Official ballot labels for June 8 propositions released

February 24, 2010

CALIFORNIA: On February 23, the California Secretary of State's office released the official ballot labels for the five ballot propositions on the June 8, 2010 ballot.

Ballot labels include a ballot title, ballot summary and a fiscal estimate provided by the California Legislative Analyst's Office.

All the information released on February 23 is subject to court-ordered changes through March 15.

California voters are often accused of over-indulgence in ballot-box budgeting, but the fiscal impact estimates for the five June measures taken together apparently give fiscal hawks little to fear:

• Proposition 13: "Minor reduction in local property tax revenues related to the assessment of earthquake upgrades."
• Proposition 14: "No significant net change in state and local government costs to administer elections."
• Proposition 15: "Increased revenues (mostly from charges related to lobbyists) totaling over $6 million every four years. These funds would be spent on public financing for campaigns of Secretary of State candidates for the 2014 and 2018 elections."
• Proposition 16: "Unknown net impact on state and local government costs and revenues—unlikely to be significant in the short run—due to the measure’s uncertain effects on public electricity providers and on electricity rates."
• Proposition 17: "This measure would probably have no significant fiscal effect on state and local governments."

June 8:

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Proposition 13	Taxes	Exempts construction to seismically retrofit buildings from property tax reassessment	a
LRCA	Proposition 14	Elections	Adopts a two-two primary system	a
LRSS	Proposition 15	Elections	Repeals the state ban on public funding of campaigns; creates a program to publicly fund Secretary of State campaigns for the 2014 and 2018 elections; creates a biennial fee of $700 on lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers	d
CICA	Proposition 16	Elections	Prohibits a local government from incurring any debt or expending public funds to expand electricity delivery services and prohibits local governments from becoming an aggregate electricity provider without a two-thirds supermajority vote of approval from voters in the local government's jurisdiction and voters within the territory that would be served	d
CISS	Proposition 17	Regulation	Allows car insurance companies to decrease or increase rates based on a driver's history of continuous car insurance coverage	d

November 2:

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
CISS	Proposition 19	Marijuana	Legalizes recreational marijuana for individuals 21 years of age and older; requires marijuana establishments to pay federal, state, and local taxes that are currently assessed on other similar businesses; allows state and local governments to impose additional taxes and fees	d
CICA	Proposition 20	Elections	Transfers the power of congressional redistricting from the California State Legislature and the governor to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which was created by Proposition 11 of 2008	a
CISS	Proposition 21	Taxes	Creates an $18 surcharge to vehicle registration fees and dedicating revenue from the surcharge to state parks and wildlife programs	d
CICA	Proposition 22	State spending	Prohibits the state from redirecting property tax revenues from local jurisdictions and using fuel tax revenue to pay for transportation bonds, even in the case of a fiscal emergency	a
CISS	Proposition 23	Environment	Suspends Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), which required greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020, until California's unemployment rate decreases to 5.5% or less for four consecutive quarters	d
CISS	Proposition 24	Taxes	Repeals 2008 and 2009 tax laws that allowed corporations to lower their tax liability through transferring operating losses to prior years, sharing tax credits among affiliated corporations, and changing the tax calculation for multi-state businesses	d
CICA	Proposition 25	State spending	Changes the requirement to pass the state budget from two-thirds to a simple majority vote of the legislature and requiring legislators to forfeit pay when they do not pass a state budget on time	a
CICA	Proposition 26	Taxes	Increases the vote requirement needed to impose certain new taxes and fees by the state legislature and local governments from a simple majority to a two-thirds supermajority vote	a
CICA/SS	Proposition 27	Elections	Repeals a 2008 ballot measure that established a citizens commission for legislative redistricting and returning the power of redistricting to the state legislature	d