A very full ballot in November

by Barry Hermansons

At the beginning of October, if you are registered to vote, you will begin to receive a mountain of information about the election. In addition to official materials from the State of California and the San Francisco Department of Elections, many pieces of mail sent by various organizations will seek to influence the way you vote. If you want to do something small for the environment and stop receiving so much election material, vote early. Most political campaigns do not want to waste resources trying to influence people who have already voted. The information below will enable you to get a head start on learning about the issues.

California ballot measures

The following list of propositions has been copied from a web page provided by the California Secretary of State: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/qualified-ballot-measures.

For those of you reading this article on the www.sfbayview.com website, the links to the PDFs have been retained. I have provided the number of pages in each PDF in case you would like to read a few. Each PDF includes a title and summary and an analysis by the legislative analyst, including estimated fiscal impact. There is an argument in favor and a rebuttal, as well as an argument against and a rebuttal. There are also links to information about the committees that have been formed to support or oppose each measure, as well as the top 10 contributors to those campaigns. The full text of each proposition can be found at the Secretary of State’s website at voterguide.sos.ca.gov.

Proposition 1

Authorizes Bonds for Housing Affordability Programs. Legislative Statute. (PDF) 6 pages

No argument against Prop 1 was submitted.

Proposition 2

Increases State’s Rainy Day Fund. Legislative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 6 pages

Proposition 3

Provides Permanent Funding for Schools and Health Care by Extending Existing Tax on High Incomes. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 4

Repeals Prohibition Against Public Funding of Election Campaigns. Legislative Statute. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 5

Changes Recall Election Process for Statewide Officers. Legislative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 6 pages

Proposition 37

Creates Loan Program for Middle-Income Buyers of Qualified New Homes. Initiative Statute. (PDF) 4 pages – No argument against Prop 37 was submitted.

Proposition 38

Authorizes Bonds for Immunology Medical Research. Initiative Statute. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 39

Prohibits Citizens from Voting Unless They Present Government-Issued Identification. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 6 pages

Proposition 40

Imposes One-Time Tax on Certain Taxpayers. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 41

Prohibits New State Taxes That Exclude Revenues from State Spending Limit. Requires Audits for New State Special Taxes. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 42

Prohibits New State Personal Property Taxes and Certain Retroactive State Taxes. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 43

Limits Voters’ Ability to Raise Revenues for Local Government Services. Legislative Constitutional Amendment. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 44

Requires Community Health Clinics to Spend 90% of Revenue on Program Services. Initiative Statute. (PDF) 4 pages

Proposition 45

Modifies Environmental Review for Certain Projects. Initiative Statute. (PDF) 6 pages

San Francisco ballot measures

Full text for each of the measures below can be found at https://www.sf.gov/qualified-ballotmeasures. Below the title of each City measure is the question that will appear in the voter handbook written by City Attorney David Chiu. Also listed are the number of pages in the text of the ballot measure and the digest. I have provided an additional comment on only one of these measures, Prop I.

Charter amendments

A – Charter Changes Affecting Various City Departments and Commissions

“Shall the City amend the Charter to align it with how some City departments currently operate, change some processes, eliminate or reorganize certain commissions and advisory bodies, and require the Board of Supervisors to amend voter-approved laws to enact some of these changes?”

Text: 145 pages, Digest: 6 pages

B – Establishing a Municipal Finance Corporation and a Public Bank

Text: 29 pages, Digest: 1 page

C – Contributions to the Housing Fund

“Shall the City amend the Charter to change how the City’s annual contributions to the Housing Trust Fund are set, increase funding and expand programs for affordable housing, and extend the Fund to 2058?”

Text: 15 pages, Digest: 3 pages

D – Changes to Ballot Measure Process

“Shall the City amend the Charter to increase the requirements for signature initiatives from 2% to 8% of registered voters in San Francisco (currently from about 10,600 to about 42,500 signatures), increase the requirements for calling special elections, allow signature initiatives to be withdrawn before an election, and remove the ability of a minority of Board of Supervisors members or the Mayor to place measures on the ballot?”

Text: 11 pages, Summary: 1 page

E – City Administrator’s Authority and Changes to City Contracting

“Shall the City amend the Charter to give the City Administrator more authority by centralizing the City’s purchasing rules and processes, changing how the City approves purchasing rules, changing when contracts and leases require Board of Supervisors approval, and extending the City Administrator’s term?”

Text: 32 pages, Summary: 2 pages

F – Changes to Executive Branch Management

“Shall the City amend the Charter to expand the Mayor’s authority to transfer responsibilities between departments, hire deputy mayors, and hire some and fire most department heads; and to allow City officials to remove members of boards and commissions without cause?”

Text: 67 pages, Summary: 2 pages

Ordinances

G – Allowing Private Vehicles on the Great Highway in Sunset Dunes Park

“Shall the City close Sunset Dunes Park from Monday at 4:00 a.m. through Friday at 6:00 p.m., unless a holiday falls on a weekday, in order to reopen the roadway known as the Upper Great Highway to private vehicles during that time?”

Text: 6 pages, Summary: 1 page

H – Parcel Tax to Fund Public Muni Operations

“Shall the City fund Muni service through a new annual parcel tax on real estate at rates ranging from $129 per parcel up to a maximum of $400,000 per parcel, depending on the type of property and its size and adjusted annually for inflation, for estimated revenue of $177 million a year for 15 years?”

Text: 27 pages, Summary: 2 pages

I – Changes to Real Property Transfer Tax (Affordable Housing Guarantee Act)

“Shall the City permanently dedicate half of the transfer tax revenues collected when certain real estate with a value or sales price of more than $10,000,000 changes hands, which will continue to be taxed at rates of 5.5% to 6%, to be spent only on affordable housing, including social housing developments and housing assistance, and exempt certain sales from the dedicated portion of the tax, for an estimated annual revenue decrease of approximately $1 million?”

Note: This is a tax that was approved by voters in 2020 with the intent, but not the mandate, to spend these tax receipts on affordable housing.

Text: 14 pages, Summary: 2 pages

J – Removal of Foreclosure Exemption for Real Property Transfer Tax

“Shall the City permanently apply a transfer tax of between 0.5% and 6% of a property’s fair market value on the transfer of properties such as commercial, industrial and large residential properties that are transferred to a lender because of foreclosure or to avoid foreclosure, for estimated annual revenue of $100 million to $150 million?”

Text: 8 pages, Digest: 1 page

Regional measures

RTM – Regional Transit Measure

Provides financial support to public transit agencies. “The Initiative Measure would impose a retail transactions and use tax ordinance applicable to the District, for a duration of 14 years, and in an amount of 0.5% in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara, and 1% in the City and County of San Francisco.”

Resolution: 26 pages, No summary or digest

Barry Hermanson is a member of the San Francisco Green Party County Council. Before he retired, he owned and operated a small business and was a leader in the small business community in San Francisco.

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