On Friday, July 1, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that 17 propositions — legislative, initiative, and referendum measures — will be on the November 8 General Election ballot. The State Legislature is still considering three more possible additions.
Of the seventeen, six are amendments to the state constitution and one is referendum. The state legislature approved two and 15 are pure initiatives or amendments. Each of these required 365,880 valid voter signatures.
Secretary Padilla also invited interested Californians to submit arguments to be considered for inclusion in the Official Voter Information Guide. The guide is mailed to every voting household in California and posted on the Secretary of State’s website. The full text and nonpartisan analysis, provided by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, of the propositions will also appear in the Official Voter Information Guide.
The propositions are listed below, along with the Legislative Counsel’s digest or the Attorney General’s official circulating title and summary.
Proposition # Description
Prop 51 - School Bonds.
Funding for K-12 School and Community College Facilities. Authorizes $9 billion in general obligation bonds: $3 billion for new construction and $3 billion for modernization of K-12 public school facilities; $1 billion for charter schools and vocational education facilities; and $2 billion for California Community Colleges facilities.
Prop 52 - State Fees on Hospitals.
Federal Medi-Cal Matching Funds. The initiative directs those fees and federal matching funds to hospital-provided Medi-Cal health care services, to uncompensated care provided by hospitals to uninsured patients, and to children’s health coverage.
Prop 53 - Revenue Bonds.
Requires statewide voter approval before any revenue bonds can be issued or sold by the state for projects that are financed, owned, operated, or managed by the state or any joint agency created by or including the state, if the bond amount exceeds $2 billion.
Prop 54 - Constitutional Amendment - Internet Publishing of Bills.
The State Legislature approved this constitutional amendment, which prohibits it from passing any bill unless the bill has been in print and published on the Internet for at least 72 hours before the vote, except in cases of public emergency.
Prop 55 - Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare.
Extends by twelve years the temporary personal income tax increases enacted in 2012 on earnings over $250,000 (for single filers; over $500,000 for joint filers; over $340,000 for heads of household). Allocates these tax revenues 89 percent to K-12 schools and 11 percent to California Community Colleges.
Prop 56 - Cigarette Tax to Fund Healthcare.
Increases cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack, with equivalent increase on other tobacco products and electronic cigarettes containing nicotine. The additional funding would be allocated primarily to existing healthcare programs; also for tobacco use prevention or control programs, tobacco-related disease research and law enforcement
Prop 57 - Criminal Sentences.
Allows parole consideration (early release) for persons convicted of nonviolent felonies upon completion of full prison term for primary offense, as defined.
Prop 58 - Senate Bill 1174 - English language education.
This bill would amend and repeal various provisions of Proposition 227, which was enacted in 1998. Among other things, the bill would delete the sheltered English immersion requirement and waiver provisions, and would instead provide that school districts and county offices of education shall, at a minimum, provide English learners with a structured English immersion program, as specified.
Prop 59 - Senate Bill 254 - Campaign finance
Voter instruction. asking whether California’s elected officials should use all of their constitutional authority, including proposing and ratifying one or more amendments to the United States Constitution, to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) 558 U.S. 310.
Prop 60 - Pornography Health.
Requires performers in adult films to use condoms during filming of sexual intercourse. Requires producers of adult films to pay for performer vaccinations, testing, and medical examinations related to sexually transmitted infections.
Prop 61 - State Prescription Drug Purchases.
Prohibits state agencies from paying more for a prescription drug than the lowest price paid for the same drug by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Prop 62 - Death Penalty.
Repeals death penalty as maximum punishment for persons found guilty of murder and replaces it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole and applies retroactively.
Prop 63 - Ammunition Magazines.
Prohibits possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, and requires their disposal by sale to dealer, destruction, or removal from state. Imposes background checks on most individuals and they must obtain Department of Justice authorization to purchase ammunition.
Prop 64 - Marijuana Legalization.
Legalizes recreational marijuana use.
Prop 65 - Carry-Out Bags.
Redirects money collected by grocery and certain other retail stores through sale of carry-out bags, whenever any state law bans free distribution of a particular kind of carry-out bag and mandates the sale of any other kind of carry-out bag.
Prop 66 - Death Penalty.
Changes procedures governing state court appeals and petitions challenging death penalty convictions and sentences.
Prop 67 - Plastic Bags.
Referendum to Overturn Ban on Single-Use Plastic Bags.
