On November 5, California voters will get to decide on 10 ballot propositions – changes to California law that can be directed by the people instead of the legislature. But what do these ballot propositions actually mean, and who is behind them? Here is your guide to know what you are voting for in November, including our recommendations for how to vote!
Proposition 2: Education finance: school facilities: Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Schools and Local Community College Public Education Facilities Modernization, Repair, and Safety Bond Act of 2024
What a YES vote means: Supports issuing $10 billion in bonds to build and modernize public education buildings.
To receive bond money, school districts would need to pass a bond of their own and then apply for a matching fund. The Public Policy Institute of California found that 38% of students statewide go to schools that do not meet minimum facility standards. Voters rejected the last time a school bond like this came up in 2020.
Supporters: Dozens of school districts including Los Angeles Unified, the Assn. of California School Administrators, the California School Boards Assn. and construction associations, including the powerful Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH).
Opponents: Some public advocates and lower-wealth districts believe the funding formula favors districts that can raise money more easily and fear they will not be able to raise the matching funds to access this important revenue source.
Courage California’s Recommendation: Vote YES, and advocate for funding formulas that prioritize higher need school districts
Proposition 3: Marriage equality
What a YES vote means: Supports repealing the 2008 Proposition 8 that defined marriage as between a man and a woman AND declaring that the “right to marry is a fundamental right” in the California Constitution.
Proposition 8 was overturned by the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision protecting same-sex marriage under the Fourteenth Amendment. However, considering the new far-right majority on the Supreme Court, it is possible for Obergefell to be reversed, which would reinstate Proposition 8 if this new initiative doesn’t pass.
Supporters: ACLU California, Courage California, and LGBTQ+ rights groups including Equality California and Human Rights Campaign also support the measure, as does the California Democratic Party.
Opponents: Religious conservative groups including the California Family Council. Notably, many of the organizations that sponsored and supported Prop 8 in 2008 are not opposing Prop 3.
What Courage California recommends: Vote YES
Proposition 4: Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024
What a YES vote means: Supports issuing $10 billion in bonds to fund state and local parks, environmental protection projects, water infrastructure projects, energy projects, and flood protection projects.
In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration made a commitment to spend $54 billion on climate protections, some of which was cut to balance the state’s budget. This bond would restore some of the funds: $3.8 would go toward safe water and controlling flooding, $1.5 billion would go to wildfire protection, and $1.2 billion would go to protecting against rising sea levels. Other money would address effects like extreme heat events. The proposition requires that 40% of the money go to projects in disadvantaged communities.
Supporters: Dozens of environmental groups, labor unions, social justice organizations, water agencies, renewable energy companies and the water recycling industry
Opponents: Groups opposing any tax increase or taking on debt
What Courage California recommends: Vote YES
Proposition 5: Local government financing: affordable housing and public infrastructure: voter approval
What a YES vote means: Supports lowering the vote threshold from 66.67% to 55% for local bond measures to fund housing projects and public infrastructure.
Right now, most local bond proposals require a two-thirds majority vote to pass. Proposition 5 seeks to reduce that vote threshold to 55% of the popular vote to provide local governments with a better opportunity to move forward on these local service and development projects using public funds. The proposition also establishes accountability standards to require annual, independent audits of the use of funds, and create citizen oversight committees to evaluate spending.
Supporters: Backers of Proposition 5 include labor, affordable housing and local government interests, especially firefighters and construction workers who want to approve more public projects.
Opponents: Opponents include an array of business and taxpayer groups, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.
What Courage California recommends: Vote YES
Proposition 6: Slavery
What a YES vote means: Supports amending the state constitution so that slavery and involuntary servitude cannot be used as punishment for people who are incarcerated.
The California constitution permits indentured servitude, and 65% of incarcerated people — who are disproportionately Black and Latino — are forced to work for little to no wage. Imprisoned Californians pave roads, work food service, and even fight fires for 12 to 40 cents an hour. And businesses pocket $1 billion a year on labor from incarcerated people.
If approved by voters, California would join the over 30 other states that have struck down the archaic and racist practice of involuntary servitude in their state constitutions.
Supporters: This is a Legislative Black Caucus priority bill, and it’s supported by numerous criminal justice reform and human rights groups, including Courage California.
Opponents: No one has gone on record as opposition, although some Republicans raised concerns that incarcerated persons would be paid minimum wage – something not stated in Proposition 6.
What Courage California recommends: Vote YES
Proposition 32: Raises minimum wage
What a YES vote means: Supports increasing the minimum wage to $18 per hour by 2026 for all employers, and thereafter adjusting the rate annually by increases to the cost of living.
The minimum wage hasn’t been raised by the state legislature since March of 2016, and it hit $15 an hour in January of 2023. The MIT living wage calculator puts a livable wage in California at a minimum of $27.32 an hour.
Some unions have successfully advocated for higher minimum wages in their industries – including $20 per hour for fast food workers and $25 per hour for health care workers (which will take effect later in 2024) – and this proposition would cover an estimated 2 million workers.
Supporters: Yes on California Living Wage Act, a conglomerate PAC led by Joe Sanberg, a progressive entrepreneur who has also supported earned income tax credits for low income families, and founded the state’s largest anti-poverty program, CalEITC4Me.
Opponents: Some unions and workers rights advocates who believe it doesn’t go far enough, the California Republican Party, Small Business Association
Courage California’s Recommendation: Vote YES, and advocate for higher minimum wages
Proposition 33: Expands Local Government’s Authority to Enact Rent Control on Residential Property
What a YES vote means: Supports repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995, which prohibits cities and counties from instituting rent caps or rent control
Proposition 33 would repeal the Act, return power to localities to rein in housing prices, and prohibit the state from limiting any later establishment or expansion of rent control. Rent in California right now is 33% higher than the national median.
Supporters: The AIDS Health Foundation sponsored the initiative, and other supporters include labor and tenant organizations such as Unite Here Local 11 and the Coalition for Economic Survival
Opponents: The real estate industry and the California Apartment Association
What Courage California recommends: Vote YES, and lobby local governments to establish rent caps or rent control
Proposition 34: Require Certain Participants in Medi-Cal Rx Program to Spend 98% of Revenues on Patient Care Initiative
What a YES vote means: Supports requiring health care providers who spent $100 million dollars in a 10-year period on things beside patient care (e.g., advertising, administrative salaries) AND have run housing with a certain number health and safety violations to use 98% of federal prescription drug program funding on direct patient care.
This is a real estate industry effort targeting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation – the leader of Proposition 33 on rent control – to prevent them from funding future ballot measures. The Foundation previously led rent control measures in 2018 and 2020. The real estate industry spends millions of dollars each year to lobby legislators and support candidate and ballot measure campaigns, and this is a hypocritical attempt to restrict one of their political opponents.
Supporters: The California Apartment Association, the California Republican party, and some health care and poverty reduction advocates like the ALS Assn. and the California Chronic Care Coalition
Opponents: The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, as well as groups like Consumer Watchdog and the National Organization for Women
What Courage California recommends: Vote NO
Proposition 35: Provides Permanent Funding for Medi-Cal Health Care Services
What a YES vote means: Supports making a tax on managed care organizations to help fund Medi-Cal programs permanent.
Managed care organizations (MCOs) are health plans or healthcare companies that contract for health care services through networks of systems of care. Complying with the MCO tax – which is set to run out in 2026 – makes them eligible to get a dollar-for-dollar match from the federal government.
As Medi-Cal has expanded to cover people regardless of their immigration status, health care providers and advocacy groups have complained that California does not pay adequately for providing care under Medi-Cal. Proposition 35 aims to boost that funding, make it permanent, and protect the funds from being used for another purpose. In the 2024/2025 state budget signed by Governor Newsom, most of the tax funds were designated to the state’s general fund.
In the same budget, some groups – including community health workers, private duty nurses, and adult and pediatric day health centers – will get Medi-Cal rate increases. Children who qualify for Medi-Cal but are at risk of automatic disenrollment (80% annually) because of administrative or procedural issues are also supported for continued coverage in the state budget. If Prop 35 passes, these groups will not receive any of the MCO tax funds, which will go to rate increases in other areas.
Supporters: Coalition to Protect Access to Care, which includes a range of groups involved in healthcare. Among them are the California Hospital Assn., the California Medical Assn., Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, labor unions, emergency responders and community health centers. The California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party also support Prop 35.
Opponents: Community health workers and groups
What Courage California recommends: No recommendation, but advocate for expanding Medi-Cal coverage and rate increases for all groups
Proposition 36: Allows Felony Charges and Increases Sentences for Certain Drug and Theft Crimes
What a YES vote means: Supports raising sentences and penalties for retail theft and fentanyl, increasing incarceration and prison spending, and divesting from successful community programs
In 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47 with over 59% of the vote to reclassify some non-violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, including low-value shoplifting, grand theft, forgery, fraud, and the personal use of illegal drugs. This change effectively reduced the state’s prison burden, and allowed the government to divert funds previously used for incarceration to rehabilitation and re-entry programs. Proposition 36 would make changes to Proposition 47 by increasing the sentence for possession of certain quantities of illegal drugs, adding fentanyl to the list of illegal drugs that can warrant a felony charge, and making low-value property theft a felony for repeat offenders.
Supporters: WalMart, Home Depot, and Target have spent millions on passing the initiative. Other proponents include: California District Attorneys Assn., which is mostly comprised of conservative prosecutors, and the California Sheriff’s Assn. Noteworthy conservative Democratic politicians who support Proposition 36 include San José Mayor Matt Mahan and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The California Republican Party has endorsed the measure.
Opponents: ACLU, criminal justice reform groups and human rights activists, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and Courage California.
What Courage California recommends: Vote NO