CA voters will face dueling ballot propositions this fall.

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

This comment was originally posted by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

When California voters approved Proposition 13 in 1978 they imposed a huge change in the way government services were financed that continues to reverberate almost half a century later.

The limitations of Prop. 13 on property taxes that have funded public schools and other units of local government for many decades have forced fundamental changes in fiscal responsibilities—the state picking up the cost of education is just one example.

The California media extensively covered the financial impact of Prop. 13 at the time, and countless academic and journalistic analyzes have done so since. But one aspect of his passing has been largely ignored.

California’s political leadership in 1978—Governor Jerry Brown and a legislature controlled by his fellow Democrats—did everything in their power to torpedo Proposition 13 by placing a rival measure on the same primary ballot. the alternative, Proposition 8promised property tax relief for owner-occupied housing but denied it for commercial properties.

Proposition 13 passed overwhelmingly, but Proposition 8 narrowly lost. The failed counterplay was quickly forgotten as politicians—most notably Brown—rushed to embrace the tax revolt. Brown even called himself a “born-again tax cutter.”

Prop. 13 caused an explosion of electoral initiatives this continues today. Although the practice of allowing initiatives to create laws by bypassing the legislature had been in place since 1912, it was little used until Prop. 13 does not demonstrate its power. Since then, hundreds of initiatives have been proposed – nearly a thousand in the last 20 years alone.

And while the qualification and passage rates are relatively small, voters can expect to encounter about a dozen ballot propositions every two years. Most bear little, if any, resemblance to real mass movements. Most of them are sponsored by narrow economic or ideological interests that seek to obtain financial or political advantages.

Supporters will spend millions of dollars to draft and qualify their measures, use paid signature gatherings to fill their petitions, and more millions to sell to voters. Swing strategiesa Sacramento political consulting firm that specializes in ballot measures says it can cost more than $10 million to place a measure on the ballot, and campaigns can top the $100 million mark.

During a webinar on the 2026 initiative picture this week, Swing Strategies said that 48 measures were initially proposed, 36 of them tried to get on the ballot by gathering the required number of valid voter signatures, and 17 are genuine contenders as the April 17 petition deadline approaches.

The 17 contenders fit the mold of narrow interest coverage. Many go back to 1978, when politicians placed a competing measure on the ballot in hopes of killing Proposition 13.

For example, the Service Employees International Union-United Health Workers of the West (or SEIU-UHW), a major health workers union, has a measure of limit the compensation of health care executivesand the California Hospital Association countered with a proposal to force health unions to tell members how much money they spend on politics.

Another example: Personal injury lawyers have a restraining order ride-sharing companies responsible for sexual assault of drivers while Uber has one limiting attorneys’ fees in auto accident cases.

There is also a quadruple game of taxes.

SEIU-UHW sponsors a 5% tax on the wealth of Californian billionaires to provide more money for health careand the California Teachers Association wants to do temporary surtax on high-income Californians permanent.

Meanwhile, business and anti-tax groups are offering making it difficult for local governments to raise taxes by raising their ballot thresholds — honoring Proposition 13. But a measure placed on the ballot by the Legislature would torpedo it by requiring a higher ballot threshold for measures that raising taxes increasing voting thresholds.

This is a clone of the Duel Prop. 13 48 years ago. Some things never change.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.