California Prop Roundup: What worked, what failed, and what's still up in the air

Climate projects

Another $10 billion bond measure, Proposition 4, would fund projects to help California prepare for the impacts of climate change. The measure, which also appears to be on track for success, would improve water infrastructure such as reservoirs and groundwater storage; increase coastal resilience and flood protection; and address extreme heat and wildfire prevention. At least 40% of funds must go to projects that benefit disadvantaged communities. If California doesn't take such steps, the cost of addressing climate impacts could be $113 billion a year by 2050, according to a state analysis.

Affordable housing and infrastructure

Voters appeared to reject Proposition 5, a measure that would make it easier for local governments to pass bonds and raise taxes for affordable housing and infrastructure. Currently, these local measures require approval from two-thirds of voters, and many measures do not reach that supermajority. If Proposal 5 is adopted, the break-even point would be reduced to 55%.

Involuntary servitude

A measure to prevent forced labor in California prisons appeared to be headed for defeat. Proposition 6 would eliminate a provision in the state constitution that allows prisons and jails to impose forced labor as punishment for a crime. In practice, it would prevent prison officials from disciplining an incarcerated person for refusing a work assignment. It comes from a recommendation from a task force studying reparations for black Californians and would follow states like Alabama and Colorado that also recently removed this relic of slavery from their constitutions.

Minimum wage

Voters narrowly rejected an increase in the state minimum wage to $18 an hour. Under Proposition 32, California's minimum wage would increase from the current $16 an hour by 2026. Companies with 26 or more employees would have to increase hourly wages to $17 immediately and to $18 by 2025. Smaller companies would have until 2026 to take the plunge. A recent UC Berkeley study found that California's law raising the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour did not lead to a decline in employment in the fast food sector, but in some cases led to slight price increases.

Prescription drug spending (so to speak)

Voters appeared to narrowly support a landlord-backed measure that appears to be about prescription drug spending but is actually aimed at just one health care provider — and an organization that also supports rent control. Proposition 34 would ostensibly limit how health care providers can use revenue from a federal program that allows them to buy prescription drugs at a discount, then charge insurers a market price and use the difference to expand health care services to disadvantaged groups.

The measure would require 98% of the program's revenue to go directly to patient care — but it is tailored to affect only one provider, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which supports expanding rent control and opposes legislation that would require it Prescribe residential development.

Baldassare, of the Public Policy Institute of California, said support for the two bond measures and the Medi-Cal tax shows voters want to ensure there are adequate funding for services like health care and schools. But he said concerns about inflation and the cost of living were taking their toll on Propositions 32 and 33.

“While raising the minimum wage and local rent control would generally be popular measures (to benefit) lower-income Californians, concerns about the hidden costs … and unintended consequences are grating on people’s nerves,” he said.

Baldassare added that voters likely did not have sufficient information about several measures, including the measure that would have lowered the electoral threshold for raising local taxes and the measure to abolish forced labor in prisons.

“I think Propositions 5 and 6 are examples of measures that the Legislature put up for a vote and there was very little discussion afterward about what they were about,” he said. “Who is for and who is against? Why should we support this?”