In any given election year, we may be asked to dust off our labor lawyer hats, brush up on oil and gas regulations, reacquaint ourselves with decades of tax policy, or analyze infrastructure funding. We may have to weigh the moral pros and cons of capital punishment, marriage equality or pig protection and — over and over again — oversee all things dialysis clinic.
This November, voters will decide the fate of 10 thorny policy proposals, including crime, health care, rent control and taxes. This year, there were far more last-minute changes than usual.
Five measures were withdrawn by their proponents in deals with lawmakers, and another was kicked off the ballot by the state’s highest court. And Gov. Gavin Newsom scrapped a crime measure at the last minute.
But on the final day possible, legislators added two bond issues, one for climate action and another school construction. The 2024 ballot will be more crowded than only seven measures in 2022, the fewest in more than a century.
What are all these propositions really about? How did they make their way to the ballot in the first place? And how did Californians first fall in love with direct democracy?
Here is California’s passion for propositions, explained.
CalMatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
