California: Fiscal crisis puts Proposition 13 up for discussion

The wail usually echoes unanswered for a simple reason: Thirty-one years after California voters overwhelmingly passed the law that fixed the rate of property tax increases and required a two-thirds majority of the Legislature to raise taxes and approve state budgets, polls show that Prop. 13 is as popular as ever.

But this year, with California and the nation in the throes of the worst economic crisis in decades, some provisions of the 1978 measure - which curbed revenue for key state programs, particularly public education - may be open for discussion.

No changes just yet; just discussion.

One major challenge: There is no roadmap for changing Prop. 13. While the measure inspired a popular revolt against property taxes in the years after it was enacted, no other state has the same mix of property tax limits and the two-thirds majority required to pass budgets and increase taxes.

Although voters in Massachusetts and Oregon approved laws inspired by Prop 13, those measures don't face the same hurdles.

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