The following is alist of California ballot propositions broken down by decade. Propositions can be placed on the ballot either through the exercise of theinitiative power by the voters or by a vote of thestate legislature. The state initiative power was added to the California constitution in 1911 as part of the ethics reform instituted by GovernorHiram Johnson in the early 1910s.
Ballot measures were not numbered prior to the general election of 1914.[1] Until the November 1982 general election, proposition numbers started with "1" for each election. After November 1982, subsequent propositions received sequentially increasing numbers until November 1998 when the count was reset to "1". Starting with November 1998, the count is reset in 10-year cycles.
Until 1960, citizen-led initiative measures appeared on general election ballots only. From 1960 to 2012, initiative measures appeared on primary, general, and special election ballots.[1] In October 2011, GovernorJerry Brown signed into law a bill (Senate Bill No. 202) which requires all future ballot initiatives to be listed only in general elections (held in November in even-numbered years), rather than during any statewide election. Two propositions had already qualified for the next statewide election (which was the June 2012 presidential primaries) prior to the signing of the law, making the June 2012 primaries the last statewide non-general election in California to have statewide initiatives on the ballot. Propositions originating in theState Legislature can still appear on non-general election ballots, as was the case with Propositions 41 and 42 inJune 2014.[2]
Some notable propositions which have become part of theConstitution of the State of California:
| Proposition (year) | Status | About |
|---|---|---|
| Proposition 4 (1911) | Passed | Granting women the constitutional right to vote in California. |
| Proposition 7 (1911) | Passed | Establishing the constitutional direct democracy powers of initiative and referendum in California. |
| Proposition 8 (1911) | Passed | Establishing the constitutional direct democracy power of recall in California. |
| Proposition 14 (1964) | Passed, declaredunconstitutional in 1967, and repealed in 1974 | Prohibiting government agencies from denying, limiting, or abridging the right of any property owner to decline to sell, lease, or rent residential real property to any person the property owner, in their absolute discretion, chooses. It was declaredunconstitutional in 1967, and repealed in 1974 via Proposition 7 |
| Proposition 7 (1974) | Passed | Clarified existing rights and laws within the California Constitution, deleted obsolete provisions, and added federal rights into the California Constitution. RepealedProposition 14 |
| Proposition 13 (1978) | Passed | Significantproperty tax reduction and limits; imposing 2/3 vote requirement of the Legislature for state taxes and 2/3 voter approval requirement for local special taxes. |
| Proposition 65 (1986) | Passed | Notification of hazardous materials. |
| Proposition 98 (1988) | Passed | School funding (requires minimum percentage of budget to be directed toward education with increases based on inflation). |
| Proposition 184 (1994) | Passed,upheld in 2003, andamended in 2012 | Mandatory sentencing forthird-strike convictions. Proposition 184 was upheld asconstitutional in 2003, and wasamended by Proposition 36, in 2012 |
| Proposition 187 (1994) | Passed, declared unconstitutional in 1997, and killed in 1999. Unenforceable provisions repealed in 2014 | Denyingillegal immigrants eligibility to receive public services (immediate stay was federally imposed and is still in effect). Proposition 187 was declared unconstitutional in 1997, and mediation by GovernorGray Davis from aNinth Circuit Court of Appeals lawsuit, in 1999, effectively killed the law. In 2014, the unenforceable provisions of Proposition 187 were repealed by California Senate Bill 396 |
| Proposition 209 (1996) | Passed | Banningaffirmative action in thepublic sector (employment, education, etc.) |
| Proposition 215 (1996) | Passed | Legalizingmedical marijuana under California law. |
| Proposition 218 (1996) | Passed | Right to vote on local taxes; assessment and property-related fee reforms; initiative power expansion in regard to local revenue reduction or repeal. Constitutional follow-up to Proposition 13 (1978). |
| Proposition 22 (2000) | Passed, declaredunconstitutional in 2008, and repealed in 2014[3] | Statutory ban onsame-sex marriage. It was declared unconstitutional, in May 2008, via theIn re Marriage Cases, and was repealed in April 2014.[3] Later, in November 2008, a same-sex marriage ban was added to the State Constitution, viaProposition 8, which itself was later struck down asunconstitutional in 2010, in violation of theFourteenth Amendment'sequal protection clause andDue Process Clause, and was repealed in 2024, viaProposition 3 |
| Proposition 71 (2004) | Passed | On the use ofstem cells in scientific research. |
| Proposition 83 (2006) | Passed | Various restrictions of civil liberties for paroled sex offenders (Jessica's Law). |
| Proposition 8 (2008) | Passed, declaredunconstitutional in 2010, andrepealed in 2024 | Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in order to override theIn re Marriage Cases decision made earlier that year, in May 2008, that legalized same-sex marriage by ruling thatProposition 22 was unconstitutional, leading to its repeal in April 2014. Whilst it did pass, in November 2008, Proposition 8 was later declaredunconstitutional in 2010, and was repealed in 2024 withProposition 3. |
| Proposition 11 (2008) | Passed.Amended in 2010 | Created theCalifornia Citizens Redistricting Commission and gave the commission the power to draw the boundaries for California'sState Legislature, andBoard of Equalisation boundaries, as opposed to the state legislature. Was amended in2010 allowing the commission the power to the boundaries ofCalifornia's congressional districts. |
| Proposition 14 (2010) | Passed | Establishing a non-partisantop-two primary in place of semi-closedparty primaries. |
| Proposition 20 (2010) | Passed | AmendedProposition 11 to allow theCitizens Redistricting Commission to draw the boundaries forCalifornia's congressional districts.Propostion 50 passed in 2025 overrode the boundaries drawn by the commission on a one-time basis. |
| Proposition 36 (2012) | Passed | Reducing themandatory minimum sentences for most individuals convicted under the state'sthree-strikes law. AmendedProposition 184 |
| Proposition 47 (2014) | Passed | Redefining some nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors, rather than felonies, as they had previously been categorized. Partially repealed byProposition 36 |
| Proposition 64 (2016) | Passed | Legalises marijuana for recreational use by adults |
| Proposition 1 (2022) | Passed | Constitutional right to reproductive freedom |
| Proposition 3 (2024) | Passed | Constitutional right to same-sex marriage. RepealedProposition 8 |
| Proposition 36 (2024) | Passed | Modified and increased penalties for drug and theft related crimes, and reclassified certainmisdemeanors asfelonies. Partly repealedProposition 47 |
| Proposition 50 (2025) | Passed | A constitutional amendment for a one-time mid-decade redistricting ballot measure which redrew boundaries of the state's congressional districts, overriding the boundaries drawn up by theCalifornia Citizens Redistricting Commission following the2020 United States census. |
