What’s on California’s November ballot? Here’s a look at the 14 statewide measures

Calif. (KESQ) – This Thursday marked the deadline for California to finalize the ballot for the upcoming November election, where residents will vote on 14 statewide ballot measures surrounding taxation, environment, election, housing and healthcare. 

Following months of petitions and gathering signatures, ballot initiatives have been released giving Californians a better look at what to expect in the upcoming fall. 

One initiative named the ‘Billionaire tax’ aims to apply a one-time 5% wealth tax on over 200 California billionaires, placing the revenue towards healthcare for low-income residents, education and food assistance programs. 

The ‘Audit new tax spending’ initiative works as a counter to the ‘Billionaire tax’, requiring state audits of programs funded by these additional tax dollars. This initiative seeks to apply the revenue of the new taxes to the state spending cap, ultimately returning funds back to the taxpayers and education. 

The ‘Prohibit new personal property tax and retroactive taxes’ initiative also aims to undercut the ‘billionaires tax’ by preventing new taxation on personal property, offsetting the wealth tax. 

If opposing initiatives are approved, the initiative with the most votes will be the legislation set in action. 

Initiatives like the ‘Make high-earner income tax permanent’ and the ‘Higher threshold for local speciality taxes’ place focus on rising taxation in the state. The ‘Make high-earner income tax permanent’ wants to see its permanent placement while the latter wants to tighten regulations making it harder to increase taxes.

The ‘Affordable housing bond’ as well as the ‘$25 billion homebuying loan’ call for funds that will be placed towards the California housing issue.  

The ‘Affordable housing bond’ seeks funds to buy, build and rehabilitate affordable homes, while also setting aside funds for veterans to buy homes. The ‘$25 billion homebuying loan’ seeks to create a $25 million mortgage program for low-income home buyers, offering up to 17% of the purchase price on homes under $1.5 million. 

Initiatives like these and the ‘Rainy day fund’, which hopes to raise the amount the state deposits from its general fund tax revenue to a rainy day fund, places focus on the economic issues the state of California faces. 

Environmental initiatives like the 'Expedited environmental review’ calls to amend the “California Environmental Quality Act” by creating deadlines for environmental reviews in hopes to speed up permitting and avoid delays on housing, transportation, water, health and clean energy projects.

Initiatives surrounding election processes are set to hit the ballots with plans like the “Voter ID” which would require voters to present their government issued  ID and state under the penalty of perjury that they are a U.S. citizen. 

The ‘Public campaign financing’ initiative hopes to give the California government authority to set up public financing systems for political candidates, a power that has been banned throughout the state since 1988. 

The ‘Recall election reform’ sets out to eliminate the election to pick a successor immediately when a politician is removed, leaving the position vacant until it’s filled in a different election. If approved the initiative would also allow the recalled official to run for the office again. 

Healthcare initiatives like ‘Clinic funding’ would require federally qualified health centers to spend 90% of their revenue on underserved and low-income patients, with fiscal penalties that would be placed in a state-operated account. 

The last initiative set to hit the ballots is the ‘Immunology research bond’ which would allow California to borrow $8.4 billion to research immune-system technologies to learn how to treat conditions like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

These measures will be put to a vote November 3, 2026. 

Stay with News Channel 3 for more updates.