2009 California Proposition 1C

Proposition 1C was a proposition that appeared on the May 19, 2009 special election ballot. It was also known as California State Lottery. The measure was legislatively-referred to the ballot by Assembly Bill 12, authored by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), by a vote of 70-8 in the Assembly and 30-8 in the state Senate. Voters defeated the measure by a significant margin.

Proposition 1C would have authorized borrowing against future lottery proceeds as a way to avoid state government spending cuts. The 2009-2010 budget plan included $5 billion from this source, and the measure would also have authorized similar borrowing in future years. It did not include a cap on the amount of future lottery revenue that could be pledged to pay for current spending. Essentially, the measure would have allowed a form of deficit spending that would not be subject to the balanced budget provisions adopted by a vote of the people in Proposition 58.

The proposal would have also repealed the requirement that lottery revenue be used only for education. Instead, the legislature could have appropriated lottery revenue for any purpose. However, the measure would have required the legislature to appropriate general fund revenues to education in an amount equivalent to the lottery revenues that went to schools in FY 2008-2009, adjusted for inflation and changes in student counts.

It would have also revised lottery management details, including repealing a competitive bidding requirement for certain lottery operations, and lowering the cap on the amount of lottery revenue that can be used for administration purposes from 16% to 13% (which was the amount used for administration at the time).

Voting results

Proposition 1C

Choice	Votes	%
No	2,493,700	64.6
Yes	1,368,222	35.4
Total votes	3,982,919	100.00

External links

Prop 1C information from CaliforniaPropositions.org