Background: Proposition 14 authorizes $5.5 billion in state general obligation bonds to fund grants from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, educational, nonprofit and private entities for stem cell and other medical research.
What It Would Do: Although we support ongoing stem cell research, given the economic situation that we find ourselves in, we are not sure that selling bonds, which the state would have to pay back with interest out of the general fund over the next 30 years, is the way to go.
Background: While the wealthiest corporations avoid paying their fair share, our schools have the most crowded classrooms in the nation and our local communities are struggling to respond to the impact of COVID.
What It Will Do: Prop 15 reclaims $12 billion for our schools and communities by making wealthy corporations pay their fair share of property taxes. If passed, Prop 15 would close property tax loopholes benefiting corporations, cut taxes for small businesses, and protect homeowners and renters. For more information, visit www.yes15.org
Background: California is one of only nine states that bans affirmative action as a tool to fight discrimination. In 1996, California voted to end Affrimartive Action and prohibite the state from considering race, sex and ethnicity in public college admissions, hiring and contracting.
What It Will Do: Prop 16 removes barriers in hiring and college admissions for women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other people of color. For more information,visit www.voteyesonprop16.org
Background: Nearly 50,000 Californians who have returned home from prison can’t vote even though they are raising families, holding jobs, paying taxes, and contributing to society in every other way. They should be encouraged to reenter society and have a stake in their community, not be punished by having their voting rights denied.
What It Will Do: Prop 17 would change the law so that anyone not in prison is allowed to vote and re-enfranchise over 50,000 Californians who had previously been denied the right to vote. For more information, visit www.yeson17.vote
Background: Nineteen other states, including D.C., allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary election if they will be 18 by the general election. Research has proven time and again that voting is habit-forming. These states recognize the importance of allowing 18-year-olds to vote, to help form their voting habits and amplify their voices.
What It Will Do: Prop 18 expands voting rights to 17 year olds in primary or special elections if they turn 18 by the next general election.
Background: Proposition 13 caps most property tax rates at 1 percent of a home’s sale price and holds annual increases in assessed value to 2 percent or less. This means people who purchased their home a few decades ago already pay significantly less property tax than newer homeowners.
What It Will Do: Prop 19 would allow wealthy families to avoid paying their fair share of property taxes on their homes.
Background: In 2014, and again in 2016, California voters overwhelmingly passed a number of criminal justice reforms that led to significant decreases in prison populations and an increase in investments in our communities, such as k-12 education, mental health treatment, and services for crime survivors. Prop. 20 would roll back the historic gains of Prop. 47 which has positively impacted over 1.5 million Californians and led to the largest record change effort in U.S. history.
What It Will Do: Funded by law enforcement unions, Prop. 20 would overturn historic voter approved reforms and make it easier to incarcerate people by adding to the list of crimes that can be charged as felonies.
Background: California has the highest rate of homelessness in the nation, which can be attributed to the overwhelmingly high median rates for rent throughout the state forcing residents to pay 50 percent of their income just toward rent. The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act prohibits rent control on residential properties built after February 1, 1995. Since then, housing built in California has become accessible only to those who can afford uncontrolled rent increases, and low-income families have largely been shut out from newer housing developments.
What It Will Do: If passed, the measure would give local governments the power to implement tenant-friendly protections that limit annual rent increases, prevent displacement, and make living in California affordable for all. Prop 21 will allow local governments to limit rent increases on buildings older than 15 years, protecting millions of renters while incentivizing the construction of new housing.
Background: By classifying workers as contractors and not employees, companies like Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash are not required by state employment laws to enforce minimum wage, overtime, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.
What It Will Do: Prop 22 will classify ride-share and delivery companies as independent contractors, not employees. Additionally, Prop 22 would restrict local regulation of app-based drivers and would criminalize the impersonation of drivers.
Background: 80,000 Californians require dialysis on a weekly basis and need the best medical attention possible given the fact that 20% to 25% of dialysis patients die within a year, and the five-year survival rate is less than 50 percent.
What It Will Do: Prop 23 would add sections to the California Health and Safety Code about how dialysis facilities can operate, requiring a physician to be on-site at every dialysis clinic to oversee operations, and mandating that each chronic dialysis clinic submit quarterly reports on dialysis-related infections to the California Department of Health. Having a physician on-site at chronic dialysis clinics during all treatment hours provides a higher quality of medical care with an additional layer of patient safety.
Background: Under current law, privacy follows a Californian wherever they go, and businesses must honor the electronic signal. Prop 24 will allow tech companies to upload a California resident’s personal information as soon as that resident’s device, computer, or phone leaves the state’s borders, and permits tech companies to completely ignore a programmable universal electronic “do not sell my information” signal.
What It Will Do: Proposition 24 will amend the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018 to include pay-for-privacy schemes, which provide better services and internet connection to those who pay more in order to protect their personal information while providing suboptimal services for Californians who cannot or do not want to pay more. As such, in addition to establishing a $10 million agency, Prop. 24 will erode a consumer’s request to delete their data and would completely end CCPA protection of biometric information.
Background: Proposition 25 is a referendum, which asks voters to directly weigh in on whether to keep or reject SB 10, a bill originally passed in 2018, that ended cash bail in California. Voting YES on Prop 25 will keep SB 10 in place and eliminate the cash bail system of pretrial incarceration in California, which is responsible for the disproportionate incarceration of Californians who cannot afford bail.
What It Will Do: If passed, Prop 25 would replace California’s cash bail system with pretrial risk assessments, which are racially biased algorithms that use information like age and arrest records to determine a defendant’s likelihood of missing their court date. These algorithms do not factor a person’s individual circumstance or the facts of the case. Voting “No” on Prop 25 will allow counties to implement more progressive pretrial systems and allow CA to pass more progressive pretrial legislation that does not rely on risk assessments, does not increase law enforcement budgets, and does not expand judicial discretion.
Background: L.A. County spends 42% of taxpayer dollars on law enforcement and the criminal legal system. Individual elected officials come and go but Measure J will structurally change the budget and permanently enshrine progressive values in the County charter by investing in community counseling, mental health services, youth development programs, small businesses, job creation, and affordable housing.
What It Would Do: Through a majority vote of the people, Measure J will amend L.A. County’s charter to permanently allocate at least 10% of existing locally-controlled revenues – growing close to $1B once fully phased in – to be directed to community investment and alternatives to incarceration. For more information, visit www.yesonj.reimagine.la