– CBS News – June 8, 1978 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
This day in 1978 was an interesting one if you lived in California. The Jarvis-Gann Initiative, or Prop 13 was passed by a landslide vote in the off-year elections. The tax initiative, which froze property taxes and forced State and local government cuts seemed to many like a good idea at the time. California had a budget surplus, was one of the richest states boasting some of the highest standards in education and infrastructure. But the Property tax situation rankled many – and even though it did wonders for those living or owning property bought on or before June 1978, it didn’t work wonders for those coming along after June 1978.
In short, it was a knee-jerk response that had long-term effects – taking a state with a budget surplus to a state with a budget deficit in a short time. The infrastructure had fallen apart, the educational system in California went from one of the best to one of the worst and property taxes for those buying homes and property after 1978 got straddled with the difference.
But on this day in 1978 the people had spoken, or some of them anyway. And now it was time for economic belt-tightening. The future was guaranteed to be interesting and Proposition 13 became the law of The Golden State and something of a sacred cow ever since.
But there was other news this day – President Carter once again asked Congress to lift the arms embargo against Turkey, saying it had been counterproductive in trying to solve the Cyprus situation. Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974, touching off the arms embargo. Carter asked for the embargo lift to improve relations with Turkey and Greece.
And NASA was busy trying to keep the Skylab Space-station from tumbling out of orbit. It successfully turned on two gyroscopes designed to stabilize the unmanned spacecraft.
All that, and a lot more for this June 8, 1978 as reported by CBS Radio News.
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