the patrick murphy says that there are distinct differences. proposition 30 is backed by the governor in teachers' union calls for one quarter sales tax for four years. and it will raise the income tax for people earning $250,000 per year or more for seven years. this is the brainchild and backed by the pta would raise the income tax on most people in california for 12 years. it is one distinct difference. but the top one percent would pay for 78% of the revenue. the top one percent would pay for 44 percent of the revenue. >> there is also a difference on where the money goes. at least this year it would go into the general fund and then triggered funneled through a general education but proposition 38 would be specifically earmarked for school districts. legislators would not be able to use it to do with other budget

l of the funding for proposition 39.e's george joseph, insurance company executive. $16 million. almost all of the funding for proposition 33. sing ha single handedly individuals provided all of the funding for one side or the other. this has the impact and potential to affect impact of this proposition down at the end. >> only a couple seconds back. talk about the presidential debate tomorrow night. we've gone through two debates. top sick foreign policy. someone say not that exciting. give me a reason to watch. >> two major things pop out to me. the candidates must bring their a game. this time that is it. no sleeping if you are president obama. no. no. no. no major gaffes if your contender romney. binder full of women or libyan misstatement. there's no time for repairs after monday. you are talking two weeks. candidates have to be aggressive. not nasty but aggressive. respectful, if you will, in making points and distinguishing their policy because this is the time they have to show a clear vision to clearly distingui

lorraine blanco shows us about proposition 30. >> proposition 30 is about kids and teachers and they produce the brains and shells that make the jobs possible. >> reporter: governor brown rallied support for prop 30. >> if i asked any one of you if i could guarantee you $500,000, would you pay 1% of the extra money you earned that year? [ laughter ] i think so. >> reporter: it would raise income taxes 1- 3% on people making more than a quarter million dollars a year and increase the sales tax a quarter of a cent. many teachers spent saturday afternoon walking neighborhoods and passing out fliers with information about prop 30. if it doesn't pass supporters say students k-12 will lose three weeks' of school and college students could see another tuition increase. >> i drove trucks five hours a day i went to college. >> reporter: the college. college. >> to say we can take another $6 billion in cuts because those are most fortunate that want to pay another 1% that is completely out of touch. >> reporter: in san francisco lorraine blanco, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> coming up at 10:30 a pr

you'll find a link there to kqed's proposition guide. please tune in next week at an in-depth look at what's in stake for school funding in the upcoming election. public radio's al ebson will guest host. i'll be back on november 2nd. i'm belva davis. thanks for watching. good night.

rob roth looks at proposition 36 that takes aim at california's strict three strikes law. here at san quentin prison. for these inmates it's three strikes and they're in for life. what you're seeing is a weekly group therapy program run by convicts called hope for three strikers. >> after my military stent i started using cocaine and it was all bad after that. >> reporter: these are just a few dozen of the 8,000 california inmates serving life sentences under three strikes a law approved by voters in 1994, but proposition 36 on this november's ballot would modify three strikes. it would require the third strike to be not just for any felony but for a violent or serious crime. if the measure passes some 3,000 three strikers could be released if the judge agrees. one of the odds of mcsween. his strikes one and two are for burglary, the third petty theft. >> i've learned, i want to live my life and i don't want to live it here. i think i have too much to offer to society out there. >> reporter: michael romano is the coauthor of proposition 36. >> there's too many people that