This page contains a list of proposed initiative and referendum measures that during the last 60 days have been withdrawn by proponents or have failed to gather the required number of signatures during the circulation period. 

1916. (21-0022A1)
PROVIDES FUNDING FOR PANDEMIC DETECTION AND PREVENTION BY INCREASING TAX ON PERSONAL INCOME OVER $5 MILLION. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE. 

Summary Date: 11/22/2021
Final Random Sample Count: 07/05/2022 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 07/05/2022 (PDF)
Withdrawn: 06/27/2024
Signatures Required: 997,139
(25% of Signatures Reached 02/15/2022 (PDF))
Proponent(s): Max Henderson, Anna Maybach

Increases tax on personal income over $5 million by 0.75% for 10 years, and allocates new tax revenues as follows: 50% to the California Institute for Pandemic Prevention (established by this measure), to award grants for research and development of technologies to detect and prevent future pandemics; 25% for public health programs for pandemic preparedness; and 25% for improvements to school facilities to limit disease transmission. Creates Independent Scientific Governing Board to administer the Institute; requires board members have specified medical, technological, or public-health expertise. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased state tax revenues that likely would range from around $500 million to $1.5 billion annually for the ten-year period the new tax would be in effect. Revenues entirely would support activities related to infectious disease control and pandemic prevention. (21-0022A1.)

1921. (21-0027A1)
ELIMINATES EMPLOYEES’ ABILITY TO FILE LAWSUITS FOR MONETARY PENALTIES FOR STATE LABOR-LAW VIOLATIONS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. 

Summary Date: 12/08/2021 (PDF)
Final Random Sample Count: 07/22/2022 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 07/22/2022 (PDF)
Withdrawn: 06/27/2024
Signatures Required: 623,212 
(25% of Signatures Reached 02/03/2022 (PDF))
Proponent(s): Brian Maas

Repeals 2004 law allowing employees to file lawsuits on behalf of themselves and other employees against employers to recover monetary penalties for certain state labor-law violations. Labor Commissioner retains authority to enforce labor laws and impose penalties. Eliminates Labor Commissioner’s authority to contract with private organizations or attorneys to assist with enforcement. Requires Legislature to provide funding of unspecified amount for Labor Commissioner enforcement. Requires Labor Commissioner to provide pre-enforcement advice; allows employers to correct identified labor-law violations without penalties. Authorizes increased penalties for willful violations. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Likely increase in state costs to enforce labor laws that could exceed $100 million per year. Reduction in state penalty revenue used for labor law enforcement in the tens of millions of dollars annually. (21-0027A1.)

1935. (21-0042A1)
LIMITS ABILITY OF VOTERS AND STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO RAISE REVENUES FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
On June 20, 2024, the California Supreme Court issued an opinion, in Legislature of the State of California v. Weber, directing the Secretary of State to refrain from taking any steps to place Initiative #1935 on the ballot or include the measure in the voter information guide. Accordingly, this initiative will not be qualified for the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.

Summary Date: 02/03/2022
Final Full Check: 02/01/2023 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 02/01/2023 (PDF)
Removed 06/25/2024
Signatures Required: 997,139
(25% of Signatures Reached 03/16/2022 (PDF))
Proponent(s): Thomas W. Hiltachk

For new or increased state taxes currently enacted by two-thirds vote of Legislature, also requires statewide election and majority voter approval. Limits voters’ ability to pass voter-proposed local special taxes by raising vote requirement to two-thirds. Eliminates voters’ ability to advise how to spend revenues from proposed general tax on same ballot as the proposed tax. Expands definition of “taxes” to include certain regulatory fees, broadening application of tax approval requirements. Requires Legislature or local governing body set certain other fees. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Lower annual state and local revenues, potentially substantially lower, depending on future actions of the Legislature, local governing bodies, voters, and the courts. (21-0042A1)

1939. (22-0005)
REFERENDUM CHALLENGING 2022 LAW AUTHORIZING CREATION OF COUNCIL TO SET MINIMUM WAGE AND WORKING STANDARDS FOR FAST-FOOD WORKERS.

Summary Date: 09/16/2022
Final Random Sample Count: 01/24/2023 (PDF)
QUALIFIED: 01/24/2023 (PDF); VOIDED: 09/11/2023 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 09/11/2023
Withdrawn: 12/29/2023 (PDF)
Signatures Required: 623,212
Proponent(s): Amber Evans, Steven McDermed

If the required number of registered voters sign this petition and it is timely filed, a 2022 law will not take effect unless approved at the next statewide general or special election after November 8, 2022. The challenged law:

  • Authorizes creation of Fast Food Council (upon submission of 10,000 fast-food worker signatures) to set working standards and minimum wage (up to $22/hour in 2023, with capped annual increases) at fast-food restaurants with 100+ nationwide locations;
  • Prohibits retaliation against fast-food workers for making certain workplace complaints.

1940. (22-0006)
REFERENDUM CHALLENGING 2022 LAW PROHIBITING NEW OIL AND GAS WELLS NEAR HOMES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.

Summary Date: 09/29/2022
Final Random Sample Count: 02/03/2023 (PDF)
QUALIFIED: 02/03/2023 (PDF); VOIDED: 09/11/2023 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 09/11/2023
Withdrawn: 06/27/2024
Signatures Required: 623,212
Proponent(s): Jerome Reedy

If the required number of registered voters sign this petition and it is timely filed, a 2022 law will not take effect unless approved at the next statewide general or special election after November 8, 2022. The challenged law:

  • Prohibits most new or modified oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of specified locations, including housing, schools, daycares, parks, healthcare facilities, community resource centers, detention facilities, and businesses open to the public.
  • Requires existing wells in these areas meet specified health, safety, and environmental requirements by January 1, 2025. (22-0006)

1964. (23-0022)
ADDS ONE-SEMESTER PERSONAL FINANCE COURSE TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

Summary Date: 11/09/2023 (PDF)
Final Random Sample Count: 05/08/2024 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 05/08/2024 (PDF)
Withdrawn: 06/27/2024
Signatures Required: 601,317
(25% of Signatures Reached 12/13/2023 (PDF))
Proponent(s): Christopher Lee Kaufman, Timothy J. Ranzetta

Adds one-semester personal finance course to existing graduation requirements for public high school students (including those attending charter schools) beginning with the graduating class in 2030. Requires schools to begin offering the course by the 2026-27 school year. This course would be in addition to currently required one-semester economics course, which may—but is not required to—include personal finance curriculum. Students may fulfill new requirement by completing an existing University of California-approved personal finance course, or a new course approved by a school’s governing body. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Potential increased costs to schools that could reach in the high tens of millions of dollars annually in the first few years and then likely decline over time. Costs could be related to additional teachers, curriculum development, and instructional materials and would depend on how the measure is implemented. (23-0022)


REQUIRES STATE FUNDING OF RELIGIOUS AND NONRELIGIOUS PRIVATE SCHOOLS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.

Summary Date: 11/17/2023 
Failed 05/29/2024
Signatures Required: 874,641
Proponent(s): Kevin McNamee, Marion A. Marshall, Maria Flores, Cecilia Iglesias, Benito Bernal

Requires state to provide yearly voucher payments ($17,000 initially, adjusted annually) into Education Savings Accounts for California residents in grades TK-12 attending religious and nonreligious private schools anywhere in the United States. Payments will come from General Fund and property tax revenues currently allocated to public schools (including charter schools). Eliminates constitutional prohibition on state funding of religious and nonreligious private schools. Prohibits state from requiring certain curriculum, disciplinary, or teacher credentialing policies as condition of funding. Creates privately appointed board to distribute payments of public funds. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased state costs, likely ranging from $6.3 billion to $10 billion per year, to provide funding for students currently enrolled in private schools. The state could pay for these costs with revenues currently reserved for public schools (or other programs in the state budget). To the extent public school students shift to private schools, the state would have additional costs—likely at least several billion dollars annually—that would be offset by lower spending on public schools. Over time, state costs for public school facilities probably would decrease by a couple hundred million dollars per year. Public schools would experience reductions in state funding and some federal and local funding—as well as reductions in various costs—based on decreases in their enrollment. All of these effects assume the state can legally implement the program to its full extent. (23-0026A1)

1969. (23-0027A2)
RESTRICTS RIGHTS OF TRANSGENDER YOUTH. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

Summary Date: 11/29/2023 
Failed 06/10/2024
Signatures Required: 546,651
Proponent(s): Jonathan Zachreson

  • Requires public and private schools and colleges to: restrict gender-segregated facilities like bathrooms to persons assigned that gender at birth; prohibit transgender female students (grades 7+) from participating in female sports. Repeals law allowing students to participate in activities and use facilities consistent with their gender identity.
  • Requires schools to notify parents whenever a student under 18 asks to be treated as a gender differing from school records without exception for student safety.
  • Prohibits gender-affirming health care for transgender patients under 18, even if parents consent or treatment is medically recommended.

Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Potentially minor savings in state and local health care costs of up to millions of dollars annually from no longer paying for prohibited services for individuals under the age of 18. These savings could be affected by many other impacts, such as individuals seeking treatment later in life. Minor administrative and workload costs to schools, colleges, and universities, up to several millions of dollars initially. Potential, but unknown, cost pressures to state and local governments related to federal fiscal penalties if the measure results in federally funded schools, colleges, universities, or health care providers being deemed out of compliance with federal law. (23-0027A2)

1970. (23-0028)
CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS ON PUBLIC EDUCATION. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

Summary Date: 12/21/2023
Failed 07/08/2024
Signatures Required: 874,641
Proponent(s): James J. Cowie

Amends California Constitution to require the state and its school districts to “provide all public school students with high-quality public schools,” the requirements of which will depend on how the measure is implemented by the Legislature, state agencies, and public schools (including charter schools), and interpreted by court decisions. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: No direct fiscal effects on the state or public schools because the measure does not require any change to current policies or programs. Depending on how the measure is legally interpreted by the courts and implemented by the state and public schools, there could be fiscal effects that are unknown and highly uncertain. (23-0028)

1971. (23-0029A1)
EXPANDS STATE HEALTH CARE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH CERTAIN MEDICAL CONDITIONS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

Summary Date: 12/27/2023 (PDF)
Final Random Sample Count: 06/21/2024 (PDF)
ELIGIBLE: 06/21/2024 (PDF)
Withdrawn: 06/27/2024
Signatures Required: 601,317
(25% of Signatures Reached 01/26/2024 (PDF))
Proponent(s): Ann-Louise Kuhns

Expands California Children’s Services Program, which provides health care to low-middle income children under 21 with specified medical conditions, by requiring state to provide:

  • financial assistance to families not eligible for Program services for certain out-of-pocket treatment costs for covered conditions;
  • new annual grants to hospitals that provide Program services;
  • increased payment rates for physicians that are at least the federal Medicare rate; and
  • coverage for additional medical conditions including cancer, heart disease, certain infectious diseases, and cerebral palsy that are currently covered only by regulation, not by statute.

Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: State General Fund cost potentially ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars to around a billion dollars each year to assist families with the cost of health care for children with qualifying serious and chronic diseases, as well as to increase payments to providers in the California Children’s Services program. (23-0029A1)

1972. (23-0030A1)
LEGALIZES ONLINE AND IN-PERSON SPORTS WAGERING AND OTHER NEW TYPES OF GAMBLING. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE.

Summary Date: 01/02/24 
Failed 07/12/2024
Signatures Required: 874,641
Proponent(s): Ryan Tyler Walz

Legalizes online sports wagering statewide, and in-person sports wagering, roulette, and dice games on tribal lands, all of which currently are prohibited, if operated by federally recognized Indian tribes under gaming compacts approved by Legislature, the model compact approved by this measure, or state law enacted by this measure. Prohibits sports wagering by persons under 21. Requires participating tribes to pay up to 25% of sports-wagering profits to nonparticipating tribes and up to 1% to the state for regulatory costs. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased state revenues that could reach into the tens of millions of dollars annually, depending on how the measure is implemented and legally interpreted. Some portion of these revenues would reflect a shift from other existing state and local revenues. Increased state regulatory costs, potentially in the low- to mid-tens of millions of dollars annually. Some or all of these costs would be offset by the increased revenue or reimbursements to the state. (23-0030A1)

1973. (23-0031)
ALLOWS FOR LEGALIZATION OF ONLINE AND IN-PERSON SPORTS WAGERING. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

Summary Date: 01/02/24 
Failed 07/12/2024
Signatures Required: 874,641
Proponent(s): Ryan Tyler Walz

Amends California Constitution to authorize the Legislature or the voters by initiative to legalize online and in-person sports wagering, which currently is prohibited, if offered by federally recognized Indian tribes. Authorizes the Legislature to approve gaming compacts with tribes choosing to offer sports wagering. Such compacts must:

  • prohibit wagering by persons under 21;
  • limit wagering to professional, collegiate, and amateur sporting events, and prohibit wagering on amateur sports involving children or events involving animals other than horses; and
  • require revenue sharing with non-gaming tribes and the state.

Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: No immediate fiscal effects on the state and local governments as the Legislature would be allowed—but not required—to authorize sports wagering. If the Legislature authorizes sports wagering, uncertain increase in state and local government costs and revenues depending on various factors including the specific regulatory and other requirements adopted. Federal courts have generally limited tribal payments to state and local governments to the amount necessary to cover their regulation and other costs related to gaming activities. (23-0031)

1974. (23-0032A1)
DECRIMINALIZES PSYCHEDELICS FOR PERSONAL USE, MEDICAL TREATMENT, AND RESEARCH. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

Summary Date: 01/02/24 
Failed 07/12/2024
Signatures Required: 546,651
Proponent(s): David Hodges, Tomas Garrett, Chelsea Candelaria, Carsten Fisher

For individuals 18 and over, decriminalizes personal possession, cultivation, and use of psychedelic plants and substances, including psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine, LSD, MDMA, mescaline, and peyote. Allows medical professionals to recommend psychedelic treatments for mental health conditions and other health disorders. Allows research into therapeutic and medical applications of psychedelics. Allows businesses to grow and manufacture psychedelics, and to sell psychedelics to individuals for medical purposes. Requires psychedelics businesses with 50+ employees to hold annual employee votes regarding unionization. Authorizes resentencing, reduction, or dismissal of prior psychedelics-related convictions. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Potential reduction in state and local regulatory revenues that could result in regulatory costs exceeding revenues by more than $100 million annually. Alternatively, changes in regulatory costs could be roughly offset by changes in regulatory revenue. The actual effect would depend on the way the measure is legally interpreted and implemented. Uncertain net effect on state and local tax revenue that would depend on the way the measure is legally interpreted and implemented. The potential revenue decrease could reach the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The potential revenue increase would likely be significantly smaller. Net reduction in state and local costs that could eventually reach around a few million dollars annually related to enforcing entheogenic substance-related offenses; handling the related criminal cases, resentencing, and sealing of records in the court system; and incarcerating and supervising people convicted of entheogenic substance-related offences. (23-0032A1)

1975. (23-0034)
ESTABLISHES NEW “UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ONLINE.” INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

Summary Date: 01/10/24
Failed 07/19/2024
Signatures Required: 874,641
Proponent(s): Boyd Roberts

California’s public higher education systems— University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges— currently offer courses in person and online. This measure would amend the California Constitution to require creation of an online public university named “University of California Online” with two divisions: one providing online courses for credit towards an academic degree, open to anyone who pays tuition; and one providing free public access to all online courses not for credit. Requires tuition for for-credit courses to be based on their cost, and additional fees for most out-of-state students. Requires State Treasurer to issue bonds to fund University of California Online, repaid from tuition. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Operating a new public online university could cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars to low billions of dollars annually. All of the cost is to be covered through student tuition revenue generated by the new university. The measure is not intended to have any direct fiscal impact on state or local governments. (23-0034)