Ballotpedia:Analysis of the 2018 local ballot measures in California

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2018 U.S. Local Ballot Measures
2019 » « 2017
Overview
California
Election dates
Lawsuits
Analyses
Year-end California local measures
Year-end measures in the largest cities
California competing measures
The Big Picture
Local vs. State
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December 18, 2018
By The Ballot Measures Team

In 2018, Ballotpedia covered a total of 726 local ballot measures in California. Read on to learn more about ballot measure trends in California.

Quick stats

Measures by outcome

Among the 726 measures on ballots across California in 2018, 563 (78 percent) were approved, and 163 (22 percent) were defeated.

Measures by county in California

The total number of local ballot measures in each county throughout 2018 ranged from zero measures in Trinity, Kings, and Colusa counties to 80 measures in Los Angeles County. See the map below for more info.

Measures by election date in California

Following are all of the 2018 election dates on which local ballot measures were featured on the ballot in one or more counties. The majority of measures were on the ballot during the general election in November (544 measures), followed by the primary election in June (158 measures).

January

• January 23
• January 30

February

• February 27

March

• March 6

April

• April 10

May

• May 8

June

• June 5

July

• July 24

September

• September 18

November

• November 6

Ballot measures by topic

Of the 726 measures on local ballots, 35 percent were tax measures (excluding marijuana taxes), and 23 percent were bond issues. Marijuana-related measures represented 16 percent of the 726 measures. Other measures covered various topics. Read on for a more detailed breakdown of notable topics.

Housing

See also: Local housing on the ballot

There were 27 housing-related local measures on California ballots in 2018. This figure includes bonds and taxes to fund housing and homelessness services as well as measures related to rent control and eviction, short-term rentals, and housing development regulations.

HIGHLIGHTS

San Francisco voters decided on Proposition C, the San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax for Homelessness Services Initiative, in November. The measure was designed to tax businesses with over $50 million in annual gross receipts to fund services and housing for the homeless population. Local officials declared the measure approved with 61 percent of the vote; however, the vote requirement was being challenged in court as of December 14, 2018.

South Lake Tahoe voters approved Measure T, the South Lake Tahoe Vacation Home Rental Restrictions, in November. The measure was designed to eliminate short-term vacation rentals in residential areas, exempting certain qualified rentals.

Housing bonds were approved in Emeryville and Berkeley and defeated in Santa Cruz County, San Jose, and Santa Rosa in June and November.

Hotel taxes to fund housing were approved in Calistoga, Napa, St. Helena, Yountville, and Napa County in November.

Rent control was on the ballot at the statewide and local levels in November. See below for more information.

Rent control

At the statewide level, California voters defeated a rent control measure, Proposition 10, on November 6, 2018. The proposition was designed to repeal state regulations found in the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act and would have allowed local governments to adopt rent control for any type of rental housing. Proposition 10 received support from 41 percent of voters, with 59 percent of voters opposing the changes to rent control.

How did rent control fare at the local level?

• Alameda, California, Measure K, Rent Control Charter Amendment (November 2018) d

Measure K would have added Alameda's existing rent control law, Ordinance 3148, to the city charter and would have required voter approval for any future changes. It was defeated by 60 percent of voters.

• Berkeley, California, Measure Q, Rent Control Ordinance Amendments (November 2018) a

Measure Q was designed to amend existing rent control regulations. Two of the amendments were designed to exempt newly built housing from rent control for the first 20 years and to preserve rent increases made lawfully under Costa-Hawkins (both subject to changes in state law). Measure Q also exempted housing containing permitted accessory dwelling units where the owner resides on the property from rent control. The measure was approved with 71 percent of the vote.

• National City, California, Measure W, Rent Control (November 2018) d

Measure W would have established a rent control program in National City, along with just cause eviction regulations, rent stabilization, and a rent board. It was defeated by 51 percent of voters.

• Santa Cruz, California, Measure M, Rent Control Charter Amendment (November 2018) d

Measure M would have added rent control and just cause eviction requirements to the city charter. It was defeated by 62 percent of voters.

Measures affecting large companies

Five measures were on local California ballots in 2018 that had provisions that would affect large companies and commercial landlords.

• Two competing measures on the June ballot in San Francisco—Proposition C and Proposition D—were designed to tax commercial property leases for landlords with annual gross receipts above $1 million. Proposition C, a measure to fund childcare services, was approved, though the vote majority requirement was being challenged in court as of December 13, 2018.

• A minimum wage measure in Anaheim designed to raise the minimum wage for certain hospitality industry businesses, including Disney Resort, was approved in November.

• A per-employee business tax was approved in November for the city of Mountain View, where the largest employer as of 2018 was Google.

• A gross receipts tax on the November ballot in San Francisco was designed to tax businesses with over $50 million in gross annual receipts and payroll expenses for certain businesses with over $1 billion in gross annual receipts to fund homelessness services. It was approved.

Competing measures

See also: Competing ballot measures in California

Ten local jurisdictions in California had competing measures on the ballot in 2018.

When two measures with conflicting provisions compete, only one can be approved by voters. It is also possible for both competing measures to be defeated. Competing measures may be placed on a ballot by local governments, such as city councils, or by citizens through the initiative process.

In 2018, five competing measures proposed by local governments were approved, and four citizen initiatives were approved. Voters in Compton also defeated a pair of competing marijuana measures on January 23.

Marijuana measures

See also: Local marijuana on the ballot

There were 114 marijuana-related measures on California ballots in 2018. Of those, 96 measures (84 percent) were approved, and 18 measures (16 percent) were defeated.

The majority of marijuana-related measures were tax measures (84 percent). The remaining 16 percent of marijuana-related measures were regulatory measures, such as measures to authorize or ban commercial marijuana in certain jurisdictions.

Healthcare costs

See also: SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West

The SEIU-UHW West, a labor union based in California, backed a statewide ballot initiative and two local ballot initiatives designed to limit healthcare costs. Proposition 8, the statewide initiative, would have required dialysis clinics to issue refunds to patients or patients' payers, such as insurance companies, for revenue above 115 percent of the costs of what the initiative termed direct patient care and healthcare improvements. The SEIU-UHW West also proposed ballot initiatives similar to Proposition 8 in Ohio and Arizona, but neither of the initiatives were certified for the ballot.

The two local initiatives were on the ballot in Livermore and Palo Alto. The SEIU-UHW West proposed additional local initiatives in Emeryville, Pleasanton, Redwood City, and Watsonville, but those initiatives did not make the ballot. Both Livermore Measure U and Palo Alto Measure F were designed to limit healthcare charges to 115 percent of the costs of what the initiatives termed the reasonable cost of direct patient care. Proponents aimed to require healthcare providers within the local jurisdictions to provide rebates or cost reductions when billing exceeds the predetermined amount. Stanford University Medical Center (SUMC), the headquarters of Stanford Health, is located in Palo Alto. Branches of Stanford Health are located in four of the five cities where the local initiatives were filed.

All three measures were defeated.

Taxes and bond issues

Taxes and bond issues made up 71 percent of the measures on local ballots in California in 2018. Read on for more information about these measures.

Taxes

There were 352 local tax measures on ballots across California in 2018. Each of the 352 measures represented one of the following categories:

• Parcel taxes (100 measures)
• Marijuana taxes (95 measures)
• Sales tax (82 measures)
• Hotel taxes (43 measures)
• Utility taxes (18 measures
• Business taxes (8 measures)
• Transfer taxes or other (6 measures)

Parcel taxes

See also: Parcel tax elections in California

Of the 352 tax measures in California in 2018, 90 were parcel tax measures. A parcel tax is a kind of property tax based on units of property rather than assessed value. One-third of all 2018 parcel tax measures were put on the ballot by school districts, while the rest were put on the ballot by various jurisdictions throughout the state.

Parcel taxes are all special taxes, meaning that they are designed to fund specific purposes. Special taxes proposed by local governments require a two-thirds (66.67%) vote for approval.

Sales taxes

Of the 352 tax measures in California in 2018, 82 were sales tax measures.

In 2018, the base sales tax rate in the state of California was 7.25 percent. Local jurisdictions in the state are permitted to implement additional sales taxes for either general purposes or specific uses. While general sales tax measures require a simple majority vote, sales tax measures for specific uses require a two-thirds (66.67%) vote.

The majority of local sales tax measures in 2018 were general taxes (87 percent). The remaining 13 percent were sales tax measures designed to fund specific purposes, such as public safety (Chowchilla, Kingsburg, Laguna Beach) and transportation (Marin County, San Benito County).

Bonds

There were 167 bond issues on ballots across California in 2018. Of that total, 131 (78 percent) were school bond issues. Most bond issues require a 55 percent supermajority vote, though some bonds require a two-thirds (66.67%) vote under certain conditions. See below for a breakdown of the approval rate and the total amounts approved and defeated.

Vote requirement lawsuit

Undetermined vote requirement for special taxes proposed through citizen initiatives

In 2018, a lawsuit was filed against San Francisco County regarding the vote requirement for Proposition C, the Commercial Rent Tax for Childcare and Early Education (June 2018). The measure had received 50.87 percent approval, and the county had declared it approved. However, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and other business groups argued that the measure should not have passed without a two-thirds (66.67%) vote because it was for a special tax. The legal challenge brought into question the outcome of several citizen initiatives that were on the ballot in California in 2018. As of December 13, 2018, a decision had not been reached. Due to this pending outcome, some of the data on this page are subject to change.

Comparing 2016 and 2018 results

Ballotpedia covered 832 local ballot measures in 2016, compared to 726 local ballot measures in 2018. The percentage of ballot measures that were approved increased from 76 percent in 2016 to 78 percent in 2018.

Every vote counts

In California in 2018, there were 36 local measures that passed or failed by a margin of less than one percentage point.

• The narrowest victories for local measures were by five-tenths and seven-tenths of one percentage point, respectively.
  • In November, voters in Bakersfield, California, approved a one-cent sales tax increase with 50.05 percent in favor. As a tax for general purposes, it required a simple 50 percent majority of the 91,573 voters who cast ballots, or 45,787 yes votes; it received 45,835 yes votes, 48 more than was required.
  • In June 2018, five votes were the difference between approval and defeat for a $99 million bond issue in the Cabrillo Unified School District. The bond issue required a 55 percent supermajority vote, amounting to 4,859 of the votes cast. It received 4,864 yes votes.
• In Gustine, California, voters rejected a measure to change the mayoral term length from two years to four years by a margin of four votes; 639 voters were in favor and 646 were opposed.

See also

• 2018 ballot measures
• Ballot measure readability scores, 2018
• Ballot measure signature costs, 2018
• Ballot measure campaign finance, 2018
• Ballot Measure Scorecard, 2018
• Ballotpedia's Tuesday Count for 2018
• List of ballot measure lawsuits in 2018
• 2018 ballot measure polls
• 2018 ballot measure media endorsements
• Hotel taxes in California
• Business taxes in California
• Utility taxes in California
• Sales tax in California
• Parcel tax elections in California