Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Prime Minister of Yemen’s Houthi Government Killed in Israeli Strike

2 days ago

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Law Redrawing Congressional Maps

3 days ago

US Air Force will Offer Military Funeral Honors to Slain Capitol Rioter

3 days ago

US Republican Senator Joni Ernst Will Not Run for Re-Election, CBS News Reports

3 days ago

Wall Street Falls as Dell, Nvidia Drive Tech Losses

3 days ago

US Denies Visas to Palestinian Officials Ahead of UN General Assembly

3 days ago

Minneapolis Children Revealed Courage, Absorbed Fear During Church Shooting

3 days ago

Ford Recalls Nearly 500,000 Vehicles Over Brake Fluid Leak

4 days ago

Fresno-Bound Passenger Says Delta Attendant Slapped Him, Seeks $20M

4 days ago
California's Voters Again Face Rent Control Question as Interest Groups Clash
Portrait of CalMatters Columnist Dan Walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 1 year ago on
July 31, 2024

California's ballot initiative process evolves as interest groups employ new tactics in their ongoing power struggles. (CalMatters/Julie A Hotz)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Although the initiative process — proposing new laws via ballot measures — has been in California’s constitution for more than a century, its use was fairly uncommon until the 1970s.

Dan Walters Profile Picture

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

There were just nine initiatives placed before voters in the 1960s, the lowest utilization of any decade. The number jumped to 22 in the 1970s, including such game-changing measures as Proposition 20, 1972’s coastal protection act, and Proposition 13, the state’s iconic tax limitation, in 1978.

The number of initiatives facing voters in each election cycle continued to climb, reaching an apogee of 70 in the first decade of this century before declining a bit to 51 in the 2010s.

Prop. 13 not only exemplifies how the initiative became California’s single most powerful policymaking tool but how opponents of proposed measures have attempted to employ countermeasures. By making enormous changes in how government services are financed, particularly public schools, Prop. 13 offended the state Capitol’s political figures, including then-Gov. Jerry Brown, who denounced it as “a ripoff.”

Hoping to undermine support for Prop. 13, Brown and legislators hurriedly placed an alternative measure on the ballot, Proposition 8, which would have reduced property taxes on homes but would have not benefited commercial property.

The ploy failed miserably. Prop. 13 passed with 65% of the votes cast in the June 6, 1978, primary election while Prop. 8 failed to get even 50%. Afterward Brown, who was running for a second term that year, did a 180-degree political pirouette and declared himself a “born-again tax cutter.”

The Evolution of Competing Ballot Measures

Although the countermeasure tactic failed in 1978, it has been employed occasionally as the number of initiatives continued to rise.

The 2022 election, for instance, featured two competing measures to legalize wagering on sports, Proposition 26, sponsored by California’s casino-owning Indian tribes, and Proposition 27, a rival backed by big online gaming interests. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by the contesting interests, voters rejected both.

This year, after law enforcement groups qualified Proposition 36, which would increase penalties for some crimes, Gov. Gavin Newsom tried to fashion a competing measure that would be less harsh, but he eventually ran out of time.

The Rent Control Battle: A New Twist in Competing Measures

However this year’s ballot does offer another example of competing measures, this time over rent control, albeit with a new twist.

Michael Weinstein, who heads the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has twice spent millions of dollars on measures to repeal California’s three-decade-old law that limits the ability of local governments to impose controls on residential rents. Both, one in 2018 and another in 2020, were rejected by voters after the California Apartment Association and other real estate groups spent millions of dollars on opposition campaigns.

Weinstein is back for a third time this year with Proposition 33. But in addition to financing another opposition drive, the apartment association has qualified Proposition 34, which would require “prescription drug price manipulators” — organizations that acquire and distribute discounted drugs through a federal program — to spend at least 98% of their revenues on patient care.

The apartment association says its “dual campaigns aim to defeat both Weinstein’s current rent control measure and prevent him from misusing taxpayer dollars to fund rent control campaigns in the future.”

Weinstein and his supporters cry foul and tried to persuade the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop. 34. The court refused, though it indicated it might revisit the measure’s validity if it passes.

However this duel plays out, it’s a new wrinkle in California’s perennial clashes of special interest gladiators in the ballot arena, one that will continue to test voters’ ability to discern motives behind propositions.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to bmcewen@gvwirenews.kinsta.cloud for consideration.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Garnet Fire Grows to 18,748 Acres in Sierra National Forest

DON'T MISS

US Judge Blocks Deportations of Unaccompanied Migrant Children to Guatemala

DON'T MISS

Israel Pounds Gaza City Suburbs, Netanyahu to Convene Security Cabinet

DON'T MISS

Thousands in Australia March Against Immigration, Government Condemns Rally

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He Will Order Voter ID Requirement for Every Vote

DON'T MISS

Greta Thunberg Joins Flotilla Heading for Gaza With Aid

DON'T MISS

Chicago Mayor Says Police Will Not Aid Federal Troops or Agents

DON'T MISS

Post-War Gaza Plan Sees Relocation of Population, ‘Digital Token’ for Palestinian Land: Washington Post

DON'T MISS

Labor Day Quiz: Do You Know What a Knocker-Upper Is?

DON'T MISS

Bulldogs Check All the Boxes in Runaway Win Over Georgia Southern

UP NEXT

California Schools Reverse Truancy Trends. Improving Reading Scores Could Be Next

UP NEXT

Gov. Newsom Launches New Task Force To Clear CA Homeless Encampments

UP NEXT

Donald Trump’s Assault on Capitalism Is Only Going to Get Worse

UP NEXT

How California Lawmakers Can Trim Up to 20% Off Consumer Electric Bills

UP NEXT

Israel’s Gaza Campaign Is Making It a Pariah State

UP NEXT

Wilted Lettuce. Rotten Strawberries. Here’s What Happens When You Round Up Farmworkers.

UP NEXT

Renewal of CA Cap and Trade Program to Cut Emissions Fraught With Issues

UP NEXT

Joe Castro: A Life Cut Far Too Short, but His Legacy Marches On

UP NEXT

Why Epstein’s Furious Grip on Washington Holds

UP NEXT

California Cities Lack Unified Response On Homeless Encampments

Thousands in Australia March Against Immigration, Government Condemns Rally

16 hours ago

Trump Says He Will Order Voter ID Requirement for Every Vote

16 hours ago

Greta Thunberg Joins Flotilla Heading for Gaza With Aid

16 hours ago

Chicago Mayor Says Police Will Not Aid Federal Troops or Agents

16 hours ago

Post-War Gaza Plan Sees Relocation of Population, ‘Digital Token’ for Palestinian Land: Washington Post

16 hours ago

Labor Day Quiz: Do You Know What a Knocker-Upper Is?

17 hours ago

Bulldogs Check All the Boxes in Runaway Win Over Georgia Southern

1 day ago

Judge Blocks Pillar of Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign

2 days ago

Classic Cars Will Still Need a Smog Test in California After Lawmakers Reject Jay Leno Bill

2 days ago

Visalia Driver Arrested for DUI After Multiple Crashes and Pedestrian Injured

2 days ago

Fresno County Garnet Fire Grows to 18,748 Acres in Sierra National Forest

A lightning-sparked wildfire, the Garnet Fire, in the Sierra National Forest has burned 18,748 acres in Fresno County and remains at 8% cont...

16 hours ago

Photo: USDA - Forest Service Tanker 40 at Fresno Air Attack Base. The Fresno County Garnet Fire in the Sierra National Forest has burned 18,748 acres and is 8% contained as crews make progress on containment lines while bracing for possible thunderstorms early this week. (Sam Wu/USFS)
16 hours ago

Fresno County Garnet Fire Grows to 18,748 Acres in Sierra National Forest

U.S. flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. (Reuters File)
16 hours ago

US Judge Blocks Deportations of Unaccompanied Migrant Children to Guatemala

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, August 31, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
16 hours ago

Israel Pounds Gaza City Suburbs, Netanyahu to Convene Security Cabinet

Demonstrators hold a banner during the 'March for Australia' anti-immigration rally, in Sydney, Australia, August 31, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
16 hours ago

Thousands in Australia March Against Immigration, Government Condemns Rally

President Donald Trump walks on the grounds of the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, U.S., August 30, 2025. (Reuters/Nathan Howard)
16 hours ago

Trump Says He Will Order Voter ID Requirement for Every Vote

Activists Yasemin Acar, Greta Thunberg and Thiago Avila attend a press conference before the departure of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian expedition to Gaza, at the port of Barcelona, Spain August 31, 2025. (Reuters/Eva Manez)
16 hours ago

Greta Thunberg Joins Flotilla Heading for Gaza With Aid

National Guard troops wear gas masks during protests against federal immigration sweeps, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
16 hours ago

Chicago Mayor Says Police Will Not Aid Federal Troops or Agents

A view of tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive, in Gaza City, August 23, 2025. (Reuters File)
16 hours ago

Post-War Gaza Plan Sees Relocation of Population, ‘Digital Token’ for Palestinian Land: Washington Post

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend