Election Results - Part 2

I'm not sure how it could possibly be taking this long to tally California votes, but there are some obvious winners.

Here are the ones that passed that will most clearly impact San Jose:

• Measure 2 - provides additional funding to help renovate schools
• Proposition 4 - authorizes more funding for water districts, wildfire prevention, and land protection
• Proposition 35 - continues funding for Medi-Cal health care programs via a tax extension on managed health care plans
• Proposition 36 - increases penalties for theft and drug crimes

I'm not mentioning Amendment 3, as it is just updating the language in the Californian constitution in a common-sense way, yet it does not actually alter any rights.

The biggest one on the list for me is Prop 36. Crime has become a major issue in Silicon Valley, and this will reduce the threshold for thefts being treated as felonies and allow multiple robberies to be grouped together to constitute a felony. Hopefully this will become a stronger deterrent to the retail theft that is greatly impacting San Jose businesses, especially small businesses. We can't get to a place like San Francisco where shampoo and toothpaste is being locked behind glass cases because of rampant shoplifting. I'm very happy this one will pass.