Ballot Measures, June 5, 2018
California voters decided 5 statewide ballot measures on June 5, 2018.
Ballot measures
| Measure | Description | Result |
|---|
| Proposition 68 | Issues $4 billion in bonds for parks, environmental protection, and water infrastructure | Passed (57.35% yes) |
| Proposition 69 | Requires certain tax and fee revenue related to transportation be used for transportation purposes | Passed (81.01% yes) |
| Proposition 70 | Requires a one-time two-thirds vote to use revenue from the cap-and-trade program | Failed (35.3% yes) |
| Proposition 71 | Changes the date for when voter-approved ballot measures take effect | Passed (77.63% yes) |
| Proposition 72 | Excludes rainwater capture systems from property tax assessments | Passed (84.58% yes) |
General Election, November 6, 2018
California held its general election on November 6, 2018, deciding 100 legislative seats and 12 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.
Highlights
- Democrats won back the two-thirds Senate supermajority they had lost to a June recall and widened their Assembly supermajority, leaving them with 75 percent of Assembly seats and nearly the same share in the Senate.
- Every one of the 8 legislative seats that changed hands went from Republican to Democrat, and 5 Republican incumbents lost. One political scientist said the GOP had become the endangered party.
- Gavin Newsom (D) beat John Cox (R) for governor by about 24 points, and Democrats won every other partisan statewide office except a Board of Equalization seat that went to Ted Gaines (R). Eleni Kounalakis (D) beat Ed Hernandez (D) in an all-Democratic race for lieutenant governor, and Ricardo Lara (D) defeated Steve Poizner (I), a former Republican turned independent, for insurance commissioner. In the nonpartisan superintendent race, Tony Thurmond trailed on election night but beat Marshall Tuck by fewer than 2 points in the costliest superintendent race in U.S. history.
- Beyond the flips and the superintendent's race, the only contest inside two points was Assembly District 77, where Brian Maienschein (R) held on by about 600 votes over Sunday Gover (D). Two months later, Maienschein switched to the Democratic Party, further widening the Democrats' Assembly supermajority.
- Voters approved 6 of 11 November measures and rejected 5.
- Rejected: Proposition 6, which would have repealed the 2017 gas tax increase; Proposition 10's rent-control expansion, after more than $104 million in total fundraising; Proposition 8 on dialysis clinic revenue; Proposition 3's water bond; and Proposition 5's property-tax transfer expansion.
- Approved: housing and veterans' bonds (Proposition 1), homelessness-prevention housing (Proposition 2), children's hospital bonds (Proposition 4), a path to permanent daylight saving time (Proposition 7), on-call ambulance breaks (Proposition 11), and farm-animal confinement standards (Proposition 12).
- In June, voters approved a parks and water bond (Proposition 68), a transportation-revenue lockbox (Proposition 69), a change to when ballot measures take effect (Proposition 71), and a property-tax exclusion for rainwater capture systems (Proposition 72). They rejected a two-thirds vote requirement for cap-and-trade spending (Proposition 70).
Legislature
- Assembly (80 seats): 55 D, 25 R before the election, 59 D, 20 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Democrats.
- Senate (40 seats): 26 D, 14 R before the election, 29 D, 11 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
Statewide races
Legislative races
Ballot measures
| Measure | Description | Result |
|---|
| Proposition 1 | Issues $4 billion in bonds for housing programs and veterans' home loans | Passed (56.22% yes) |
| Proposition 10 | Allows local governments to regulate rent on any type of housing | Failed (40.57% yes) |
| Proposition 11 | Allow ambulance providers to require workers to remain on call during breaks paid | Passed (59.63% yes) |
| Proposition 12 | Bans sale of meat from animals confined in spaces below specific sizes | Passed (62.66% yes) |
| Proposition 2 | Authorizes state to use revenue from millionaire's tax for $2 billion in bonds for homelessness prevention housing | Passed (63.43% yes) |
| Proposition 3 | Issues $8.877 billion in bonds for water-related infrastructure and environmental projects | Failed (49.35% yes) |
| Proposition 4 | Issues $1.5 billion in bonds for children's hospitals | Passed (62.69% yes) |
| Proposition 5 | Revises process for homebuyers who are age 55 or older or severely disabled to transfer their tax assessments | Failed (40.22% yes) |
| Proposition 6 | Repeals 2017's fuel tax and vehicle fee increases and requires public vote on future increases | Failed (43.18% yes) |
| Proposition 7 | Authorizes legislature to provide for permanent daylight saving time if federal government allows | Passed (59.75% yes) |
| Proposition 8 | Requires dialysis clinics to issue refunds for revenue above a certain amount | Failed (40.07% yes) |