CALIFORNIA, USA — On Nov. 5 2024, Californians will vote on 10 statewide ballot propositions, each is a would-be new law that needs voter approval before taking effect.
Election results start to pour in after 8 p.m., but voters should keep in mind that these results are not the final numbers.
The propositions include a new $18 minimum wage, a crackdown on drug crimes and theft, enshrining the right to marriage in the California constitution and more.
► Watch Now: Live election coverage on ABC10+. The TV streaming app is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung and Vizio. Here’s how to download it for free.
Prop 2 Results: School Bonds
Prop 2 is an $8.5 billion bond for K-12 schools and a $1.5 billion bond to community colleges, Proposition 2. The money would help with renovations, repairs and facility construction.
It would be given through matching grants, with some of the money set aside for removing lead from water, transitional kindergarten classrooms and facilities for career and technical education.
Prop 3 Results: Right to Marriage
Prop 3 reaffirms the right to marriage for same-sex couples, Proposition 3. The right would be enshrined in California's constitution.
The proposition effectively repeals a voter-passed measure from 2008 that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Ultimately, the ballot measure doesn't change who can marry.
Prop 4 Results: Water Bonds
Proposition 4 would allow $10 billion in debt to spend on environmental and climate projects, nearly $2 billion would be for drinking water improvements. The money would come from a bond, which prioritizes lower-income and those most vulnerable to climate change.
The money could also go toward wildfire and extreme heat projects; natural lands, parks and wildlife projects; coastal lands, bays and ocean protection, clean energy projects and agricultural projects.
Prop 5 Results: Housing Bonds
Proposition 5 would amend the California constitution by lowering the required threshold to 55% for any borrowing to fund affordable housing construction, down payment assistance programs and a host of “public infrastructure” projects, including those for water management, local hospitals and police stations, broadband networks and parks.
If it passes, the new cut-off would apply not just to future bonds, but any that are on the ballot this November.
Prop 6 Results: Involuntary Servitude
Proposition 6 would amend the California Constitution to prohibit the state from punishing inmates with involuntary work assignments and from disciplining those who refuse to work.
Instead, state prisons could set up a volunteer work assignment program to take time off sentences in the form of credits. It would let county or city ordinances set up a pay scale for inmates in local jails.
Prop 32 Results: Minimum Wage
Proposition 32 would raise the minimum wage to $17 for the remainder of 2024, and $18 an hour starting in January 2025 — a bump from the current $16.
Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be required to start paying at least $17 next year, and $18 in 2026. If voters say “yes,” California will have the nation’s highest state minimum wage.
Starting in 2027, the wage would be adjusted based on inflation, as the state already does. The hike would apply statewide, but it would have a bigger effect in some areas than in others.
Prop 33 Results: Rent Control
Proposition 33 would eliminate restrictions on local rent control laws.
Many cities limit the amount a landlord can raise the rent each year — a policy known as rent control. But for nearly 30 years, California has imposed limits on those limits, via a law known as Costa-Hawkins.
If Proposition 33 passes, cities would be allowed to control rents on any type of housing – including single-family homes and new apartments, and for new tenants.
Prop 34 Results: Drug Revenues
The deal for health care providers has been to serve low-income and at-risk patients to get a discount on pharmaceuticals. That's been the law since 1992, and providers can then, generally, sell those drugs at retail rates. Those can be then be used to expand healthcare services to disadvantaged groups.
Proposition 34 would require some California providers to spend at least 98% of that net drug sale revenue on “direct patient care.” Providers that don’t risk having their state license and tax-exempt status revoked and losing out on government contracts.
Prop 35 Results: Medi-Cal Services
Proposition 35 would require the state to spend the money from a tax on health care plans on Medi-Cal, the public insurance program for low-income Californians and people with disabilities.
The revenue would go to primary and specialty care, emergency services, family planning, mental health and prescription drugs. It would also prevent legislators from using the tax revenue to replace existing state Medi-Cal spending. Over the next four years, it is projected to generate upwards of $35 billion.
Prop 36 Results: Drugs & Theft Crimes
Proposition 36 would reclassify some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies.
The measure would also create a new category of crime — a “treatment-mandated felony.” People who don’t contest the charges could complete drug treatment instead of going to prison, but if they don’t finish treatment, they still face up to three years in prison.
Prop. 36 is an attempt to unwind Prop. 47, a prop passed 10 years ago in an effort to reduce California's prison overcrowding by making some theft and drug crimes into misdemeanors. Prosecutors, police and big box retailers have blamed the law for an increase in property crimes and homelessness.
ELECTION RESOURCES:
► Here's our 2024 Election Guide with key dates and voting information.
► Figure out California's propositions with our series of explainers.
► We are answering your election questions.
► We also verify stories and videos to sort truth from fiction and weed out misinformation.
► Check back here for live results as ballots will be counted during the days ahead.
► Stay updated with our politics page for all the latest election news and race previews.
► Track your ballot status with the Where's My Ballot tool.
When do we find out who won the election?
Voters will start to see results not long after 8 p.m., but keep in mind, these aren't the final results. Every number seen on election night are unofficial results.
While some elections might be called on election night, that's generally a projection from media outlets or experts. Governments don't call elections. Mail-in ballots, provisional ballots, ballots from registered voters in the military deployed over seas and more all get counted for the final result.
The last day for counties to certify results is Dec. 5. The Secretary of State will then have until Dec. 7 to certify the vote, with the Statement of Vote certified on Dec. 13.
WATCH ALSO: 2024 Ballot Props, explained