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Proposition 98 narrowly passed, sending yet another challenge to the beleaguered legislature. It now had to find money in the budget to comply with Proposition 98, even though Proposition 13 and other initiatives had taken away most of the main revenue source and now required supermajorities to raise other revenues. So in a sort of capitulation to the ballot box, the legislature itself put yet another measure, Proposition 111, on the 1990 ballot. Its intent was to make Proposition 98 more flexible so that the legislature would be able to pass budgets once again. But that is not quite how it turned out.

According to Mr Mockler, it was Proposition 111 that finally made the overall structure for education funding incomprehensible. It mutipliled by six the “data sets you need to know” to calculate education spending, he says. He compares the resulting package of legislation to the general theory of relativity, quantum physics and the federal tax code in complexity, and reckons that he is currently one of ten people alive who understand Californian school finance. In a typical budget season, the state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst dutifully produces tomes analysing whether “test 1” or “test 3” applies, and whether the “maintenance factor” might kick in. Nobody really knows what that means, as the legislative analyst concedes in the official primer.
There is a lot to contemplate in this tale. First, what made voters think that they understood enough to pass any of these initiatives, given that nobody understands their results? Second, why did voters not become concerned about the ever denser thicket of unintended consequences? As Mr Mockler says, the need for Proposition 111 arose only because of Proposition 98, and the need for 98 arose only because of 13.

A. 어휘
beleaguered 포위된. legislature 州(주) 의회, 입법부.
comply with 따르다. initiatives 국민발의. revenue 歲入(세입).
capitulation 항복, 要項(요항). flexible 柔軟(유연)한, 융통성이 있는.
incomprehensible 이해할 수 없는. mutipliled by six 여섯 배가 되었다.
“data sets you need to know” 당신이 알아야 될 자료세트.
general theory of relativity 일반상대성 이론. quantum physics 양자 물리학.
federal tax code 연방 稅法(세법). complexity 복잡성.
reckons 合算(합산)하다, 평가하다, 간주하다. tomes 큰 책.
kick in 부수고 들어가다. concedes 是認(시인)하다.
official primer 공식 入門書(입문서). contemplate 깊이 생각하다.
thicket 수풀, 叢林(총림).