[emelski]

To me, those are not even remotely comparable, so you can't really use the same criteria for evaluation. On one hand you're talking about allocation of funds -- it's just money. On the other, you're talking about depriving people of fundamental rights.

When it comes to the latter, the litmus test I use is, "Is there a clear and urgent need for this law?" In this case, as horrible as human trafficking is, I do not believe that prop 35 passes muster on those grounds. Bear in mind that we're not talking about going from "no penalties for human trafficking" to "some penalties for human trafficking". It's going from significant penalties, to even more severe penalties. There is no urgent need for this law, and therefore no justification for skewering civil liberties.