California voters reject rent control. Again. – Orange County Register

While the votes were still being counted, first results for California’s ten ballots showed voters roundly rejecting a measure that allowed cities to expand rent control and approving proposals to borrow billions for climate projects, affirm same-sex marriage and extend a tax on health care programs.

They also overwhelmingly approved a high-profile initiative to strengthen penalties for nonviolent theft and drug crimes. Five other measures — including a proposal to raise the minimum wage — were too close to call Wednesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.

The results suggest that even in deep blue California, there is no guarantee that voters will support every progressive position when it comes to ballot measures, even if they reliably elect Democrats to state or national office.

“If something doesn’t have an R or D next to its name, California can be very different from what you would expect from a very Democratic state,” said election analyst Paul Mitchell.

Each of the measures on the November ballot requires a simple majority. For the closest uncalled races, it could take a few days or more to declare winners and losers as millions of mail-in ballots still need to be counted.

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The early results also showed that voters rejected Proposition 33, which they should have allowed cities to expand rent control to all types of housing and tell landlords how much they can charge new tenants if they move in. Early results on Wednesday showed that 62% of voters were against.

The proposal was the most expensive measure on the ballot, with the The state’s largest real estate groups are spending more than $94 million on itincluding a barrage of attack ads claiming that expanded rent caps would destroy new housing construction. It was the third time in the past six years that voters rejected a similar rent control ballot measure.

“Together, we stopped the flawed initiative that would have made California’s housing crisis even worse,” the No on Prop 33 campaign said in a post on social media platform X.

A dueling measure, Proposition 34, which was written to prevent Proposition 33’s main bankroller — the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation — from spending big on future ballot measures, was still too close to enforce. It came first with 51.5% of the votes.

Other proposals

Voters resoundingly approved the crime measure, Proposal 36in the midst of growing frustrations over what they see as a spike in retail and real estate crime in their communities. As of Wednesday afternoon, the initiative had 70% support.

The proposal will make it easier to charge repeat thefts and drug offenders with crimes. It will also give judges the option to send people convicted of multiple drug possession charges into treatment, or sentence them to up to three years in prison if they refuse to participate in a program.

Opponents, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, described the measure as a punitive solution that would lead to overcrowded prisons and overwhelm drug treatment programs that are already struggling to meet growing needs across the state. But voters, as pre-election polls suggested, seemed unconvinced by these arguments.

“California voters have spoken loudly about the triple epidemics of shoplifting, homelessness and fatal drug overdoses plaguing our state,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, one of the proposal’s most vocal proponents, said in a statement .

Voters on the ballot also approved a bond measure to borrow $10 billion for climate projects, while a separate $10 billion school bond measure edged ahead by a significant margin.

Proposition 4, which will fund wildfire mitigation efforts, expand water projects and preserve parks, won with 58% support, according to early results. Meanwhile, Proposition 2, which would support the construction and repair of thousands of aging public schools and community colleges across the state, led the way with 57% support.

Proposition 3, a measure to enshrine the right to marriage regardless of gender in the state constitution, won with 61% support, according to early results.

The measure effectively repeals the controversial 2008 Proposition 8, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in the state. That proposal was rejected by a federal court a few years later. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

With roughly two-thirds support, voters approved Proposition 35, a complicated proposal to expand a tax on health care plans that would fund Medi-Cal, the state’s health program for low-income residents.

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Proposition 32, which would raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour, was too close to achieve. It trailed with 48% support.

The initiative, funded by anti-poverty crusader Joe Sanberg, comes after state lawmakers last year approved a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers and some health care workers.

Another uncalled measure, Proposition 5, which would lower the threshold for voters to approve local affordable housing measures and infrastructure bonds, lagged behind with 44% support.

In the Bay Area, advocates hope the measure — which would lower the approval threshold from 66% to 55% — will help pass a proposed $20 billion regional affordable housing bond that was pulled from the November ballot, but which officials still hope to present. voters.

Proposition 6, which would ban forced prison labor and the disciplining of incarcerated people who refuse a work assignment, trailed with 45% of the vote, but was still too close.

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