| Elections in California |
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The following is a list of California ballot propositions broken down by decade. Propositions can be placed on the ballot either through the exercise of the initiative power by the voters or by a vote of the state legislature. The state initiative power was added to the California constitution in 1911 as part of the ethics reform instituted by Governor Hiram Johnson in the early 1910s.
Ballot measures were not numbered prior to the general election of 1914. [1] Until the November 1982 general election, proposition numbers started with "1" for each election. After November 1982, subsequent propositions received sequentially increasing numbers until November 1998 when the count was reset to "1". Starting with November 1998, the count is reset in 10-year cycles.
Until 1960, citizen-led initiative measures appeared on general election ballots only. From 1960 to 2012, initiative measures appeared on primary, general, and special election ballots. [1] In October 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill (Senate Bill No. 202) which requires all future ballot initiatives to be listed only in general elections (held in November in even-numbered years), rather than during any statewide election. Two propositions had already qualified for the next statewide election (which was the June 2012 presidential primaries) prior to the signing of the law, making the June 2012 primaries the last statewide non-general election in California to have statewide initiatives on the ballot. Propositions originating in the State Legislature can still appear on non-general election ballots, as was the case with Propositions 41 and 42 in June 2014. [2]
Some notable propositions which have received a great deal of attention include:
| Proposition (year) | Status | About |
|---|---|---|
| Proposition 4 (1911) | Passed | Granting women the constitutional right to vote in California. |
| Proposition 7 (1911) | Passed | Establishing the constitutional direct democracy powers of initiative and referendum in California. |
| Proposition 8 (1911) | Passed | Establishing the constitutional direct democracy power of recall in California. |
| Proposition 14 (1964) | Passed, then declared unconstitutional | Prohibiting government agencies from denying, limiting, or abridging the right of any property owner to decline to sell, lease, or rent residential real property to any person the property owner, in their absolute discretion, chooses. |
| Proposition 6 (1978) | Defeated | Barring homosexuality in the public school system. |
| Proposition 13 (1978) | Passed | Significant property tax reduction and limits; imposing 2/3 vote requirement of the Legislature for state taxes and 2/3 voter approval requirement for local special taxes. |
| Proposition 65 (1986) | Passed | Notification of hazardous materials. |
| Proposition 98 (1988) | Passed | School funding (requires minimum percentage of budget to be directed toward education with increases based on inflation). |
| Proposition 184 (1994) | Passed, upheld in 2003, modified in 2012 | Mandatory sentencing for third-strike convictions |
| Proposition 187 (1994) | Passed, then declared unconstitutional | Denying illegal immigrants eligibility to receive public services (immediate stay was federally imposed and is still in effect). |
| Proposition 209 (1996) | Passed | Banning affirmative action in the public sector (employment, education, etc.) |
| Proposition 215 (1996) | Passed | Legalizing medical marijuana under California law. |
| Proposition 218 (1996) | Passed | Right to vote on local taxes; assessment and property-related fee reforms; initiative power expansion in regard to local revenue reduction or repeal. Constitutional follow-up to Proposition 13 (1978). |
| Proposition 22 (2000) | Passed, then declared unconstitutional | A statute banning same-sex marriage. |
| Proposition 52 (2002) | Defeated | Allowing voting registration on Election Day. |
| Proposition 71 (2004) | Passed | On the use of stem cells in scientific research. |
| Proposition 73 (2005) | Defeated | Parental notification before abortion. |
| Proposition 83 (2006) | Passed | Various restrictions of civil liberties for paroled sex offenders (Jessica's Law). |
| Proposition 85 (2006) | Defeated | Second attempt at Proposition 73. |
| Proposition 8 (2008) | Passed, then declared unconstitutional | A state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in order to override the In re Marriage Cases (Proposition 22) decision earlier that year that legalized same-sex marriage. |
| Proposition 14 (2010) | Passed | Establishing a non-partisan top-two primary in place of semi-closed party primaries. |
| Proposition 19 (2010) | Defeated | Legalization of marijuana. |
| Proposition 34 (2012) | Defeated | Abolition of the death penalty. |
| Proposition 36 (2012) | Passed | Reducing the mandatory minimum sentence's for most individuals convicted under the state's three-strikes law. |
| Proposition 37 (2012) | Defeated | Requiring labeling on raw or processed food offered for sale to consumers if made from plants or animals with genetic material changed in a specified way. |
| Proposition 47 (2014) | Passed | Redefining some nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors, rather than felonies, as they had previously been categorized. |
| Proposition 64 (2016) | Passed | Legalization under California law of the adult use of marijuana. |
| Proposition 1 (2022) | Passed | Constitutional right to reproductive freedom |
In California, a ballot proposition is a referendum or an initiative measure that is submitted to the electorate for a direct decision or direct vote. If passed, it can alter one or more of the articles of the Constitution of California, one or more of the 29 California Codes, or another law in the California Statutes by clarifying current or adding statute(s) or removing current statute(s).
In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a referendum or popular vote, either enacting new legislation, or voting down existing legislation. Citizens, or an organization, might start a popular initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum, or actual vote.
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