Ballot Measures, June 3, 2014
California voters decided 2 statewide ballot measures on June 3, 2014.
Ballot measures
| Measure | Description | Result |
|---|
| Proposition 42 | Requires local agencies to comply with the California Public Records Act | Passed (61.84% yes) |
| Proposition 41 | Issues $600 million in bonds for veterans housing and homeless prevention | Passed (65.39% yes) |
General Election, November 4, 2014
California held its general election on November 4, 2014, deciding 100 legislative seats and 8 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.
Highlights
- Democrats kept every partisan statewide office and both chambers, but Republican gains left them short of the two-thirds supermajorities they had won in 2012, at 52-28 in the Assembly and 26-14 in the Senate. The Senate supermajority was already crumbling in March, when the chamber suspended three Democratic senators over criminal cases.
- Gov. Jerry Brown (D) won an unprecedented fourth term, beating Neel Kashkari (R) by about 20 points. The nonpartisan race for superintendent of public instruction became a proxy war in which spending topped $30 million. Tom Torlakson, backed by the teachers' unions, held off charter school leader Marshall Tuck by about 4 points.
- Amid the lowest turnout on record for a regularly scheduled general election, Republicans gained ground in both chambers:Democrats' lone Assembly pickup came in Assembly District 44, where Jacqui Irwin (D) won an open Republican seat, beating Rob McCoy (R) by about 5 points.
- The year's biggest upset came in a Democrat-on-Democrat contest in the San Fernando Valley's Assembly District 39, where newcomer Patty Lopez (D) beat Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D) by about 470 votes. Lopez said she spent under $10,000. Bocanegra had far outpolled her in June, and he conceded weeks later as late ballots widened her lead.
- Alex Padilla (D), John Chiang (D), and Betty Yee (D) won the open secretary of state, treasurer, and controller posts; Yee beat Ashley Swearengin (R) by about 8 points. Voters approved a water bond (Proposition 1), a rainy-day fund overhaul (Proposition 2), and reduced penalties for some drug and theft crimes (Proposition 47). They rejected health insurance rate review (Proposition 45), a higher malpractice cap with doctor drug testing (Proposition 46), and two tribal gaming compacts (Proposition 48).
Legislature
- Assembly (80 seats): 55 D, 25 R before the election, 52 D, 28 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
- Senate (40 seats): 28 D, 11 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 26 D, 14 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
Statewide races
Legislative races
Ballot measures
| Measure | Description | Result |
|---|
| Proposition 1 | Issues $7.12 billion in bonds for California's water system | Passed (67.13% yes) |
| Proposition 2 | Increases amount of potential savings in the state's rainy day fund from 5% to 10% of the General Fund | Passed (69.12% yes) |
| Proposition 45 | Requires public notice for insurance company rates | Failed (41.08% yes) |
| Proposition 46 | Increases the cap on damages that can be assessed in medical negligence lawsuits to over $1 million | Failed (33.24% yes) |
| Proposition 47 | Reduces the classification of most nonviolent crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor | Passed (59.61% yes) |
| Proposition 48 | Ratification of gaming compacts with the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians and the Wiyot Tribe | Failed (39.04% yes) |