A voter casts their ballot at a voting site at the California Museum in downtown Sacramento on June 7, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
In summary
California voters will face a slew of ballot measures next year, all of which are essentially replays of old ideological clashes.
As it stands, the 2024 California ballot would be, as the old saying goes, “déjà vu all over again.”
Nine measures have qualified for the ballot: two constitutional amendments for the March primary election, and five initiatives and two referenda for the November general election. All are replays of polarizing ideological issues.
The two March measures, both placed on the ballot by the Democrat-dominated state Legislature, typify the trend of refighting old battles. One would repeal a 2008 ballot measure, passed by a 52% vote, that prohibited same-sex marriages but was later voided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The other would repeal a constitutional mandate known as Article 34, passed by voters in 1950, that requires voter approval for low-income housing projects.
The two referenda are by their nature replays of previous clashes, both backed by business interests seeking to overturn recent legislative efforts to impose more state regulation on their operations, and both are likely to spark multimillion-dollar campaigns.
The five initiatives so far qualified for the ballot are also reruns of ideological clashes – three sponsored by those on the political left and two by conservative business interests, to wit:
Commercial real estate interests, meanwhile, are part of a coalition, led by the California Business Roundtable, to pass a new constitutional amendment that would require voter approval of any new state and local taxes or tax-like fees. It’s needed, they say, to bolster California tax limitation laws that have been eroded by judicial decisions and sets up a high-stakes clash pitting business against local government officials and public employee unions.
In 2003, the Legislature passed the Private Attorney Generals Act, making it easier for workers to sue their employers for violations of state wage and working condition laws. It was a big win for unions but employers claim it has been used to shake them down. After two decades of legal skirmishing, business groups qualified a measure for the 2024 ballot to repeal the law, setting up another high-dollar clash.
Another employer-union skirmish looms in a labor-backed measure to raise California’s minimum wage, now $15.50 an hour, to $18 over several years with upward adjustments for inflation thereafter. Proponents say it would create a living wage needed to cope with inflation while opponents say it will discourage employers from creating jobs.
While more 2024 initiatives or referenda are unlikely, when the Legislature returns from its summer vacation it probably will approve some bond issues that would require voter approval.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misstated the current minimum wage.
Dan Walters has been a journalist for more than 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times...
More by Dan Walters
California’s 2024 ballot measures will revive familiar ideological battles
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In summary
California voters will face a slew of ballot measures next year, all of which are essentially replays of old ideological clashes.
As it stands, the 2024 California ballot would be, as the old saying goes, “déjà vu all over again.”
Nine measures have qualified for the ballot: two constitutional amendments for the March primary election, and five initiatives and two referenda for the November general election. All are replays of polarizing ideological issues.
The two March measures, both placed on the ballot by the Democrat-dominated state Legislature, typify the trend of refighting old battles. One would repeal a 2008 ballot measure, passed by a 52% vote, that prohibited same-sex marriages but was later voided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The other would repeal a constitutional mandate known as Article 34, passed by voters in 1950, that requires voter approval for low-income housing projects.
The two referenda are by their nature replays of previous clashes, both backed by business interests seeking to overturn recent legislative efforts to impose more state regulation on their operations, and both are likely to spark multimillion-dollar campaigns.
One, sponsored by the fast food industry, would erase a 2022 union-sponsored bill that would create a 10-member Fast Food Council to regulate wages and working conditions in fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King.
The second referendum, backed by the petroleum industry, would overturn a 2022 law requiring a 3,200-foot buffer between new oil wells and homes, schools, nursing homes and hospitals.
The five initiatives so far qualified for the ballot are also reruns of ideological clashes – three sponsored by those on the political left and two by conservative business interests, to wit:
While more 2024 initiatives or referenda are unlikely, when the Legislature returns from its summer vacation it probably will approve some bond issues that would require voter approval.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misstated the current minimum wage.
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Dan WaltersOpinion Columnist
Dan Walters has been a journalist for more than 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times... More by Dan Walters