November 2016 ballot to feature 17 statewide measures; CSBA supports Propositions 51, 55, 56, 58
Published: July 13, 2016
On Nov. 8, California voters will be tasked with sifting through 17 statewide ballot measures — the most on any single ballot in 16 years, when 20 appeared on the primary ballot in 2000.
With such a heavy lift facing voters — including high-profile ballot propositions to legalize recreational use of marijuana and two addressing capital punishment — it is all the more imperative that the 2016 measures directly impacting public education and California’s children garner a robust and vocal showing of support from school boards and county offices of education.
On July 2, Secretary of State Alex Padilla assigned Proposition numbers to all of the statewide ballot measures, numbered 51 through 67. CSBA supports four of these measures:
PROPOSITION 51 ($9 billion school facilities bond)
Sample Resolution Language | Sample Letter of Support Language | Talking Points
PROPOSITION 55 (Extension of Proposition 30 income tax provisions)
Sample Resolution Language | Sample Letter of Support Language | Talking Points
PROPOSITION 56 (Tobacco tax)
Sample Resolution Language | Sample Letter of Support Language | Talking Points
PROPOSITION 58 (Bilingual education/repeal of Proposition 227 provisions)
Sample Resolution Language | Sample Letter of Support Language | Talking Points
Please forward copies of any board resolutions or support letters to Dennis Meyers with CSBA Governmental Relations. Additional information is available here .
While unlikely, it is possible that additional measures could be added to the ballot by the Legislature before the November election. A full list of the 2016 statewide propositions can be viewed on the Secretary of State’s website.
Below are summaries of the 13 measures that will be interspersed with the four CSBA-supported propositions. (NOTE: CSBA does not have a position of any kind on any 2016 ballot measures other than Propositions 51, 55, 56 and 58):
Proposition 52 – State Fees on Hospitals. Federal Medi-Cal Matching Fund – Increases required vote to two-thirds for the Legislature to amend a certain existing law that imposes fees on hospitals (for purpose of obtaining federal Medi-Cal matching funds) and that directs those fees and federal matching funds to hospital-provided Medi-Cal health care services, to uncompensated care provided by hospitals to uninsured patients and to children's health coverage.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: State savings from increased revenues that offset state costs for children's health coverage of around $500 million beginning in 2016-17 (half-year savings) to over $1 billion annually by 2019-20, likely growing between 5 percent to 10 percent annually thereafter.
Proposition 53 – Revenue Bonds. Statewide Voter Approval – Requires statewide voter approval before any revenue bonds can be issued or sold by the state for projects that are financed, owned, operated, or managed by the state or any joint agency created by or including the state, if the bond amount exceeds $2 billion.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Unknown and would vary by project.
Proposition 54 – Legislature. Legislation and Proceedings – Prohibits Legislature from passing any bill unless it has been in print and published on the Internet for at least 72 hours before the vote, except in cases of public emergency.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Increased costs to state government of potentially $1 million to $2 million initially and about $1 million annually for making additional legislative proceedings available in audiovisual form on the Internet.
Proposition 57 – Criminal Sentences. Juvenile Criminal Proceedings and Sentencing – Allows parole consideration for persons convicted of nonviolent felonies upon completion of full prison term for primary offense, as defined. Authorizes Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to award sentence credits for rehabilitation, good behavior, or educational achievements.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Net state savings could range from the tens of millions of dollars to the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually primarily due to a reduction in the prison population from additional paroles granted and credits earned. Net county costs could range from the millions to tens of millions of dollars annually, declining to a few million dollars after initial implementation.
Proposition 59 – Campaign Finance: Voter instruction – From Legislature, SB 254 (Allen, Chapter 20, Statutes of 2016).
Proposition 60 – Adult Films. Condoms – Requires performers in adult films to use condoms during filming of sexual intercourse.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Potentially reduced state and local tax revenue of millions or tens of millions of dollars per year. Likely state costs of a few million dollars annually to administer the law. Possible ongoing net costs or savings for state and local health and human services programs.
Proposition 61 – State Prescription Drug Purchases. Pricing Standards – Prohibits state agencies from paying more for a prescription drug than the lowest price paid for the same drug by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Applies to any program where the state is the ultimate payer for a drug, even if the state does not purchase the drug directly.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: None provided.
Proposition 62 – Death Penalty – Repeals death penalty as maximum punishment for persons found guilty of murder and replaces it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole; applies retroactively to persons already sentenced to death.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Net reduction in state and local government costs of potentially around $150 million annually within a few years.
Proposition 63 – Firearms. Ammunition Sales – Prohibits possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, and requires their disposal by sale to dealer, destruction, or removal from state; requires most individuals to pass background check and obtain Department of Justice authorization to purchase ammunition; requires most ammunition sales be made through licensed ammunition vendors and reported to Department of Justice.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: None provided
Proposition 64 – Marijuana Legalization – Legalizes marijuana and hemp under state law. Designates state agencies to license and regulate marijuana industry. Imposes state excise tax on retail sales of marijuana equal to 15% of sales price, and state cultivation taxes on marijuana of $9.25 per ounce of flowers and $2.75 per ounce of leaves.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Net reduced costs ranging from tens of millions of dollars to potentially exceeding $100 million annually to state and local governments related to enforcing certain marijuana-related offenses; net additional state and local tax revenues potentially ranging from the high hundreds of millions of dollars to over $1 billion annually related to the production and sale of marijuana - most of these funds would be required to be spent for specific purposes such as substance use disorder education, prevention, and treatment.
Proposition 65 – Carry-Out Bags. Charges – Redirects money collected by grocery and certain other retail stores through sale of carry-out bags, whenever any state law bans free distribution of a particular kind of carry-out bag and mandates the sale of any other kind of carry-out bag. Requires stores to deposit bag sale proceeds into a special fund administered by the Wildlife Conservation Board to support specified categories of environmental projects.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: If voters uphold the state’s current carryout bag law, redirected revenues from retailers to the state, potentially in the several tens of millions of dollars annually. Revenues would be used for grants for certain environmental and natural resources purposes. If voters reject the state’s current carryout bag law, likely minor fiscal effects.
Proposition 66 – Death Penalty. Procedures – Changes procedures governing state court appeals and petitions challenging death penalty convictions and sentences. Designates superior court for initial petitions and limits successive petitions. Imposes time limits on state court death penalty review, etc.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: Increased state costs that could be in the tens of millions of dollars annually for several years related to direct appeals and habeas corpus proceedings, with the fiscal impact on such costs being unknown in the longer run. Potential state correctional savings that could be in the tens of millions of dollars annually.
Proposition 67 – Referendum to Overturn Ban on Single-Use Plastic Bags – If signed by the required number of registered voters and timely filed with the Secretary of State, this petition will place on the statewide ballot a challenge to a state law previously approved by the Legislature and the Governor. The challenged law must then be approved by a majority of voters at the next statewide election to go into effect. The law prohibits grocery and certain other retail stores from providing single-use bags but permits sale of recycled paper bags and reusable bags.
Estimated Fiscal Impact: None provided.