There are eleven propositions on the ballot. I consider five of them to be major, and the other six fairly minor.

The major propositions are:

Prop 30: Major tax increase for people making $250k/year, plus four straight years of sales tax increases. Supposedly goes to fund schools.

Prop 34: Repeal California's death penalty, commute all current death sentences to life in prison.

Prop 36: Modify California's "three strikes" law to essentially water it down. Immediately release prisoners retroactively affected by the changes.

Prop 38: Another tax increase supposedly to fund the schools, but this one has no sales tax increase and raises EVERYONE'S income tax if they make $7500/year or more.

Prop 39: Change the tax code to where multi-state corporations pay the same tax as those based in California. (Currently they have a choice in how they filed to where they can pay less.) This will actually raise $1 billion for CA if it passes, but $500 million will be wasted on "green buildings" nonsense.

I hated four of these propositions, and urged everyone I knew to vote NO on 30, 34, 36, and 38. I had mixed feelings on 39.

38 didn't have much of a chance to pass because it raised almost everyone's taxes. It is expectedly getting trounced today.

39 was expected to easily pass, and did.

36 was expected to easily pass, and did. I hope California enjoys having a number of violent criminals abruptly released to the streets. Good luck with that one.

30 is currently winning by a margin of 53-47, and will probably pass. California already has the highest state sales tax in the country, and pays the second highest income tax. I hope they enjoy the increases, and the subsequent waste of the money. Californians have rejected almost all new tax propositions in the past 20 years (because taxes were already so high), so I'm surprised they bought this one. I think it's because Governor Jerry Brown campaigned for it, and there was so much money behind the YES ads on television and raido.

Fortunately, the people of California seem to have voted NO on eliminating the death penalty and commuting all current death sentences. It is losing 54-46, and will likely fail.

In Congress, there are a few interesting races to watch:

Ventura County's race is an open seat between Tony Strickland (conservative Republican) and Julia Brownley (liberal Democrat, carpetbagger who just moved to the area to challenge Strickland). The race has been very bitter, and Strickland is narrowly leading with about 2/3rds of the precincts reporting.

Scott Peters is trying to unseat incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray in San Diego, and Bilbray is holding onto a small lead with about 2/3rds reporting.

Mary Bono Mack (married to Sonny Bono, until his death) is trying to hold onto the Palm Springs area, but is slightly behind Democrat Raul Ruiz with 40% reporting.

In Elk Grove (near Sacrameto), Ami Bera is just 0.4% ahead of Republican incumbent Dan Lundgren, with 97.5% of precints reporting.