The California State Legislature passed two constitutional amendments on Sept. 14, 2023, that would change voter approval thresholds for certain ballot measures. Both of the constitutional amendments will appear on the ballot in Nov. 2024. The first constitutional amendment, ACA 1, would lower the voter approval threshold from two-thirds (66.67%) to 55% for local special…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed Assembly Bill 421 (AB 421), which addresses the veto referendum process, on Sept. 8, 2023. AB 421 changes how veto referendums appear on the ballot, among other provisions. A veto referendum is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal an enacted law. For 2024,…
Protect Kids California filed three citizen-initiated ballot measures to enact laws related to gender in schools, sports, and healthcare. The first initiative would require schools to notify parents or guardians when a student requests to be treated as a gender identity that differs from the student’s listed sex in the student’s record. Notification would be…
The California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 421 (AB 421), which addresses the veto referendum process, on Sept. 5, 2023. AB 421 would change how veto referendums appear on the ballot, among other provisions. A veto referendum is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal an enacted law. For 2024,…
The California State Assembly advanced a bill in late August that proposed allowing striking workers to claim unemployment insurance benefits after striking for two weeks. The deadline for introducing new legislation had passed, so legislators rewrote Senate Bill 799, which previously related to corrections and criminal rehabilitation, to propose expanding the state’s unemployment insurance availability.…
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) requested documents late last year from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension system in the country, and Ceres, a nonprofit group that advises CalPERS on environmental matters. The committee is seeking information about CalPERS’ ESG efforts and the effect they have had on…
Californians have decided on 960 local parcel tax ballot measures from 2008 to Aug. 2023. Voters in Santa Lucia Community Services District, a special district in Monterey County, will decide the next parcel tax measure on Aug. 29, 2023. Since 2008, 577 (60.10%) parcel tax ballot measures were approved and 383 (39.90%) were defeated. From…
On July 26, the California secretary of state announced the third rent control initiative sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in four election cycles had qualified for the Nov. 2024 ballot. Californians defeated the two other initiatives in 2018 and 2020. The 2024 initiative would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which prohibits rent control…
California voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would repeal Proposition 8, and add language in the California Constitution stating that “the right to marry is a fundamental right,” on Nov. 5, 2024. Proposition 8 was a constitutional amendment approved by California voters by 52-47% in 2008 that defined marriage as between a man…
Californians have decided on 950 local parcel tax ballot measures from 2008 to 2022. Voters in Kirkwood Meadows Public Utility District, a 1.875-square-mile special district in the Sierra Nevada, will decide the next parcel tax measure on July 11, 2023. Between 2008 and 2022, 569 (59.89%) parcel tax ballot measures were approved and 381 (40.11%)…