Local assemblyman Jim Beall, husband of a former De Anza employee, visited De Anza College to discuss propositions on the Nov. 2 ballot, bills affecting community college students and state budget logistics Oct. 22.

Beall led a discussion about isses directly impacting De Anza students during his talk on Thursday.

Hot topics of discussion during the event included the state budget, Proposition 19 and Proposition 23.

The budget includes $108 million going towards California Community Colleges.

He mentioned that the three main components of the state budget are education, medication and incarceration. Incarceration took top prize as being the biggest component of the state budget, according to Beall.

Proposition 19 got discussions going during the event. Students in attendance chimed in on both sides of the matter, with some saying the proposition would create much needed revenue for the state while other saying it would just lead to abuse of the substance, similar to alcohol and alcoholics.

Beall said that many are for decriminalizing marijuana as opposed to legalization of the substance.

De Anza massage therapy student Linda Delisi asked Assemblyman Beall how many prisoners would be affected by this proposition, if it passed.

He said out of the 180,000 prisoners in state prisons, this proposition would affect about 30,000-40,000 people. However, this bill would not work retroactively for those individuals. Beall emphasized the point that prisoners in the California prison system get full healthcare, while those out of the system have to look for ways to attain affordable healthcare and how “misguided” this approach ends up being.

Another topic during the event centered around the passing of three bills, among them AB2302 and SB1440. These bills would facilitate students transferring to University of California institutes or California State University schools, and attaining an AA degree from community college.

Many students chimed in on Proposition 23, rescinding California’s Clean Air Act until the unemployment rate is below 5.5 percent for a year.  23-year-old business major Hwan Heo asked Beall if the rate had ever been that low, to which he replied that it has not in almost 25 years. So, if passed, it would end California’s run at leading the way from green energy. If you want to contact Assemblyman Jim Beall, go to his website (http://www.jimbeall.com).