San Diego, California, Measure B, Waste Management Measure (November 2022)

San Diego Measure B
Election date November 8, 2022
Topic City governance
Status Approved
Type Referral

San Diego Measure B was on the ballot as a referral in San Diego on November 8, 2022. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported allowing the city to recover costs for solid waste management services.

A "no" vote opposed allowing the city to recover costs for solid waste management services.

Election results

San Diego Measure B
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		203,223	50.48%
No		199,384	49.52%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Measure design

Measure B was designed to allow San Diego to charge a fee for city-provided waste management services to eligible single-family residential properties and multi-family residential properties with up to four residences on a single lot. Measure B was designed to allow for the City Council to adopt a fee in the future.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Measure B was as follows:

“

Shall the San Diego Municipal Code be amended so that all City residents receive comparable trash, recycling, and other solid waste management services, by allowing the City to recover its cost of providing these services to eligible residential properties, which could allow the City to provide additional services, such as weekly recycling, bulky item pickup, and curbside container replacement and delivery, at no extra charge?

”

Support

Supporters

Officials

• Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera (Nonpartisan)
• Councilmember Joe LaCava (Nonpartisan)

Political Parties

• Democratic Party of San Diego County

Unions

• SEIU Local 221

Organizations

• Climate Action Campaign
• League Of Women Voters Of San Diego
• San Diego Regional Chamber Of Commerce

Arguments

• San Diego City Councilmember Elo-Rivera: "The Ordinance prohibits the City from recovering costs from single-family residences for trash collection services it provides, while residents in apartments and condominiums must pay a private company for trash collection. This two-tier system creates a glaring inequity, while the lack of revenue prevents the City from investing in better services for all residents."
• Kathleen Hallahan, president of the East Village Residents Group: "Everyone should pay their fair share of what we need to collect to take care of all of our trash."
• Mikey Knab, co-director of policy at the Climate Action Campaign: "In a place where you never see your bill for trash removal, you don't care whether you put recyclable things into your landfill bins or compostable things into your landfill bin. Therefore the landfill bins from single-family homes often have recyclable items in them and compostable items in them that are filling up the landfill way more quickly than it needs to be."

Opposition

Opponents

Officials

• State Sen. Brian Jones (R)
• Former Chair, City of San Diego Audit Committee Scott Sherman

Former Officials

• Councilmember Carl DeMaio (R)

Political Parties

• Republican Party Of San Diego County

Arguments

• San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio: "Measure B is a massive tax increase at a time when inflation is already skyrocketing and working families are struggling."
• Haney Hong, CEO and president of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association: "If you want to make this more fair and more equitable, the answer is not charging everybody twice, including the single-family homeowners, the answer is charging everybody once. And then actually having the city make sure that the property taxes that renters end up paying into are used to collect their trash."

Background

San Diego voters approved of Municipal Code §66.0127, also known as the People’s Ordinance, in 1919. The law provided for free trash collection for San Diego’s single family homes. The People’s Ordinance also allowed for the establishing of a fee for waste management services–however, a fee was never actually established.

San Diego voters amended the People’s Ordinance in 1981, and then again in 1986, to limit the amount of commercial and industrial waste the city was allowed to collect, and to prohibit the city from charging a fee to properties that received city-provided waste management services. Properties that were not eligible for collection from city services had to pay for the cost of their own waste collection and management services.

According to the Fiscal Impact Statement, a best estimate of what this fee would be, assuming the City only recovers costs for services it currently provides and potential costs to bill and collect fee revenue, ranges from $23 to $29 per month per customer. The city estimates that more than half of San Diego property owners receive free trash pickup, based on the estimate that 53% of the city’s housing consists of single-family homes. The city budgeted $79.2 million for fiscal year 2023 to cover trash services, including $58.7 million from the general fund.

Path to the ballot

On July 25, 2022, Ordinance 21507, which placed Measure B on the ballot, was passed by the San Diego City Council.

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in California

See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in California.

How to vote in California

Poll times

All polls in California are open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Registration

Check your voter registration status here.

To vote in California, an individual must be a U.S. citizen and California resident. A voter must be at least 18 years of age on Election Day. Pre-registration is available at 16 years of age. Pre-registered voters are automatically registered to vote when they turn 18.

Automatic registration

California automatically registers eligible individuals to vote when they complete a driver's license, identification (ID) card, or change of address transaction through the Department of Motor Vehicles. Learn more by visiting this website.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

California has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

California allows same-day voter registration.

Californians must be registered to vote at least 15 days before Election Day. If the registration deadline has passed for an upcoming election, voters may visit a location designated by their county elections official during the 14 days prior to, and including Election Day to conditionally register to vote and vote a provisional ballot, which are counted once county election officials have completed the voter registration verification process. The state refers to this process as Same Day Voter Registration.

Residency requirements

To register to vote in California, you must be a resident of the state. State law does not specify a length of time for which you must have been a resident to be eligible.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

California's constitution requires that voters be U.S. citizens. When registering to vote, proof of citizenship is not required. Individuals who become U.S. citizens less than 15 days before an election must bring proof of citizenship to their county elections office to register to vote in that election. An individual applying to register to vote must attest that they are a U.S. citizen under penalty of perjury.

As of November 2024, two jurisdictions in California had authorized noncitizen residents to vote for local board of education positions through local ballot measures. Only one of those jurisdictions, San Francisco, had implemented that law. Noncitizens voting for board of education positions must register to vote using a separate application from the state voter registration application.

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The secretary of state's My Voter Status website allows residents to check their voter registration status online.

Voter ID requirements

California does not require voters to present identification before casting a ballot in most cases. However, some voters may be asked to show a form of identification when voting if they are voting for the first time after registering to vote by mail and did not provide a driver license number, California identification number, or the last four digits of their social security number. On September 29, 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed SB 1174 into law prohibiting any jurisdiction in the state from adopting a local law that requires voters to present ID before voting.

The following list of accepted ID was current as of October 2024. Click here for the California Secretary of State page to ensure you have the most current information.

“

Current and valid photo identification provided by a third party in the ordinary course of business that includes the name and photograph of the individual presenting it. Examples of photo identification include, but are not limited to, the following documents: driver's license or identification card of any state; passport; employee identification card; identification card provided by a commercial establishment; credit or debit card; military identification card; student identification card; health club identification card; insurance plan identification card; or public housing identification card. Any of the following documents, provided that the document includes the name and address of the individual presenting it, and is dated since the date of the last general election…: utility bill; bank statement; government check; government paycheck; document issued by a governmental agency; sample ballot or other official elections document issued by a governmental, agency dated for the election in which the individual is providing it as proof, of residency or identity; voter notification card issued by a governmental agency; public housing identification card issued by a governmental agency; lease or rental statement or agreement issued by a governmental agency; student identification card issued by a governmental agency; tuition statement or bill issued by a governmental agency; insurance plan card or drug discount card issued by a governmental agency; discharge certificates, pardons, or other official documents issued to the individual by a governmental agency in connection with the resolution of a criminal case, indictment, sentence, or other matter; public transportation authority senior citizen and disabled discount cards issued by a governmental agency; identification documents issued by governmental disability agencies; identification documents issued by government homeless shelters and other government temporary or transitional facilities; drug prescription issued by a government doctor or other governmental health care provider; (R) property tax statement issued by a governmental agency; vehicle registration issued by a governmental agency; or vehicle certificate of ownership issued by a governmental agency.

”

See also

Local measures

• Local measures in 2022
• City governance on the ballot

California

• California 2022 local measures
• Local ballot measures, California
• San Diego, California

News and analysis

• State and local preemption conflicts
• Measures advancing national agendas