ACLU SoCal 2024 Ballot Guide

Prop 36 is a deceptive measure backed by extremist prosecutors that would impose draconian criminal penalties, including possible prison time, for low-level drug-related offenses—returning California to an era of costly mass incarceration and overcrowded prisons. Prop 36 will cut life-saving funding from trauma recovery services for crime victims and mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. With state laws already in place that address retail theft without threatening funds earmarked for treatment and rehabilitation, Prop 36 is unnecessary and harmful.  

Keep all Californians safe and uphold our state’s commitment to just treatment and alternatives to incarceration by voting NO on Prop 36. 

 
Hundreds of thousands of people in our jails and prisons are subject to involuntary servitude due to a slavery-era “exception clause,” which allows forced labor as punishment of a crime.  
 
Today, incarcerated people in California are still forced to labor for another person’s benefit or face cruel treatment including physical violence, solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and revocation of time credits resulting in longer incarceration. Punishments are often suffered even when absences are due to illness or injuries sustained through the work itself.  

Prop 6 allows people to prioritize rehabilitative programs by abolishing forced labor in California prisons and jails, which would reduce recidivism, save costs, improve public safety, and promote successful reentry. End California’s long legacy of slavery and forced labor by voting Yes on Prop 6. 

The California Constitution still has language stating that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” While past U.S. Supreme Court decisions have rendered this language unenforceable, recent decisions have shown that today’s Supreme Court is willing to upend decades of precedent and revoke hard-earned rights. We must enshrine the freedom to marry in the California Constitution by passing Prop 3. 

Proposition 4 would generate $10 billion to pay for climate and environmental initiatives including wildfire protection, water conservation projects, sea level rise mitigation, wildlife protection, sustainable agriculture, and defense against extreme heat events. Forty percent of the funding would be invested in projects that safeguard lower-income communities, disproportionately affected by climate change. As the climate crisis intensifies, the investments enabled by Prop 4 are more crucial than ever for protecting the health and safety of all Californians.  

Safe, permanent housing that people can actually afford is out of reach for too many Californians. Our state’s laws make it difficult for local governments to invest in affordable housing, one factor behind escalating houselessness. Currently, city and county affordable housing bonds require approval from at least two-thirds of voters—a threshold that is extremely difficult to meet. Existing law passed during the era of redlining and housing segregation allows one-third of voters to override the will of everyone else, giving affordable housing opponents unfair power to defeat critical community investments. Prop 5 would help cities and counties address their affordable housing and infrastructure needs by lowering the required approval threshold to 55%. A vote for Prop 5 is a vote for building communities where everyone can thrive. 

All people have the right to a decent standard of living supported by wage rates that reflect the cost of basic necessities. The current minimum wage has not kept pace with the skyrocketing costs of housing, healthcare, food, gas, and other basic needs. Prop 32 would raise the state minimum wage to $18 per hour (from the current rate of $16 per hour) for employers with 26 or more employees by January 2026, and hourly wages would be adjusted for inflation annually, as is currently required by law. Recent studies show that the minimum wage would be over $25 per hour if it had kept pace with economic productivity since the 1960s. Voting YES on Prop 32 will move California closer to providing living wages to workers.  

Housing affordability is a nationwide crisis, and California is at the epicenter—with a majority of renters now paying over a third of their monthly income for housing costs. Nearly one out of three renters are “severely rent burdened” and pay more than half of their monthly income toward rent. Rent control is an important tool to regulate the private rental market, protecting tenants from soaring rent increases and houselessness. But a law known as the Costa-Hawkins Act severely limits local governments’ ability to enact rent control ordinances. Voting YES on Prop 33 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act so local communities can decide to limit rent increases, prevent displacement, and keep Californians housed.  

Measure DD would give all noncitizen Santa Ana residents the right to vote in city council, mayoral, and municipal elections starting in 2028. One of every four Santa Ana residents currently do not have a say in city elections just because of their immigration status. They pay taxes, own homes and property, run local businesses, work, and raise families in Santa Ana. They should be able to vote for city officials who make decisions that impact their daily lives. Vote Yes on Measure DD.  

Every ten years, the Los Angeles City Council must redraw the city’s district map to ensure fair and effective representation of all city residents. But an inherent conflict of interest occurs when incumbents redraw their own electorate lines. Charter Amendment DD would help combat gerrymandering of all forms by creating an independent redistricting commission that takes the power to redraw district lines away from politicians and places it into the hands of community members.   

Every ten years, the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education must redraw the school district’s voting map to ensure fair and effective representation of all school district residents. But an inherent conflict of interest occurs when incumbents redraw their own electorate lines, often resulting in putting political interest ahead of the needs of LAUSD students and families. Charter Amendment LL would help combat gerrymandering of all forms by creating an independent redistricting commission that takes the power to redraw district lines away from politicians and places it into the hands of community members.   

In Los Angeles County, housing prices are skyrocketing, and wages are stagnating. The lack of affordable housing is forcing more people to become unhoused, especially communities of color. Measure A would create a guaranteed, long-term revenue stream at the county-level to help stabilize the county’s response to the housing crisis—repealing the existing 1/4 cent sales tax and replacing it with a 1/2 cent sales tax. These additional funds would increase local investments in housing and mental health services for unhoused residents, creation and preservation of affordable housing, and protections for renters in precarity.