California 1972 ballot propositions

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← 1970

In 1972, voters decided on 32 statewide ballot measures in California. On June 6, voters decided on 10. On November 7, voters decided on 22.

• Four were initiated constitutional amendments.
• Six were initiated state statutes.
• 17 were legislatively referred constitutional amendments.
• One was a legislatively referred state statute.
• Four were bond issues.
• Voters approved 24 (75%) and rejected eight (25%).

On the ballot

June 6, 1972

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result	Yes Votes	No Votes
LRCA	Proposition 10	Constitutional wording	Amend the Constitution relating to board of education members, penal institutions, water rates, land, and corporations.	a	3,384,238 (66%)	1,762,483 (34%)
BI	Proposition 1	Veterans; Bonds	Allow for the issuance of bonds up to $250,000,000 for farms and homes for veterans and establish the terms of such bonds.	a	3,780,338 (65%)	1,991,731 (35%)
BI	Proposition 2	Education; Bonds	Allow for the issuance of bonds up to $350,000,000 for public school improvements and establish the terms of such bonds.	a	3,102,047 (54%)	2,666,250 (46%)
LRCA	Proposition 3	Trials	Restate that the defendant has the right to counsel and allow the legislature to require that a defendant has the assistance of counsel.	a	2,899,685 (52%)	2,698,955 (48%)
LRCA	Proposition 4	Primary elections	Require the legislature to provide an open primary for the office of President of the United States with candidates' names who are recognized candidates throughout the United State of California or who appear on the ballot because of a petition to do so.	a	3,378,579 (61%)	2,123,372 (39%)
LRCA	Proposition 5	Administration; Education; Legislature	Require the approval of a majority of Senate members for appointments to the Regents of the University of California by the governor.	a	3,408,319 (61%)	2,158,627 (39%)
LRCA	Proposition 6	Citizenship voting	Eliminate provisions requiring naturalized citizens to be naturalized for 90 days before they are eligible to vote.	a	3,347,087 (59%)	2,286,804 (41%)
LRCA	Proposition 7	Taxes	Allow the legislature to prohibit valuing single-family dwellings at a value that would reflect a use other than as a single-family dwelling.	a	3,769,524 (68%)	1,793,369 (32%)
LRSS	Proposition 8	Alternative healthcare; Healthcare governance	Edit provisions relating to the Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the Chiropractic Act.	a	3,901,454 (74%)	1,397,331 (26%)
CISS	Proposition 9	Business; Energy	Establish provisions relating to fuel, gas, oil, atomic-energy plants, pesticides, and air pollution.		2,128,087 (35%)	3,901,151 (65%)

November 7, 1972

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result	Yes Votes	No Votes
LRCA	Proposition 10	Taxes; Veterans	Allow the legislature to increase the property tax exemption for veterans blinded due to their service to $10,000.	a	7,088,300 (89%)	838,366 (11%)
LRCA	Proposition 11	Constitutional rights	Provide for a state constitutional right to privacy	a	4,861,225 (63%)	2,871,342 (37%)
LRCA	Proposition 12	Taxes; Veterans	Extend tax exemption for disabled veterans and extend this tax exemption to surviving spouses.	a	7,100,443 (90%)	812,286 (10%)
LRCA	Proposition 13	Labor	Allow the legislature to establish that workmen's compensation awards are paid to the state, in the course of the death of an employee in the course of their work, who has no dependents and allow funds collected in such manner to be used for other injury compensation.	a	5,632,332 (73%)	2,121,053 (27%)
CICA	Proposition 14	Taxes	Limit ad valorem property taxes and revise the system for financing public educatin and social welfare.		2,700,095 (34%)	5,213,485 (66%)
CICA	Proposition 15	Labor; Civil service	Establish procedures for setting the salaries of state employees and for employer-employee relations between the state and its employees.		2,539,611 (33%)	5,271,067 (67%)
CICA	Proposition 16	Salaries	Require the State Personnel Board to set the maximum salaries of policemen or deputy sheriffs and adjust the salaries of members of the Highway Patrol.		3,071,926 (39%)	4,782,368 (61%)
CICA	Proposition 17	Constitutional wording; Death penalty	Provide that nothing in the California Constitution prohibits the death penalty	a	5,447,165 (68%)	2,617,514 (32%)
CISS	Proposition 18	Sexual content regulations	Establish provisions and penalties related to obscenity.		2,603,927 (32%)	5,503,888 (68%)
CISS	Proposition 19	Criminal sentencing; Marijuana; Drug crime	Remove state criminal penalties for individuals 18 years or older for possessing or using marijuana		2,733,120 (33%)	5,433,393 (67%)
BI	Proposition 1	Education; Bonds	Allow for the issuance of bonds up to $160,000,000 for public community college facilities and establish the terms of such bonds.	a	4,438,197 (57%)	3,364,631 (43%)
CISS	Proposition 20	Water; Parks	Create the State Coastal Zone Conservation Commission to preserve the environment and ecology of the coastal zone and appropriate $5,000,000 for the commission.	a	4,363,375 (55%)	3,548,180 (45%)
CISS	Proposition 21	Education; Race and ethnicity	Prohibit public school students from being assigned to schools because of their race or ethnicity and eliminate the provision that requires schools districts to develop plans to remedy ethnic and racial imbalances.	a	4,962,420 (63%)	2,907,776 (37%)
CISS	Proposition 22	Agriculture; Administrative organization	Establish regulations for agricultural labor relations.		3,348,176 (42%)	4,612,642 (58%)
BI	Proposition 2	Healthcare facility; Bonds	Allow for the issuance of bonds up to $155,900,000 for health science facilities and establish the terms of such bonds.	a	4,657,810 (60%)	3,108,550 (40%)
LRCA	Proposition 3	Environment; Bonds	Allow the legislature to issue bonds for the acquisition, construction, and installation of environmental pollution control facilities.	a	3,954,497 (51%)	3,728,663 (49%)
LRCA	Proposition 4	Legislature	Establish changes to legislative sessions and the position of legislator.	a	4,521,981 (61%)	2,906,291 (39%)
LRCA	Proposition 5	Education	Allow school districts to act in any manner and carry out any programs that have established purposes and do not conflict with existing laws.	a	4,417,732 (59%)	3,121,040 (41%)
LRCA	Proposition 6	Constitutional wording	Adjust provisions relating to terms of officers and commissioners, the salaries of elected officials, and tax issues because of state's boundaries.	a	4,855,713 (66%)	2,503,627 (34%)
LRCA	Proposition 7	Election administration; Primary elections; Voting age	Make adjustments to laws relating to voting and elections.	a	5,226,396 (68%)	2,426,818 (32%)
LRCA	Proposition 8	Environment; Taxes	Allow the legislature to authorize an ad valorem tax exemption for facilities designed to control air, water, or noise pollution.		2,074,255 (27%)	5,571,995 (73%)
LRCA	Proposition 9	Ballot measures; Public education funding; Bonds	Require a majority to approve bond measures relating to repairing, reconstructing, or replacing structurally unsafe public school buildings.	a	4,220,625 (54%)	3,530,071 (46%)

See also

• Laws governing the initiative process in California
• List of California ballot measures
• 1972 ballot measures

External links

• California Voter Guide (June 1972)
• California Voter Guide (November 1972)