California propositions: A guide to the 12 statewide measures on the 2020 ballot

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With another election comes another set of measures that California voters get to decide together.

In a nutshell, here’s what voting yes means for the 12 statewide propositions on the ballot:

  • Prop 14: Funding medical research that uses stem cells
  • Prop 15: Raising taxes on commercial properties worth more than $3 million
  • Prop 16: Bringing back affirmative action in public hiring, contracts and college admissions
  • Prop 17: Restoring the voting rights of people on parole
  • Prop 18: Letting some 17-year-olds vote in primary and special elections
  • Prop 19: Letting senior homeowners pay low property taxes if they move while raising taxes for people who use inherited property as a rental or second home
  • Prop 20: Rolling back reforms in criminal sentencing, parole and DNA collection
  • Prop 21: Letting cities implement stricter rent control
  • Prop 22: Letting Uber and Lyft continue treating their drivers as contractors, not employees
  • Prop 23: Establishing new care standards at kidney dialysis clinics
  • Prop 24: Expanding data privacy laws
  • Prop 25: Eliminating cash bail 

Need some context? Below, you’ll find more information about the props, including what your decision could mean for California, as well as who’s supporting each measure and who’s not. 

We even have some short explainer videos, produced by our sister station KSEE/KGPE in Fresno.

Prop 14: State funding for medical research that uses stem cells

Voting yes means supporting stem cell research through a $5.5 billion state bond. It’s a loan that California, through its taxpayer-supported general fund, would have to pay back with interest over 30 years.

Prop 14 would extend funding that has almost run out for the state’s stem cell research institute, which was created with the approval of California voters in 2004 after President George W. Bush banned federally funding studies that use newly created stem cell lines.

The research supports the development of treatments and cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and other medical conditions. Prop 14 also comes with new rules on spending the funds, including more access to stem cell treatment for patients.

Voting no means rejecting a new bond to continue state funding for stem cell research.

Supporters: Cedars-Sinai, City of Hope, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other research and patient advocacy groups have helped raise more than $6.5 million to promote Prop 14. The coalition says stem cell research has led to “significant progress” that includes clinical trials, more than 2,900 medical discoveries and benefits for patients with chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and ALS.

Critics: No organized effort has raised money to oppose Prop 14, but some newspaper editorial boards such as the L.A. Times’ argue that the measure isn’t the best way to back stem-cell research. “The idea was never for California to become the long-term replacement for federal funding,” the L.A. Times editorial board said. “It was to kick-start an industry that would then operate on its own.”

Prop 15: Raising taxes on commercial properties worth more than $3 million