Proposition 32: Raise the state minimum wage to $18 an hour

This proposition would raise the minimum wage to $17 for the remainder of 2024 and $18 an hour starting in January 2025 — a bump from the current $16. Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be required to start paying at least $17 next year and $18 in 2026. Nearly 40 California cities have local minimum wages that are higher than the state’s, including six that already require at least $18, and several already are just a small inflationary adjustment away from it.

Proposition 33: Allow local governments to impose rent controls

Many cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, limit the amount a landlord can raise the rent each year — a policy known as rent control. However, for nearly 30 years, California has imposed limits on those limits via a law known as Costa-Hawkins. Cities cannot set rent control on single-family homes or apartments built after 1995. And landlords are free to set their own rental rates when new tenants move in. If Proposition 33 passes, that would change. Cities would be allowed to control rents on any type of housing – including single-family homes and new apartments, as well as for new tenants.

Proposition 34: Require certain health providers to use nearly all revenue from a federal prescription drug program on patient care

Since 1992, federal law has given healthcare providers a deal: Serve low-income and at-risk patients and get a discount on pharmaceuticals. Providers that use this program can then sell those drugs at retail rates, using their profits to expand their healthcare services to disadvantaged groups.

This would require some California providers to spend at least 98% of that net drug sale revenue on “direct patient care.” Providers that don’t risk having their state license and tax-exempt status revoked and losing out on government contracts.

But the proposition doesn’t apply to all providers—only those that spend at least $100 million on expenses other than direct care, own and operate apartment buildings, and have racked up at least 500 severe health and safety violations in the last decade.

As far as anyone can tell, that only applies to one organization: The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which backed Proposition 33 is opposed by the California Apartment Association, the state’s premier landlord lobby and a major opponent of rent control. The California Apartment Association is the primary contributor to the campaign for Proposition 34.

Proposition 35: Make permanent a tax on managed healthcare insurance plans

This would require the state to spend money from taxes on health care plans in Medi-Cal and the public insurance program for low-income Californians and people with disabilities. The revenue would go to primary and specialty care, emergency services, family planning, mental health, and prescription drugs. It would also prevent legislators from using the tax revenue to replace existing state Medi-Cal spending. Over the next four years, it is projected to generate upwards of $35 billion.