California Propositions Test

Prop 9 (1974)

The Political Reform Act of 1974, requires

politicians to report their assets, disclose contributions, and declare

how their campaign funds are spent. It compels lobbyists to register

with the secretary of state, file reports on their campaign-related

activities, and reveal the beneficiaries of their donations. It also

established the Fair Political Practices Commission to monitor all

these activities

Prop 13 (1978)

Officially named the People's Initiative to Limit

Property Taxation, added a provision to the California Constitution

limiting property taxes to a maximum of one percent of the value of

the property. It also decreased property taxes by assessing property

values at their 1975 value and restricted annual increases of assessed

value of real property to an inflation factor, not to exceed 2% per year.

It prohibited reassessment of a new base year value except for cases

of a change in ownership, or completion of new construction.

In addition to decreasing property taxes, the initiative also

contained language requiring a two-thirds majority in both legislative

houses for future increases of any state tax rates or amounts of

revenue collected, including income tax rates. It also requires a two-

thirds vote majority in local elections for local governments wishing

to increase special taxes.

Prop 65 (1986)

Formally titled "The Safe Drinking Water and

Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986", has as its goals to protect drinking

water sources from toxic substances that may cause cancer and birth

defects and to reduce or eliminate exposures to those chemicals

generally, for example in consumer products, by requiring warnings

in advance of those exposures. It is administered by the California

Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health

Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). The law regulates substances

officially listed by California as having a 1 in 100,000 or greater

chance of causing cancer over a 70-year period or birth defects or

other reproductive harm

Prop 103 (1988)

Povided consumers with an insurance rate

rollback. It also broadened the California Department of Insurance's

responsibility for enforcement to include property insurance,

automobile insurance, life insurance and other types of casualty

coverage, including a requirement that the property and casualty

insurance premium rates must be pre-approved by the department.

Proposition 103 also changed the status of the California Insurance

Commissioner to that of an elected official, from being a governor-

appointed position. Proposition 103 also expanded the department's

role in consumer affairs.

Prop 140 (1990)

Term limits: Persons elected or appointed

after November 5, 1990, holding offices of Governor, Lieutenant

Governor, Attorney General, Controller, Secretary of State, Treasurer,

Superintendent of Public Instruction, Board of Equalization

members, and State Senators are all limited to two terms; members of

the Assembly are limited to three terms.

Prop 184 (1994),

Also known as the “Three Strikes Initiative,”

doubled the penalty for a second felony if the first one was serious or

violent and carries a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years to life for

a third felony. Although several dozen states now have three-strikes

laws, under the terms (since made less severe by subsequent

propositions) of this proposition, California became the only state

where the third felony did not have to be regarded as serious or

violent to count.

Prop 209 (1996)

Also known as the California Civil Rights

Initiative, or CCRI, amended the state constitution to prohibit state

governmental institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity,

specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and

public education. The law was designed essentially to eliminate

“affirmative action” in California. Note that the goal of the similarly-

named, but functionally very distinct “civil rights movement” was to

eradicate unfavorable discrimination against people of color, and a

tool of that movement was affirmative action, which was seen as a

way to reverse the harms caused by segregation

Prop 215 (1996)

Or the Compassionate Use Act of 1996,

allowed the use of medicinal cannabis, despite marijuana's lack of the

normal federal Food and Drug Administration testing for safety and

efficacy.

Prop 227 (1998)

Changed the way that "Limited English

Proficient" (LEP) students are taught in California. Specifically, it:

• Requires California public schools to teach LEP students in

special classes that are taught nearly all in English. This provision

had the effect of eliminating "bilingual" classes in most cases.

• Shortens the time most LEP students stay in special classes.

• Eliminated most programs in the state that provided multi-year

special classes to LEP students by requiring that (1) LEP students

should move from special classes to regular classes when they have

acquired a good working knowledge of English and (2) these special

classes should not normally last longer than one year.

• Required the state government to provide $50 million every

year for ten years for English classes for adults who promise to tutor

LEP students.

The methods of education enacted by the proposition reflect the

electorate's support of assimilation over multiculturalism. It passed

with a margin of 61% to 39%.

Prop 21 (2000)

Increased a variety of criminal penalties for

crimes committed by youth and incorporated many youth offenders

into the adult criminal justice system. Major provisions are:

• Increased punishment for gang-related felonies; death penalty

for gang-related murder; indeterminate life sentences for home-

invasion robbery, carjacking, witness intimidation and drive-by

shootings; and a new crime of recruiting for gang activities; and

authorizes wiretapping for gang activities.

• Requires adult trial for juveniles 14 or older charged with

murder or specified sex offenses. (This provision has since been

judicially invalidated.)

• Elimination of informal probation for juveniles committing

felonies.

• Required registration for gang related offenses.

• Designation of additional crimes as violent and serious felonies,

thereby making offenders subject to longer sentences

Prop 22 (2000)

Added a provision to the California Family

Code that limited marriage rights to only opposite-sex couples,

thereby prohibiting same-sex marriage in California. The provision

mandated that even the marriages of same-sex couples validly

performed somewhere else would not be legally recognized here. In

May 2008, it was struck down by the California Supreme Court as

contrary to the state constitution’s Equal Protection and Privacy

protections. It was authored by state Senator William "Pete" Knight

and is known informally as the Knight Initiative. Voters adopted the

measure on March 7, 2000, with 61% in favor to 39% against.

Prop 36 (2000)

The “Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention

Act of 2000,” requires that people convicted of the possession, use, or

transportation of "controlled substances and similar parole violations,

except sale or manufacture" receive probation and drug treatment,

rather than incarceration. Under its terms, charges can be dismissed

after completion of a drug treatment program.

Prop 8 (2008)

Countermanded the 2008 California Supreme

Court ruling invalidating Prop 22 by adding the exact same provision

to the California Constitution (rather than merely the Family

Code): "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or

recognized in California." Thus it took a holding by the US Supreme

Court on federal constitutional grounds to reverse this proposition

and finally legalize gay marriage in California.

Prop 11 (2008)

Created the California Citizens Redistricting

Commission with the mission of fairly drawing the districts from

which California legislators and members of the state Board of

Equalization are elected. This task was previously undertaken by the

Legislature itself, leading many to conclude that the Democrats in the

majority used the opportunity to gerrymander the districts in their

favor. See Prop. 20 (2010) and Prop. 50 (2025) below.

Prop 14 (2010)

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act.

Except for the office of U.S. President and county central committee

offices, offices that used to be known as “partisan offices” (e.g., state

constitutional offices, U.S. Congress, and state legislative offices) are

now known as “voter-nominated” offices. What used to be known as a

“political party affiliation” is now known as a “political party

preference.”

Prior to the Act, all candidates running in a primary election with

the same political party affiliation were placed on a partisan ballot to

be voted on only by voters of the same political party. The top vote-

getter from each qualified political party would move on to the

general election. At the general election, candidates could gain access

to the ballot using the independent nomination process and other

could run as write-in candidates.

Under the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, all candidates

running in a primary election, regardless of their party preference,

appear on a single primary election ballot and voters can vote for any

candidate. Only the top two overall vote-getters – not the top vote-

getter from each qualified political party – will move on to the general

election. Additionally, candidates are no longer allowed to run as

“independents” or “write-ins” at the general election.

Voters who were previously known as "decline-to-state" voters

(because they did not have a party affiliation) are now known as

having "no party preference" or known as "NPP" voters.

Prop 20 (2010)

Expanded the responsibilities of the California

Citizens Redistricting Commission to include drawing boundaries for

Congressional Representative districts. See also Prop. 11 (2008)

above and Prop. 50 (2025) below

Prop 47 (2014)

Converted many nonviolent offenses, such as

drug and property offenses, from felonies to misdemeanors. These

offenses include shoplifting, writing bad checks, and drug possession.

Money saved as a result of the measure is to be spent on "school

truancy and dropout prevention, victim services, mental health and

drug abuse treatment, and other programs designed to keep offenders

out of prison and jail." The measure included exceptions for offenses

involving more than $950 and criminals with records including

violence or sex offenses. The measure both affects future convictions

and allows for people currently incarcerated for crimes covered by it

to petition for re-sentencing

Prop 64 (2016)

Legalized the recreational use of marijuana in

California. Note that marijuana remains illegal for any use (medical

or recreational) under federal law. Federal officials have largely

avoided enforcement in states where weed has been legalized.

Prop 67 (2016)

The California Plastic Bag Ban Veto

Referendum, ratified Senate Bill 270, which had been passed by the

state Legislature and signed by the Governor. The measure was

designed to prohibit large grocery stores and pharmacies from

providing plastic single-use carryout bags and ban small grocery

stores, convenience stores, and liquor stores from doing so the

following year. It allowed single-use plastic bags for meat, bread,

produce, bulk food, and perishable items. The measure requires

stores to charge ten cents for recycled, compostable, and reusable

grocery bags. Revenue from the charge was intended to cover the

costs of non-plastic bags and educate consumers. Prop. 67 exempted

consumers using a payment card or voucher issued by the California

Special Supplemental Food Program from being charged for bags.

The measure provided $2 million to state plastic bag manufacturers

for the purpose of helping them retain jobs and transition to making

thicker, multi-use, recycled plastic bags.

Prop 12 (2018)

To understand what Proposition 12 means for

farm animals, it helps to understand Prop 2, approved 10 years

earlier. Prop 2 banned the confinement of calves raised for veal, pigs,

and egg-laying hens in spaces too small to allow animals to turn

around, lie down, or stand up and extend their limbs, but it didn't set

specific space requirements. Prop. 12 does just that.

By the end of 2019, Prop 12 bans the sale of veal meat from a calf

confined to an area smaller than the standard it sets and bans the sale

of eggs from hens kept in an area with less than one square foot of

usable floor space. Similarly, by the end of 2021, Prop 12 bans the

sale of pork from pigs raised in less than the minimum space

requirements. The ballot measure also requires by the end of 2021

that all producers that sell in California keep egg-laying hens in

outdoor or indoor cage-free housing systems.

Prop 1 (2022)

Although this was already part of state statutory

law, the Proposition added the following provision to the California

Constitution: "The state shall not deny or interfere with an

individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions,

which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion

and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives."

Prop 28 (2022)

Required a minimum source of annual funding

for K-12 public schools, including charter schools, to fund arts

education programs

Prop 50 (2025)

Generally, “redistricting”, i.e. drawing the

geographical boundaries of the districts from which congressional

representatives are elected, only happens once a decade, after the US

Census has been completed. Nevertheless, at President Trump’s

request, the state of Texas redrew its districts in 2025, with the

specific goal of gerrymandering so that more Republican

representatives would be elected (and consequently fewer

Democrats). In response, California Governor Newsom proposed and

the voters passed Prop. 50, which suspends the work of the California

Citizens Redistricting Commission (see Prop. 11 (2008) and Prop. 20

(2010) above) until the next Census in 2030, and directed the

California legislature specifically to gerrymander to Democrats’

advantage congressional representative districts in order to reverse

the advantage provided by Texas Republicans.