10 Statewide measures that will appear on Californians’ November ballot.
Proposition 2 — Vote No. School facilities bond: Most school district budgets are eaten up by teacher salaries. To upgrade school buildings or build new ones, public officials often turn to voters for more money. This time, it comes in the form of a $10 billion bond that would fund repairs and construction for K-12 schools and California community colleges. While many schools argue the funds are desperately needed, this measure would be paid by adding new charges to property tax bills.
Proposition 3 — Vote No. Constitutional Amendment Marriage Equity Reaffirm the right of same-sex to marry. Same-sex has been legal since 2015 when Proposition 8 was passed. No one is trying to change that. Proposition 3 is misleading and removes all protections on marriage, including marrying limits to children, close relatives, or three or more people marrying each other.
Proposition 4 — Vote No. $10 Billion Massive Climate Bond Package proposes to bring increased water supplies, providing flood protection, forest health, boost firefighting efforts, and create Wildlife Corridors. This bond is supported by a coalition of 180 environmental groups and social justice organizations, including the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, the Climate Center, Resource Renewal Institute, and the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. California is already strapped with over $78 billion of bond debt.
Proposition 5 — Vote No. Lowering the threshold for local government taxes. Speaking of the two-thirds threshold, when local governments want to pass a bond, they must secure a two-thirds vote. This measure would lower that threshold to 55% - still higher than a simple majority, but lower that the current requirement.
Proposition 6 — Vote No. Ending forced prison labor. Proposition 6 would end mandatory work requirements for state prisoners, instead making jobs voluntary for incarcerated people. It would also protect prisoners from being disciplined for refusing a work assignment. Many prisons inmates chose to work for the opportunity to acquire new skills and for the work experience. This Proposition is part of the reparation’s priority legislative package the Black Caucus introduced earlier this year.
Proposition 32 — Vote No. Minimum wage hike raises the state minimum to $18. This proposition penalizes small businesses and hurts workers by causing these businesses to cut the number of employees. It imposes the same regulations on small businesses as those of larger corporations.
Proposition 33 — Vote No. Allowing cities to enact rent control measures. Californians sometimes vote on the same issue multiple times and rent control is one of those issues. This measure would repeal a longtime state law that blocks local governments from setting rent limits on homes built after 1995, or any single-family homes. The measure would not require cities to enact rent control measures, but it would allow them to pursue them if they choose. It is funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation; the organization being targeted in a separate ballot measure - Proposition 34 below.
Proposition 34 —Vote ???. Require certain health providers to use nearly all revenue from a federal prescription drug program on patient care. After years of battling rent control initiatives funded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, California landlords have placed a measure on the ballot designed to stifle that organization from running any more measures. Their measure targets health care providers that have spent more than $100 million on things not related to patient care and that have more than 500 serious health and safety violations at apartment buildings they run. AIDS Healthcare appears to be the only organization matching that description. The organization has amassed funding through a federal program that allows nonprofit health organizations to buy prescription drugs at a heavily discounted price but sell them at a regular market rate. It has used those funds to run ballot measures on housing issues. The landlords’ measure would put an end to that practice and require the organization to use 98% of the money it receives through its federally discounted drugs on patient care.
Proposition 35 — Vote No. Managed Care Organization Tax. California’s Managed Care Organization tax is a rare thing: a tax that’s supported by the organizations that pay it because it allows them to unlock federal matching dollars. Essentially, they make money by paying the tax. But in recent years, hospitals and doctors have complained that the governor and lawmakers have used funds generated by the tax to plug budget deficits. This measure would require that the money be used for Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income people, in an effort to ensure it continues to go to doctors and hospitals instead of other areas of the budget.
Proposition 36 — Vote Yes. Increasing drug and theft punishments. A coalition led by district attorneys gathered enough signatures to place a measure on the ballot to roll back parts of California’s landmark 2014 sentencing law. That law, Proposition 47, downgraded drug possession and thefts worth less than $950 to misdemeanors. It intended to divert money from locking up low-level offenders into rehabilitation programs, but critics say it went too far and emboldened thieves. The district attorneys’ measure would eliminate the $950 threshold for a third theft, meaning someone caught stealing three times could be charged with a felony, regardless of the value of the merchandise stolen. It would do the same for a third drug possession charge. It would also increase jail time for repeat thefts and organized retail thefts and includes provisions to compel people with multiple drug possession convictions into treatment.
