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Which expensive voting measures will dominate your algorithms and ad streaming breaks this fall?
The one that would tax billionaires to support health care?
How about the one Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to re-stimulate affordable housing?
Or the one where Uber was ready to go to war with lawyers?
As CalMatters reporters explain, the deadline to qualify for the initiatives is Thursday, and negotiations are taking place behind closed doors as powerful interest groups work to close deals at the last minute it could save them from having to spend tens of millions of dollars on campaigns this fall.
Proposals that have qualified so far include those supported by Republicans voter identification requirement and a billionaire tax supported by a major health workers’ union.
Another affordable housing initiative is also poised to land on the ballot after Newsom and the Legislature struck a record-breaking deal $11.25 billion in bonds.
The bond would provide $10 billion to finance the construction, acquisition and preservation of affordable housing, while another $1.25 billion would help veterans buy homes.
The money could help more than 40,000 people buy a home, as well as create or preserve tens of thousands of affordable housing units, according to the Newsom administration. The Legislature still needs to pass the bill to place the bond proposal on the ballot, after which the governor is expected to sign it.
Meanwhile, Uber and personal injury lawyers avoided a costly confrontation with each other after both sides negotiated a deal that took their dueling measures turned off the table.
Since last fall, the ride-hailing service has poured millions into a proposed ballot measure that would have limited contingency fees for personal injury attorneys and limited the amount victims can recover for medical expenses for all California crashes — not just those involving Uber.
Advocacy groups as well as doctors and medical providers fiercely opposed Uber’s proposal, initially responding with their own initiative to increase Uber’s liability for sexual misconduct against riders and drivers.
But both sides seem to have settled their dispute through an account it would limit medical recovery in cases involving medical liens, but would not limit attorneys’ fees on contingencies. Uber, for its part, will have to step up background checks on drivers, including de-platformed drivers who have been convicted of certain violent crimes or have been found guilty of driving under the influence.
