After a flurry of last-minute additions and withdrawals, five legislative measures and five citizen-proposed initiatives are headed for the California ballot this November. Each statewide proposition must be approved by a majority of voters to go into effect.
Legislative Measures
Proposition 2: School facilities
Issues $10 billion in bonds to repair and modernize K-12 schools and community colleges.
Proposition 3: Marriage equality
Removes from the California constitution the same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8 (2008), which was ruled unconstitutional in 2010. The measure would also add language establishing that the “right to marry is a fundamental right.”
Proposition 4: Climate
Issues $10 billion in bonds to fund climate projects, including safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, drought preparedness and clean air.
Proposition 5: Voting on affordable housing and public infrastructure
Lowers the threshold for passage from 66.67% to 55% for local special taxes and bond measures that fund housing projects and public infrastructure.
Proposition 6: Slavery
Prohibits involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. Under this measure, incarcerated people can’t be punished for refusing a work assignment.
Initiatives
Proposition 32: Minimum wage
Increases California minimum wage from the current $16 per hour to $18 per hour for all businesses by 2026. In periods of decreased economic activity, the governor may suspend the annual increase up to two times. After 2026, as existing law requires, minimum wage would annually adjust for inflation.
Proposition 33: Rent control
Prohibits the state from limiting the right of cities and counties to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control ordinances.
Proposition 34: Spending by health care providers
Requires certain health care providers to spend 98% of revenues from the discount prescription drug program on direct patient care. The measure also permanently authorizes the Medi-Cal Rx program, which pays pharmacies directly to provide prescriptions to Medi-Cal recipients.
The measure is supported by the California Apartment Association, a landlord trade association, and targets the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has used its funds to support ballot measures, including the rent control initiative on this year’s ballot.
Proposition 35: Permanent funding for Medi-Cal
Permanently authorizes the existing tax on managed health care insurance plans, currently set to expire in 2026, and requires it to be used exclusively to fund Medi-Cal programs for low-income residents.
Proposition 36: Felony charges and increased sentences for some drug and theft crimes
Allows felony charges for possessing certain drugs, including fentanyl, and for thefts under $950 — both currently chargeable only as misdemeanors — after two prior convictions. The initiative would reverse parts of Proposition 47, a 2014 reform designed to alleviate prison overcrowding. The new measure also increases sentences for some other drug and theft crimes.
The measure has stoked controversy among government officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who backed a competing measure that less intensely amended Prop. 47. Newsom withdrew the measure Tuesday.