Compare what each ballot proposition would do, potential benefits, potential drawbacks, and fiscal effects. No voting recommendations or ratings.
1Housing
Affordable Housing and Veterans Bonds
What it does: Authorizes $11.25 billion in state bonds for affordable rental housing, homeownership assistance, and veteran home loans.
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Potential benefits
- Could fund construction and preservation of affordable housing and assistance for eligible homeowners.
- Includes $1.25 billion for veteran mortgages, generally repaid through veterans’ loan payments.
Potential drawbacks
- The $10 billion general-fund portion requires repayment with interest, estimated at $500–$600 million per year for about 25 years.
- Housing benefits depend on how projects are delivered and may not reach all households facing high costs.
Fiscal impact: State General Fund: about $500–$600 million annually for roughly 25 years; veteran loans are expected to cover their bond repayments.
2Taxes & Budget
State Rainy Day Fund
What it does: Raises the state’s rainy day fund target from 10% to 20% of General Fund taxes and adjusts reserve, debt-payment, and spending-limit rules.
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Potential benefits
- Larger reserves could help maintain public services during recessions or revenue downturns.
- Extends rules for additional debt payments through 2040, which could reduce future obligations.
Potential drawbacks
- Saving additional revenue can leave less money available for immediate spending on other state priorities.
- Changes to the appropriations-limit treatment of reserve deposits may affect budget flexibility and oversight.
Fiscal impact: The state would likely accumulate larger reserves and might make additional debt payments; actual amounts vary with revenue.
3Taxes & Budget
Make Existing High-Income Tax Rates Permanent
What it does: Makes existing higher state income-tax rates on high earners permanent rather than letting them expire in 2031.
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Potential benefits
- Would maintain an estimated $5–$15 billion annually for schools, community colleges, health care, reserves, and other state programs.
- Could provide a continuing revenue source instead of allowing the scheduled tax-rate expiration.
Potential drawbacks
- Retains higher marginal income tax rates for the affected high-income taxpayers indefinitely.
- Revenue could swing significantly with stock-market gains and high-income earnings.
Fiscal impact: Estimated $5–$15 billion in state tax revenue annually compared with letting those rates expire.
4Elections
Allow Optional Public Financing of Campaigns
What it does: Removes a statewide ban so state and local governments may choose to create public campaign-financing programs with eligibility and spending rules.
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Potential benefits
- Could offer participating candidates an alternative to relying mainly on private campaign donations.
- Would require any future programs to meet conditions, including limits on use of funds earmarked for schools, transportation, and public safety.
Potential drawbacks
- Programs created later could require substantial public expenditures, depending on local decisions.
- The measure does not itself create a program; actual rules and costs would be decided later.
Fiscal impact: Minor state administrative costs estimated in the hundreds of thousands annually; any future programs could cost more.
5Elections
Change the Recall Election Replacement Process
What it does: Removes the second recall-ballot question asking voters to pick a replacement; vacancies would be filled through established vacancy procedures, with specific rules for governor.
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Potential benefits
- Could simplify recall ballots and avoid electing a replacement by a plurality from a large field.
- Some recall situations might avoid the cost of a simultaneous successor vote.
Potential drawbacks
- Voters would no longer select the replacement in the same recall election.
- Some vacancies would be filled by appointment or a later election, potentially changing when voters choose a successor.
Fiscal impact: Election costs or savings would depend on which offices are recalled and the timing of future elections.
37Housing
Homebuyer Second-Mortgage Program
What it does: Authorizes up to $25 billion in revenue bonds for loans covering up to 17% of the price of qualifying new homes for eligible purchasers.
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Potential benefits
- Could help qualifying middle-income residents assemble financing for a new home.
- Revenue bonds are intended to be repaid by participating homeowners, not directly from state or local tax funds.
Potential drawbacks
- Eligibility is limited to qualifying buyers and new or newly converted homes, not all home purchases.
- Borrowers still owe loan repayments; the program’s effect on supply, prices, and participation is uncertain.
Fiscal impact: Legislative Analyst projects no direct state or local cost; borrower payments are meant to repay bonds.
38Health
Immunology Research Bonds
What it does: Authorizes $8.4 billion in general obligation bonds for immunology and immunotherapy research, including work on cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.
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Potential benefits
- Could advance research on treatments that use the immune system and provide competitive grants to California institutions.
- Sets conditions for public reporting, possible state revenue sharing, and discounts on certain treatments developed with funding.
Potential drawbacks
- State debt repayment is estimated at $500–$600 million a year for about 20 years.
- Medical research outcomes are uncertain; commercial breakthroughs and potential financial returns could take decades or may not occur.
Fiscal impact: About $500–$600 million annually for approximately 20 years; research-generated revenue is uncertain.
39Elections
Additional Voter ID and Citizenship Verification
What it does: Adds government-issued ID requirements for in-person voting, identifying numbers for mail ballots, and citizenship-verification and audit requirements.
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Potential benefits
- Would create additional identity checks and reports on election-administration compliance.
- Requires the state to make a voter ID card available free of charge to voters who request one.
Potential drawbacks
- Could create barriers or extra steps for eligible voters without qualifying ID or access to registration records.
- Would add substantial implementation expenses and require future legislation to define certain details.
Fiscal impact: Estimated ongoing state and local costs: tens of millions to low hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
40Taxes & Budget
One-Time Wealth Tax on Billionaires
What it does: Creates a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents with over $1 billion in covered wealth as of January 1, 2026, mostly for health care.
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Potential benefits
- Could temporarily raise tens of billions of dollars, primarily for public health care services.
- Would impose the new tax on a small group of very high-wealth taxpayers rather than broadly on residents.
Potential drawbacks
- Complex wealth valuations and taxpayer responses make collections difficult to predict; administration carries costs.
- Some taxpayers may change where they live or how they report income, potentially reducing ongoing income-tax receipts.
Fiscal impact: Potentially tens of billions in temporary revenue; possible ongoing income-tax revenue loss and tax-administration costs.
Related measures: Important: Propositions 40, 41, and 42 have potentially conflicting provisions. The Legislative Analyst says courts may have to resolve conflicts if more than one passes.
41Taxes & Budget
Audits and State Tax Spending Limits
What it does: Requires audits for programs funded by new or increased state special taxes and restricts exclusions of certain tax revenues from the state spending limit.
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Potential benefits
- Could give voters more information on how proposed special-tax revenue would be used.
- Recurring audits could identify ineffective spending and opportunities to improve government programs.
Potential drawbacks
- Audits themselves would cost money and could slow or complicate some tax proposals.
- Restrictions on tax treatment under the spending limit may reduce flexibility to fund new programs.
Fiscal impact: Likely low millions of dollars per year for additional audits, plus higher voter-guide printing expenses; potential savings uncertain.
Related measures: May conflict with Proposition 40. The official analysis says court action may be needed if both pass.
42Taxes & Budget
Ban New Personal-Property and Certain Retroactive Taxes
What it does: Would restrict new state taxes on ownership of financial assets and other personal property, and limit new taxes applying retroactively.
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Potential benefits
- Could protect taxpayers from new state taxes simply for holding savings, investments, or other covered property.
- Could make taxation more predictable by limiting certain retroactive taxes.
Potential drawbacks
- Would narrow options for legislators and voters to raise revenue in future years.
- Could reduce potential future state revenues, with effects that cannot yet be quantified.
Fiscal impact: Possible reduction in future state tax revenue; amount and timing unknown.
Related measures: May conflict with Proposition 40. The official analysis says court action may be needed if both pass.
43Taxes & Budget
Require Two-Thirds for Local Special Taxes
What it does: Requires a two-thirds vote for citizen-initiated local taxes earmarked for particular services, rather than a simple majority.
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Potential benefits
- Would require broader voter agreement before some local taxes are approved.
- May limit future increases in certain earmarked taxes.
Potential drawbacks
- Could make it harder for communities to fund services they approve by a simple majority.
- Local governments could collect less revenue than otherwise, depending on future elections.
Fiscal impact: Potentially lower future local-government tax revenue; actual impact unknown.
44Health
90% Program-Spending Rule for Community Health Clinics
What it does: Requires covered nonprofit safety-net clinics to spend at least 90% of total revenue on qualifying health services, with state enforcement and some waivers.
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Potential benefits
- Could direct a larger share of clinic budgets toward qualifying program services.
- Adds financial reporting and penalties intended to hold covered clinics accountable.
Potential drawbacks
- The rule may constrain necessary administrative spending and challenge clinics with higher overhead.
- Some clinics may cut services or close if they cannot meet the requirement; enforcement also costs money.
Fiscal impact: State enforcement projected in the low tens of millions annually, generally funded through clinic fees and penalties.
45Environment & Development
Faster Environmental Review for Certain Projects
What it does: Changes environmental review, agency deadlines, public-comment rules, and litigation procedures for specified housing, water, clean-energy, and other projects.
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Potential benefits
- Could shorten the time needed to build qualifying housing and infrastructure projects.
- Faster approvals might lower construction-delay costs and could bring some projects into use sooner.
Potential drawbacks
- Would limit project-alternative review, some public comment and tribal consultation, and some court remedies.
- Reduced review might allow additional environmental effects; agencies and courts would face transition costs.
Fiscal impact: Initial state and local implementation costs in the high tens of millions annually, potentially over $100 million; longer-term effects uncertain.
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