WTF PROPS
California Voter Guide
Affordable housing bond
YESHouse yes. House good. More house please now.
Rainy day fund YESHelp California save smarter, so in lean years we get less cuts to vital services. (Bonus: costs nothing!)
Make high-earner income tax permanent YESThis one is easy: do you want funding for schools, or do you want tax cuts for the richest 2% of Californians? (Hint: it’s not the second one.)
Public campaign financing YESIf the past 10 years have taught us anything (which: TBD), it’s that rich people shouldn’t be able to buy elections. Also, you could do a lot worse than always voting against the California Taxpayers Association!
Recall election reform
YESFixes a terrifying loophole in California’s recall process. (We all sorta, kinda remember when some right-wing psycho almost became Governor in 2021, right?)
$25 billion homebuying loan NOCalifornia needs to build homes SO BAD. But this, which has lots of complexity, unknowns, and doesn’t prioritize density and transit access, just ain’t it, friends.
Immunology research bondNO A classic WTF prop. Science is super cool, but this would lock billions of state funds into one research institute, the wealthy founder of which is, of course, single-handedly bankrolling Prop 38! You suck, Gary K. Michelson.
Voter ID NOGet this MAGA conspiracy garbage all the way out of our state.
Billionaire tax
YESYou’re telling us the billionaires *don’t* like it? Sounds like a pretty good billionaire tax!
Audit new tax spending NOBillionaires know they’re gonna lose prop 40, so they’re trying to undermine it with this prop. (It also imposes lame spending caps on new tax revenue.)
Prohibit new personal property tax and retroactive taxesNO Another blatant attempt to block Prop 40 (they’re scared!) that, just for funsies, would also make it incredibly hard for our state to fund a wide variety of services. This one gets the WTF Props ‘BLECH’ award for 2026.
Higher threshold for local special taxes NOA bogus attempt to limit our communities’ ability to fund the services they want. It’s only on the ballot because Newsom cut a shady, backroom deal. This whole thing stinks on ice.
Clinic funding
NOA good rule of thumb: if the prop seems super complicated, and no one claims to really understand what the effects will be, just vote no. (Also: community health clinics should not be funded via popular vote, y’all!)
Expedited environmental review NOAgain: house so good. But! This could open the door to companies building data centers and other nasty stuff without local approval. Another insanely complicated thing to put in front of voters! Let our elected officials handle this, please!
Public Transit Revenue Measure District PropositionYES If we don’t vote for this, BART and bus service around the Bay will suffer HUGE cuts in service. Which will have massive negative effects on our economy and make traffic go absolutely bananas loco. Sales taxes suck, but we gotta do it.