California Ballot Measures 2018
Illustration by Dan Hubig for CALmatters
Elections aren’t just about hiring lawmakers to write the laws that govern our state. Sometimes, you the voter, are asked to set some rules yourself.
Some ballot measures will invite you to weigh in on the most consequential and controversial issues of the day. The death penalty, marriage equality, marijuana legalizations, and basic questions of who should pay for the price of government have all been decided by voters in past elections. This November, affordable housing funding, the price of gas, and rent control will all be on the ballot.
And then sometimes the issues at hand are a little more…esoteric. How should paramedics spend their break time? Should state lawmakers be given the opportunity to nix daylight saving time? How much profit should dialysis clinics be able to make? What even is a dialysis clinic and why are you being asked to weigh in on its bottom line?
Find the answers to these question, and any others you might have about this year’s handful of ballot propositions, by checking out our pages on each proposition. Or you can find capsule summaries below.
You can also explore Gimme Props, our interactive ballot guide that helps you get to a decision about how to vote on each ballot measure through a series of questions.
Meet the November 2018 Propositions
Prop 1: A $4 Billion Bond for Housing
APPROVED
Give the state permission to borrow $4 billion to fund affordable housing construction and rental and home loan subsidies.
Prop 2: Mental Health Money for Housing
APPROVED
Give the state permission to borrow $2 billion to fund supportive housing (affordable housing with on-site social and medical services) for those suffering with mental illness. That debt would be repaid with money previously set aside for county-run mental health services.
Prop 3: An $8.9 Billion Water Bond
REJECTED
Give the state permission to borrow $8.9 billion to fund watershed protection ($2.5 billion), water supply improvements including wastewater treatment ($2.1 billion), habitat restoration ($1.4 billion), groundwater management ($1.1 billion), flood protection projects ($500 million), as well as upgrades and repairs to traditional water infrastructure, like canals and dams ($1.2 billion).
Prop 4: Children's Hospital Bond
APPROVED
Give the state permission to borrow $1.5 billion to fund renovations, expansions, and upgrades at hospitals that treat children. Most of the funding is reserved for the state’s eight private non-profit children’s hospitals ($1.08 billion) and the five hospitals run through one of the University of California campuses ($270 million).
Prop 5: Portable Real Estate Tax Break
REJECTED
Allow older or disabled homeowners to take a portion of their lowered property tax base with them if they sell their home and move.
Prop 6: Gas Tax Repeal
REJECTED
Repeal a recent increase in the gas tax and other fuel and car fees and require voter approval for all transportation-related tax increases in the future. Taxes to be rolled back include a 12-cent hike in the gasoline excise tax, a 4 percent increase in the diesel sales tax, as well as a new annual vehicle fee based on the value of the car or truck.
Prop 7: Daylight Savings Time Forever
APPROVED
Repeal the 1949 law that created Daylight Savings Time. If voters approve Prop. 7, the Legislature would then be able to pass a law with a two-thirds majority finally nixing the biannual tradition of moving clocks backward and forward every spring and fall. That is, assuming the federal government let’s us get away with it.
Prop 8: Dialysis Clinic Profit Pruning
REJECTED
Require companies operating dialysis clinics to payback any profits over 15 percent of qualifying business costs. Payments would be made to insurance companies or to individuals who pay out of pocket.
Prop 10: Bringing Back Rent Control
REJECTED
Allow cities to introduce new restrictions on market rents or expand existing rent control policies.
Prop 11: Paramedic Break Time
APPROVED
Continue to allow private ambulance services to require their emergency medical service employees to remain on call during meal and rest breaks. Also guarantees technicians additional training and some paid medical health services.
Prop 12: Bigger Cages for Farm Animals
APPROVED
Place specific size requirements on the coops and cages used to contain breeding pigs, veal calves, and egg-laying hens.
Meet the June 2018 Propositions
Prop 68: $4 Billion Water Bond
APPROVED
This proposition gives the state permission to borrow $4.1 billion to fund a variety of green and blue infrastructure projects—including drinking water improvements, habitat restoration projects, levee upgrades, and new parks in low-income neighborhoods.
Prop 69: Gas Tax Lock Box
APPROVED
Not only would this measure exempt new diesel tax and car fee money from the state’s constitutional spending limit, but it also would keep lawmakers from spending that money on anything other than transportation projects.
Prop 70: Cap-and-Trade Approval
REJECTED
This measure would lock away any cap-and-trade auction revenue raised after 2024 and require the approval of two-thirds of both the Assembly and Senate before it can be spent.
Prop 71: When Measures Take Effect
APPROVED
This proposition arguably fixes a flaw in our voting system. It would delay when new voter-approved laws take effect until at least five days after the Secretary of State has certified election result. This is done over a month after election day.
Prop 72: Capture Rain Tax-Free
APPROVED
As a way to encourage homeowners to add rainwater capture systems, this would include them in the list of home improvements that would not trigger a property tax reassessment.
