California Voting Guide I

As promised, here is the first of my California voting guides. This one focuses on statewide ballot measures. 

As usual, there are a number of bond measures on the ballot this year. Prop 2 authorizes bonds for public school and community college facilities. Prop 4 authorizes bonds for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, and protecting communities and natural lands from climate risks. Prop 5 allows local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure with 55% voter approval.

How you vote on these depends on how you feel about bonds as a method of financing statewide priorities. To my mind, this is a necessary consequence of Prop 13 and the limitations of raising revenue in California. I usually vote Yes on them unless I hear that there is a specific problem with one of them. The only opponent to Props 2 and 4 is Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which is the knee-jerk opponent of all revenue-related legislation.

Prop 5 is a little different in that it doesn’t directly relate to state-issued bonds. Instead, it lowers the threshold for issuing local bonds from two-thirds of voters in a locality to 55% of voters in that locality. Again, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposes it, along with a couple of other organizations who argue that it transfers responsibility for state revenue generation to the municipalities and will cost more in property taxes at the local level. Two-thirds is a very high threshold that is difficult to clear, which must be frustrating for communities that have a minority population of voters who do not want to fund priorities like affordable housing and infrastructure. Lowering the threshold to 55% seems reasonable to me. I will vote Yes on Prop 5. 

Prop 3 is the first big issue measure. Prop 3 “Amends California Constitution to recognize fundamental right to marry, regardless of sex or race. This measure, if it passes, removes language in the California Constitution stating that marriage is only between a man and a woman.”

Although the constitutionality of the right to marry was recognized in Obergefell v. Hodges, it’s still necessary to amend the CA constitution. At least one Supreme Court justice has signaled his interest in eliminating protection for gay marriage, and there’s good reason to believe that another GOP-majority Supreme Court (like the one this term) would overrule Obergefell. It would be best to enshrine this right explicitly in the US Constitution, but barring that unlikely scenario, California should add it to the state constitution. I will vote Yes on Prop 3. 

Did you know slavery is still legal? You probably think it was eliminated by the 13th amendment. Alas, that Reconstruction era amendment says, “"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." As long as someone has been convicted of a crime, they can be forced to work without compensation as punishment for their crime.  Prop 6 “Amends the California Constitution to remove current provision that allows jails and prisons to impose involuntary servitude to punish crime (i.e., forcing incarcerated persons to work).” In other words, A Yes vote for Prop 6 eliminates slave labor in the California prison system. There’s no organized opposition to this measure, although I am sure that certain parts of the prison-industrial complex are bummed out about this, at least until they figure out how to profit from it. I will be voting Yes on Prop 6. 

I have no idea what happened to Props 7 through 31, but the next one on the ballot will be Prop 32, which raises minimum wage to $17 when the results of the election are certified and to $18 on January 1, 2025. If the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25) had kept pace with the rate of productivity growth since 1960, it would be $24 per hour by now. In addition to the increases described above, passage of this law ensures that the minimum wage can be increased annually by the lesser of 3.5 percent or the rate of changes in the average of the CPI (I’m simplifying Labor Code section 1182.12(3)(c)(1), hopefully correctly). (And I apologize for using three adverbs in that parenthetical as well). I will vote Yes of Prop 32. 

Prop 33 repeals Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995 and permits municipalities to implement or expand rent control. Opponents of the measure claims that it would prevent the construction of new housing and reverse dozens of new state housing laws. I don’t really understand that last part and I don’t see a lot of new housing construction being done. What I do see is soaring rents and a crippling number of unhoused people on the streets, so if rent control keeps people in their homes, then I support it. I will vote Yes on Prop 33. 

Prop 34 sounds good if you know absolutely nothing about healthcare and spending. Prop 34 requires certain providers use 98% of their savings from the federal drug discount program on direct patient care. This is mixing apples and oranges, and only serves as retaliation against healthcare providers and advocates who support Prop 33. The proponent is a fake patient rights organization. Hopefully CA voters won’t be fooled. I also suspect that if this passes, it will die in court, but let’s not make CA pay for that litigation. I will vote No on Prop 34.

Prop 35 extends an existing tax on health insurance plans that provides revenue for our state Medi-Cal healthcare services. This is not a tax increase. It is an extension of an existing tax. I will vote Yes on Prop 35.

Prop 36 reinstates felony charges for drug possession and thefts under $950 if a defendant has two prior drug or theft convictions. This is supposedly in response to our soaring crime rates. But since crime is down in most of the state, this just increases incarceration rates. It doesn’t reduce crime. Prosecutors have plenty of tools at their disposal when charging crimes. They don’t need more punitive and drastic felony measures for drug possession and theft. We are not going to prosecute our way out of crime. I am voting No on Prop 36.

To summarize:

Prop 2: YES

Prop 4: YES

Prop 5: YES

Prop 6: YES

Prop 32: YES

Prop 33: YES

Prop 34: NO

Prop 35: YES

Prop 36: NO

In a couple of days, I will tackle local ballot measures and races. Spoiler alert, I support Kamala Harris. But if you are curious about my views on the recalls of Sheng Thao and Pamela Price, tune in!