To help you make decisions about California’s 10 state-wide propositions on your ballot in November, we’ve compiled all our endorsements, opinion columns and guest commentaries on the issues.
Our editorial board (made up of opinion writers and editors), makes recommendations, or endorsements. The process is completely separate from newsroom reporting and journalists. With the exception of our executive editor, the members of our editorial board are not news reporters or editors. Sal Rodriguez, the opinion editor for the Southern California News Group’s 11 newspapers, heads the editorial board and guides our stances on public policy and political matters. Every week, the team analyzes legislation, monitors political developments, interviews elected officials or policy advocates and writes editorials on the issues of the day. The same process is applied when considering endorsements.
Below, you’ll find all of the editorial board’s endorsements on this year’s ballot propositions. In addition to our own recommendations, we’ve published columns and opinion pieces from others across the political spectrum with expertise on the issues. Taken together, we hope you’ll be able to understand arguments on all sides of the propositions to decide your vote.
ALSO SEE: Our editorial board’s full list of endorsements
Prop 2
Proposition 2 asks if the state should borrow $10 billion to build new or renovate existing public school and community college facilities.
Endorsement: No on Proposition 2. Yet another flawed, very expensive school bond.
- Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones represents Senate District 40, encompassing the cities of Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, Santee and many communities in the city and county of San Diego. Scott Kaufman is the legislative director for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Here is their opinion: Vote No on Proposition 2: Let’s not go deeper in debt for a broken system
Prop 3
Proposition 3 asks if the California Constitution should be amended to recognize the fundamental right to marry, regardless of sex or race. It would remove language in the California Constitution stating that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Endorsement: Yes on Prop. 3 to affirm the state constitutional right to marriage
Prop 4
Proposition 4 asks if the state should borrow $10 billion in general obligation bonds for water, wildfire prevention, and protection of communities and lands.
Endorsement: No on Proposition 4, a giant feedbag of climate pork
Prop 5
Proposition 5 would lower the threshold to pass local bond measures for affordable housing and other infrastructure projects to 55% of voter approval, down from two-thirds in most cases.
Endorsement: No on Proposition 5, a path to higher property taxes and more wasteful spending
Prop 6
Proposition 6 would amend the California Constitution to remove the current provision that allows jails and prisons to impose involuntary servitude to punish crime.
Endorsement: No on Proposition 6. There’s nothing wrong with requiring prisoners to work.
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- From Assemblymembers Lori Wilson and Marie Waldron: Vote yes on Proposition 6 to end forced labor in state prisons
- Columnist Susan Shelley’s take: Don’t be fooled. Proposition 6 is a fraud
ALSO SEE: Susan Shelley’s picks for the Nov. 5 election
Prop 32
Proposition 32 would raise minimum wage as follows: For employers with 26 or more employees, to $17 immediately, $18 on January 1, 2025. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, to $17 on January 1, 2025, $18 on January 1, 2026. After that, it would go up each year based on how fast prices are going up.
Prop 33
Proposition 33 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995, which currently prohibits local ordinances from enacting rent control on housing built after 1995.
Endorsement: No on Prop. 33. Expanding rent control will destroy California’s rental market.
- Steve Greenhut’s take: Real-world lesson: Ending rent control boosts housing supply
Prop 34
Proposition 34 would require certain providers to spend 98% of revenues from a federal discount prescription drug program on direct patient care. It would also authorize statewide negotiation of Medi-Cal drug prices.
Endorsement: Yes on Proposition 34 to check the abuses of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Prop 35
Proposition 35 would make permanent the existing tax on managed health care insurance plans, which, if approved by the federal government, provides revenues to pay for Medi-Cal health care services.
Endorsement: No on Proposition 35. Let the Legislature figure out how to fund Medi-Cal.
- Marc Joffe is a federalism and state policy analyst at the Cato Institute and is a resident of Walnut Creek, California. Krit Chanwong is a research associate in General Economics at the Cato Institute. Here is their opinion: California’s Proposition 35 will result in more irresponsible spending with only marginal returns
Prop 36
Proposition 36 would allow felony charges for possessing certain drugs and for thefts under $950, if the defendant has two prior drug or theft convictions.
Endorsement: No on Proposition 36, a revival of failed and unjust policies
- Assemblymember Diane Dixon’s argument: Proposition 36 is necessary to protect your friends, family and local business owners
- David Barclay works for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. Here’s his opinion: Prop. 47-funded programs are working to break cycles of crime. Prop. 36 will undermine those efforts.
- Eric Harris is the Associate Executive Director for External Affairs at Disability Rights California and has had an extensive career as a policy leader at the local, state and federal levels. Here is his commentary: A vote for Prop. 36 is a vote for mass incarceration of people with disabilities
- Commentary from Vanessa Ramos, an advisor at Disability Rights California: Despite what you’ve heard, Proposition 36 will not help people struggling with addiction
- Matt Mahan is the Mayor of San Jose and one of the co-sponsors of a non-partisan committee working to pass Proposition 36. Traci Park is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing District 11. Here is their argument: Prop. 36 is a common sense solution to the suffering on our streets
- Drug warriors are scamming us with Prop. 36 — and they have been lying to us for decades
- Junior’s Trauma Care Initiative has helped families break cycles of trauma and violence, says Elizabeth Muñoz, who co-founded the nonprofit after the shooting death of her son. Muñoz writes that passage of Prop. 36 would put funding for her organization, and others like it, at risk. Here’s her opinion: Proposition 36 won’t make us safer, but it will put funding for trauma recovery centers at risk
- Cristine Soto DeBerry is the executive director of Prosecutors Alliance Action. Here is DeBerry’s commentary: Proposition 36: A failed prescription for more prison and less treatment
ALSO SEE: California ballot measures provide plenty of incentive to vote
