Voter Approval of Revenue Bonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by county
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| Source:California Secretary of State[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Proposition 53 was aCalifornia ballot proposition on the November 8, 2016 ballot. It would have required voter approval for issuingrevenue bonds exceeding $2 billion.
Arguments in favor of the measure stated that it would require politicians to provide estimates of how much a project would cost, as well as give voters a say before taking on large debt. The measure followed similar practice as withgeneral obligation bonds, which currently require voter approval before the state can use them to pay for a project. Arguments against the measure stated that it would negatively impact local control over projects by allowing statewide votes on smaller community projects. Additionally, the termproject was not defined and it was unclear which projects might be affected by the measure.[2][3] Cities, counties, schools districts, and community college districts were specifically excluded from the measure’s definition of “state”.[4] However, theCalifornia Legislative Analyst's Office warned that local governments sometimes partner with the state government to get lower interest rates on government bonds, which could have required statewide voter approval of local projects under the measure.[4]
It was unlikely that many projects would have been affected by the measure,[3] though it could have affected large-scale projects such asCalifornia High-Speed Rail andCalifornia Water Fix and Eco Restore.[5]
Proponents spent $4.6 million fighting for the measure, all of it fromCalifornia Delta farmer Dino Cortopassi and his wife.[4] Cortopassi has been an outspoken critic of the planned Water Fix tunnels underneath the delta.[4]
Opponents spent $10.9 million fighting against the measure, with the top donor being $4.1 million from GovernorJerry Brown’s 2014 campaign funds.[4] Other top opposition donors included theCalifornia Democratic Party, a labor coalition, venture capitalistJohn Doerr, and theSan Manuel Band of Mission Indians.[4]
The measure was opposed by the editorial boards of theLos Angeles Times,[6] theSan Francisco Chronicle,[7] andThe Sacramento Bee.[8] Firefighters opposed the measure, warning that there was no exemption for disaster funding.[4] Cities and local water districts were also opposed.[4]
