Prop 301: Land Conservation Fund Sweep

I am 60% supportive, I encourage a YES vote.

What it does
o Moves money set aside in the Land Conservation Fund into the general fund.
o Prop 303 passed 52.9 to 47.1 in 1998
o Current deficit is $825 million
o Applications granted but not paid from Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Coconino County would reduce the benefit to $50 million

For
o $124 into the state budget at a time when we are running a massive deficit.
o Failure to do this will mean more cuts to K-12, universities, low income health care, and prisons. Or else more taxes.
o The money ($20 million per year) came out of the general fund.
o No one is offering a real plausible alternative way to solve the budget problems.
o About 1/3 of 2008 funds were lockboxed and must be brought back into general fund.
o It ends next year anyhow. How would these projects be funded from 2012 going forward?
o Supporters
--GOP lawmakers and
--the Arizona Tax Research Association

Against
o Undoes the will of the voters in 1998.
o Rewards incompetence in government.
o Open space and conservation are important concerns.
o Opponents
--The Arizona Education Association,
--Sierra Club,
--Sonoran Institute,
--McDowell Sonoran Conservancy and
--Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection.

Questions
o Why does it cost so much money to preserve land as it is?

My thoughts
o I hate to see the original set-aside kind of funding happen, I hate to see us need money, and I hate to reward politicians for growing government then asking to rob funds we made when rich.