"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. — You have to do something." — John Lewis

Tag: California

  • League of Women Voters Ballot Recommendations

    The League of Women Voters of California has published its recommendations on all 14 statewide measures on the November 3 ballot. Five yes, eight no, and one where the League decided it could not take a side.

    League of Women Voters of California: Ballot Recommendations →

    These are the League’s positions, not ours. The League is nonpartisan, takes no position on candidates, and bases its measure recommendations on program positions its members adopted through study and consensus. Every recommendation below comes with published reasoning you can read and argue with, which is why it is worth passing along.

    Support

    • Prop 1 — Veterans & Affordable Housing Bonds. $10 billion for affordable housing and homeownership, plus $1.25 billion for veteran home loans through CalVet.
    • Prop 2 — Save for California’s Future Act. Builds a larger rainy-day fund and requires the state to save more when capital gains revenue runs unusually high.
    • Prop 3 — Children’s Education & Health Care Protection. Keeps current income tax rates on the top 2% of earners rather than letting them drop in 2031, which the League says would reduce state revenue by an estimated $5 billion to $15 billion a year.
    • Prop 4 — California Fair Elections Act. Lifts California’s near-total ban on public campaign financing and lets state and local governments create voluntary programs if they choose to.
    • Prop 5 — Recall Election Reform for Statewide Officers. Takes the replacement candidate off the recall ballot, so a successor is chosen the way any other vacancy is filled instead of by whoever leads a crowded field.

    Oppose

    • Prop 37 — Loan Program for Middle-Income Buyers of New Homes. The League’s objection is that it helps a family buy a home without making it affordable to keep, since the down payment help is a second mortgage repaid monthly, on terms voters would not know before approving it.
    • Prop 38 — Bonds for Immunology Medical Research. $8.4 billion in borrowing for roughly 20 years of debt payments. The League’s position is that bonds suit buildings, not ongoing research, and that this locks billions into one field.
    • Prop 39 — Prohibits Voting Without Government-Issued ID. The League calls it “a partisan power grab to further President Trump’s voter suppression efforts,” and points to Texas, where a comparable rule led to one in eight mail ballots being rejected.
    • Prop 41 — Limits New State Taxes & Requires Special Tax Audits. Puts revenue from new state taxes under the Gann Limit spending cap. The League opposed the original Gann Initiative in 1979 for the same reason.
    • Prop 42 — Limits New State Taxes on Personal Property. Writes a broad ban on taxing stocks, business interests, retirement accounts and other personal property into the state Constitution, where changing it later takes another vote of the people.
    • Prop 43 — Limits Voters’ Ability to Raise Revenues for Local Government Services. Requires a two-thirds vote for local special taxes proposed by initiative, which lets a minority block what a majority wants.
    • Prop 44 — 90% Health Care Spending for Nonprofit Safety-Net Clinics. Clinics currently report spending about 80% of revenue on care. The League’s concern is that clinics that miss the 90% line would owe the state the shortfall and some could close.
    • Prop 45 — Modifies Environmental Review for Certain Projects. The League has supported streamlining CEQA before and says this one goes too far, with timelines that would produce rushed studies and less public participation.

    Neutral

    • Prop 40 — Billionaire Tax. A one-time tax of up to 5% on billionaire wealth, with 90% of the revenue going to health care. The League found strong arguments on both sides: the need is urgent and the federal government is walking away from it, but the measure locks the money into an earmarked fund, is a one-time fix for ongoing costs, and rests on a few hundred people. It takes no position.

    Three That Interact

    Props 40, 41 and 42 are on a collision course, and the League flags it under both 41 and 42. Each of those two is drafted to prevail over a conflicting measure on the same ballot. If 41 or 42 passes with more “yes” votes than 40, a court could find them in conflict and stop Prop 40 from taking effect even if a majority approved it. Read all three together before you mark any of them.

    We wrote about Prop 39 separately. It is the measure on this ballot that goes directly to whether eligible people can vote.

    If You Want It Without the Recommendations

    The League’s education fund runs CaVotes.org, which publishes a plain explanation of each measure with no position attached. There is also a printable “Vote with the League” flyer, a one-page PDF of the recommendations above, made to be handed to people.

    For candidates and the state Supreme Court retention election, which the League does not cover, see our post on the CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide.

  • Los Padres ForestWatch Action Alert

    MAKE THE CALL FOR ROADLESS AREAS, Call (202) 224-3121

  • CalMatters Voter Guide

    The June primary may feel like it just happened, but the November 3 general election is close. CalMatters has begun publishing its guide to the November ballot, and it is the clearest free, nonpartisan explainer we know of for a California ballot this long.

    CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide →

    The Candidates

    The guide covers the candidates for the state Assembly, the state Senate, the U.S. House, insurance commissioner, and the other statewide offices, including the race to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    Readers asked for this during the primary, so CalMatters added a page on the state Supreme Court retention election, with details on the associate justices on the ballot. They have also updated the guide’s FAQ based on reader feedback.

    The Propositions

    There are 14 statewide measures on the November ballot (the Secretary of State’s official list is the authority on what qualified). CalMatters has published guides and quizzes on three so far:

    • Prop. 40 — a one-time 5% tax on Californians whose net worth exceeded $1 billion as of January 1, 2026. Most of the revenue would go to health care, with the remainder to education, food assistance, and administration.
    • Prop. 41 — prohibits new state taxes that exclude revenue from the state spending limit, and requires the State Auditor to audit programs funded by new or increased special taxes.
    • Prop. 42 — prohibits new state personal property taxes and certain retroactive state taxes.

    One thing worth knowing before you get to that part of the ballot: these three interact. The Legislative Analyst’s Office notes that if Prop. 41 or Prop. 42 receives more “yes” votes than Prop. 40, Prop. 40 could be stopped from taking effect even if a majority of voters approve it, because the courts could find them in conflict. Read all three together rather than one at a time.

    CalMatters will publish guides on the remaining propositions over the coming weeks.

    Separately, we have written about Prop. 39, the voter ID measure, which is the one on this ballot that goes directly to whether eligible people can vote.

    Dates that matter

    • Oct. 5 — mail ballots go out to every registered voter in California
    • Oct. 6 — ballot drop-off locations open
    • Oct. 19 — last day to register to vote the ordinary way
    • Oct. 31 — in-person early voting locations open statewide
    • Nov. 3 — Election Day; polls close at 8 p.m.

    Two Ventura County notes on top of that:

    Missing the October 19 deadline is not the end. California has same-day conditional voter registration. After the 15-day deadline you can still register and vote a provisional ballot in person, at a vote center or the county elections office, right through Election Day. It counts once the county verifies your eligibility.

    Ventura County is a Voter’s Choice Act county. That means every registered voter is mailed a ballot, and instead of a single assigned neighborhood polling place there are vote centers open for several days before the election, any of which any county voter can use. A smaller set opens first, with the rest opening in the final days. The county publishes the locations and hours for each election at the Ventura County Clerk-Recorder elections page. Check there for the November list rather than assuming last cycle’s site is open again.

    And once you have voted, sign up for BallotTrax: it tells you when your ballot was mailed, received, and counted, so you know your vote landed.

    Vote early. A ballot already in the box cannot be affected by anything that happens in the last week.

  • A Blue State Is Not a Guarantee

    Just because we live in a “blue” state doesn’t mean we can afford to be complacent.

    Don’t assume everything will be fair simply because of the color of your state. Pay attention. Stay informed. Watch what’s happening in your county.

    Election integrity starts at the local level—and it’s up to all of us to be engaged, ask questions, verify the facts, and hold our officials accountable.

    Don’t tune it out. Don’t assume someone else is watching. PAY ATTENTION.

  • No On Prop 39

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  • CA Prop 39 Info