Proposition 187 in California

On November 8, 1994, California voters approved Proposition 187, the Save Our State (SOS) initiative, 59 to 41 percent. If implemented Propo? sition 187 would create a state-run system to verify the legal status of all persons seeking public education, health care and other public benefits, and add public education to the list of services for which unauthorized aliens are ineligible. As of March 1995, the only sections of Proposition 187 in effect are those that make the manufacture, distribution, or use of false documents to obtain employment or public benefits a state felony. Proposition 187 may mark the beginning of efforts to reduce legal and illegal immigration, much as Proposition 13 in 1978 arguably laid the basis for the Reagan-era tax cuts of the early 1980s. On the other hand, Propo? sition 187 may turn out to be a largely symbolic expression of frustration with illegal immigration, much as was Proposition 63, which made English the state's official language in 1986 proved to be.