PUSO goes POLITICAL

1. PUSO goes POLITICAL “One Voter Makes a Difference” 5th General Meeting October 30, 2012

2. It’s more than just who becomes president… • Key issues that affect us as college students • Proposition 30, 32, 34, 36 • Affordable Care Act • Student Loan Reform Law **IMPORTANT NOTE: This meeting is not intended to promote a particular campaign but merely to educate you and raise your awareness of the propositions and laws passed by President Obama that face us as college student voters.

3. Voting • Why is it important to vote?

6. California Propositions • Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act • Two Year State Budget Cycle • Political Contributions by Payroll Deduction • Automobile Insurance Persistency Discounts • Death Penalty Repeal • Ban on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery • Three Strikes Reform • Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Food • State Income Tax Increase to Support Education • Income Tax Increase for Multistate Businesses to Fund Clean Energy • Referendum on the State Senate Redistricting Plan

7. Proposition 30:Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act • Taxes personal income on high-income taxpayers (over $250,000) for seven years and sales taxes for four years • Funds public education, higher education, public safety and deficit funding

8. Proposition 30 • YES: Increase personal income taxes on earnings over $250,000 and sales taxes by ¼ cent for four years • NO: $250 million cuts to UC system and $2400 mid-year tuition increase

10. Proposition 32:Political Contributions by Payroll Deduction • Prohibits unions from using payroll-deducted funds for political purposes • Prohibits union and corporate contributions to candidates and their committees

11. Proposition 32 • YES: Unions and corporations can’t use money deducted from employee’s paycheck for political purposes • Subject to additional campaign finance restrictions • NO: No change in laws, corporations still able to use money from employee’s paycheck for political purposes

12. Proposition 34:Death Penalty Repeal • Removes death penalty and replaces it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole • Directs $100 million to law enforcement agencies for investigations of homicide and rape cases.

13. Proposition 34 • YES: no offenders sentenced under state law. Offenders resentenced to life without parole • NO: Offenders sentenced to death. State not required to provide local law enforcement agencies with local enforcement agencies.

14. Proposition 36:Three Strikes Reform • Impose life sentence only when 1/3 is “serious or violent.” • Eliminate life sentences, reduce prison population, and save California around $150-$200 million each year.

15. Proposition 36 • YES: Offenders charged with two prior serious or violent felony sentenced to shorter terms in state prison • NO: Offenders with above charged terms sentenced to death. Offenders continue to serve remainder of their life sentences

16. Affordable Care Act by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez • Why now? 50+ million Americans uninsured • Tens of millions more underinsured, those with coverage afraid of losing it • Many medical practices work without support to provide safe and effective patient-centered care

17. Today’s Health Care Concerns • World’s best trained doctors and nurses, most advanced medical technology, finest hospitals • Continue to live sicker and die sooner than anywhere else • Health care costs consume greater share of our paychecks, corporate balance sheets, and local, state, and federal budgets • Insurance bureaucracy adding more paperwork to doctors’ practices limiting time with patients

18. Affordable Care Act: Presentation by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez • Holds insurance companies accountable • Insurers must spend at least 80% of premiums on health care services or improving care, or else must repay money • Ensures fair treatment for patients & providers • Illegal for insurance companies to: • Deny coverage to children because of pre-existing condition (asthma) • Put lifetime cap on coverage • Cancel coverage because of paperwork mistakes

19. Affordable Care Act: Presentation by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez • Strengthens Medicare • preventive services available without cost-sharing • Physicians spending more time with patients, focusing on prevention, • Expands coverage and benefits • Coverage for 32+ million people • Young adults on parents’ health plans until age 26 • Affordable through state health insurance exchanges, premium tax credits and subsidies • Reduces burden of uncompensated care on physicians & hospitals

20. Former president Bill Clinton headlines rally at UC Irvine • college costs have increased at twice the rate of inflation over the past decade • U.S. is one of the top countries in the percentage of youth who go to college U.S. is 16th in the percentage of students who actually get a degree “because of the cost … because people think, ‘I cannot borrow any more money … I will never repay the debt.’”

21. Student Loan Reform Law • Recently passed by Congress and signed by Obama • Interest rates for federal student loans lowered • government will send the money directly to the colleges instead of through the banks • “Even more important, you get to pay that loan back … as a fixed, small percentage of your income for up to 20 years … Your loan repayments will be determined by your job, so you don’t have to fix your job because of your loan repayments.”

22. Additional Resources HealthCare.gov