All-day event shines light on propositions

The community was treated to an all-day event regarding the upcoming elections in the Great Hall Sept. 27.

“Day of Politics” was put on by Professor of Political Science Denise Robb, Ph.D., along with the Associated Students Organization (ASO), and the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society to vamp up awareness of political issues and encourage students to participate in an alarmingly diminishing democratic process.

Eleven guest speakers, including district attorneys, former mayors, representatives of partisan groups and Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein, Ph.D., attended.

Throughout the day, League of Women Voters were on hand to explain different propositions that would be on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Representatives of the League believe in “fact-based information and open discussion.”

Propositions 31, 33, 35, 36, and 37 were broken down for the audience.

League member Rebecca Beatty stood at the podium eager to enlighten the audience.

First was Prop. 35.

If passed it will crack down on human trafficking, she said.

How initiatives or propositions reach the ballot

Any group of 10 or more qualified voters come together and write up a new law or revision to a current law.

Next, a quota, met through petitions, needs to be completed before the draft is recognized as legitimate.

The amount of signatures is equal to 5 percent of total votes in the last gubernatorial, or governor, election.

Finally, a title and summary is given to the newly created proposition.

It will now appear on the next electoral ballot.

Danny Duarte/Roundup definition of trafficking to include “pimps” and those who distribute obscene material depicting minors are branded as sex traffickers and offenders.

BY THE NUMBERS: Libertarian Rep. Pamela Brown, Ph.D., who is also a Pierce economics professor, holds up a sign during the “Day of Politics” Sept. 27 in the Great Hall.

“In California vulnerable women and children are held against their will and forced into prostitution for the financial gain of human traffickers,” Beatty said. “Many victims are as young as twelve” law to exclude non-violent, less serious crimes from the third felony.

Prop. 37 was also discussed.

Through this bill, raw and processed foods that contain genetically altered ingredients would have to be labeled as such.

“Our criminal justice system is addicted to incarceration,” Trujillo said when he first stepped up to the podium.

He defended the overall idea behind the law but feels the law needs improving.

“The intention of the 1994 [Three Strikes] law is on point,” Trujillo said.

However, 53 percent of criminals given life terms committed minor offenses as their third strike, according to Trujillo.

Some propositions discussed

Prop. 35

Human Trafficking. Penalties. Sex Offender Registration. Initiative Statute.

A YES vote means: Longer prison sentences and larger fines for committing human trafficking crimes.

A NO vote means: Existing criminal penalties for human trafficking would stay in effect.

Prop. 36

Three Strikes Law. Sentencing for Repeat Felony Offenders. Initiative Statute.

Danny Duarte/Roundup

DISCUSSION: Democratic Party representative Mary Ellen Early talks during the multiparty debate at the end of the “Day of Politics” on Sept. 27 in the Great Hall.

Currently human trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation,” according to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime website.

The bill would also expand the

However, there is a list of foods that would be exempt, which includes those sold for immediate consumption.

A restaurant, like McDonalds, which sells large quantities of genetically altered consumables, would not required to label their products if the bill is passed.

California legislature Deputy District Attorney Mario Trujillo and former Deputy District Attorney Steve Ipsen each shared their thoughts on Prop. 36, which focuses on the “three strikes” law.

Prop. 36 revises the three strikes