Statewide
The text for all statewide ballot measures can be found at https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/, which also has versions available in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and other languages.
Proposition 1- YES. Affordable housing is the sort of long-term benefit for which bond debt is reasonable.
Proposition 2- YES. One of the major problems with our tax system is that it is prone to boom and bust cycles, which increasing the size of our reserve and making more frequent debt payments will help mitigate.
Proposition 3- YES. Continues the existing income tax to fund teachers and healthcare.
Proposition 4- YES. General law cities should have the option to provide public funding for campaigns, if they wish to do so.
Proposition 5- YES. The way recalls are currently structured can lead to even more absurd outcomes than first-past-the-post typically generates. Separating “should this person be removed” from “who should replace them” is a good idea.
Proposition 37- YES. It’s basically the state acting as a line of credit for homebuyers, and I think the state is sufficiently fiscally stable that the housing benefit is worth the risk.
Proposition 38- NO. I’m not comfortable with a bond that dedicates half of its revenue to one entity that drafted it, and that may well not repay itself.
Proposition 39- NO. Voter ID is a problem presenting itself as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. We have strong protections against voter fraud, and poll taxes (which is what voter ID becomes) are unconstitutional under the 24th amendment to the US Constitution.
Proposition 40- YES. Billionaires use tax strategies to have their “income” classified as other things entirely to avoid income taxes. Therefore, a wealth tax is necessary, and how 40 is targeted is justified given the Medicaid cuts to fund the federal tax cuts in the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”.
Proposition 41- NO. It’s designed to sabotage Proposition 40.
Proposition 42- NO. The people should not surrender our power to tax any kind of personal property.
Proposition 43- NO. If people want to fund their government, they should be able to do that through a regular majority vote, not a 2/3rds majority one.
Proposition 44- NO. Program Services is insufficiently clear, and puts at risk clinics already facing substantial cuts next year.
Proposition 45- NO. If it was about CEQA reform, it would not carve out high-speed rail.
Contra Costa County
You can find the text for these propositions at https://www.contracostavote.gov/m9004-en-2/ for Measure V and https://www.contracostavote.gov/m9001-en-2/ for measure RTM.
Measure RTM- YES. If you use public transit, you should vote yes. If you don’t use public transit and don’t like sitting in traffic, you should also vote yes- because if this fails and service cuts are made, there will be more cars on the road and more traffic.
Measure V- YES. It maintains the existing school district parcel tax for support services (music, counselors), which I think is a reasonable thing to levy a parcel tax for.
