California Democratic Party leaders at their annual executive board convention this weekend took positions on a series of state measures that will appear, or could appear, on the November ballot.
In a state where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans, the support of state parties will be a boon for proposals backed during the costly campaign ahead.
Party positions were recommended during a sometimes contentious committee meeting that lasted most of Saturday afternoon, and high-profile speakers including civil rights leader Dolores Huerta and Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles, seemed to give their support to certain measures. The party officially endorsed his choices in a vote Sunday morning.
Party leaders endorsed Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1a measure put to a vote by Democrats in the state legislature that will ask voters whether to lower the voting threshold on new taxes and bonds that increase funding for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects.
California currently requires two-thirds voter approval for certain special tax increases and bond measures. This amendment would lower that threshold to 55% to approve new special taxes and bonds for local public infrastructure and affordable housing projects.
The party also supported Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5which would amend the state constitution to remove outdated language from Proposition 8, approved by California voters in 2008, characterizing marriage as between a man and a woman, and reaffirm the right of same-sex couples to marry.
The outdated state definition has been deemed unenforceable and unconstitutional thanks to federal law, but LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are asking voters to repeal it and amend the California Constitution to explicitly declare that marriage is “a fundamental right.”
The state party voted for Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13, a third measure put to a vote by the Democratic-led Legislature. This measure is a response to a business-led initiative to make it more difficult to pass new taxes in California.
If passed, the 13th Amendment would require ballot initiatives that seek to raise the threshold of voter approval on state-level measures to meet that same higher requirement in order to take effect (so if a measure seeks to raise the voter approval threshold of 50% to a two-thirds majority, that measure would also have to be approved with a two-thirds majority to take effect).
The party also took positions on a series of measures that have gathered the necessary signatures to be eligible for the November vote, but will not officially qualify until the state's deadline in late June. The party voted in favor of:
