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GENup Voter Guide

We here at GENup believe that all voters should have access to clear, unbiased, thorough information about what is on the ballot. So we have created a comprehensive voter guide to help voters maneuver through this election. Below are all the propositions currently on the ballot in California, and we present the arguments, endorsements, and analysis for both sides. We, at GENup officially endorse Propositions 15, 16, and 18. 

Proposition 14

  • Would generate money to keep open state STEM cell agency: California Institute of Regenerative Medicine

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Genavieve says 
A YES vote means:

  • Would dedicate $1.5 billion for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, epilepsy, and other brain and central nervous system diseases

  • Funds research for cures for ailments affecting half of California families

  • Endorsements:

    • UC Board of Regents

    • Newsom

    • Latino Cancer Institute

    • Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

A NO vote means:

  • STEM cell research has not yet produced results 

  • Ethical concerns

  • Would save taxpayers about $7.8 billion

  • Endorsements: 

    • LA Times editorial board

    • SF Chronicle editorial board

    • Jeff Sceehy, Board Member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

    • Mercury News & East Bay Times editorial boards

✅ Proposition 15

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Cady and Benjamin say 

  • Raises up to $12 billion (to be allocated to school districts and local governments, and special municipal districts) through closing a tax loophole that allows companies to evade paying their fair share of taxes

  • Increases property taxes on corporations worth more than $3 million through reassessing the value of the property from the time of purchase to the current value

  • Exempts residential property, agricultural lands, and small businesses from these taxes 

A YES vote means:

  • Aids California’s recovery from the pandemic by returning $12 billion to necessary services (i.e. emergency services, fire departments), community organizations, and schools

  • Reestablishes needed funding for local school districts, allowing for distanced learning opportunities

  • Allocates resources to meaningfully support students and teachers and benefiting the vast majority of Californians

  • Supports small businesses and local initiatives

  • Makes community college and local economic support available

  • Endorsements:

    • Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom

    • California Teachers Association 

    • California Democratic Party

    • Mark Zuckerberg 

A NO vote means:

  • Raising taxes on large corporations has the potential to raise costs of living and increase prices on consumer goods

  • Raised property taxes will affect landlords and may increase rents

  • Increased taxes have the possibility of increasing corporate flight from CA

  • Endorsements: 

    • California Chamber of Commerce

    • California Retailers Association

    • Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

    • California NAACP

✅ Proposition 16

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Genavieve says 

  • Restores affirmative action in California by repealing Prop 209

A YES vote means:

  • Will level the playing field for minorities in schools and the workplace

  • Will NOT institute strict racial quotas for colleges and universities

  • Will NOT harm Asian-Americans: AAPI admissions to UC schools dropped after affirmative action was banned. Will support Asian-American-owned businesses

  • Endorsements:

    • Governor Gavin Newsom

    • Senator Kamala Harris

    • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

    • Planned Parenthood

    • California/Hawaii State Conference NAACP

    • Asian Americans Advancing Justice

    • California Community Colleges and the California State University system

    • University of California

A NO vote means:

  • Gives an unfair advantage to some races and minorities over others

  • It is already legal to address socioeconomic inequities

  • Money better spent on reducing

  • Since Prop 209: 3x increase in Black and Hispanic students admitted to UCs since 1994, a 78% increase in underrepresented minority graduation rate in UCs, $1B saved in state transportation contracting

  • Endorsements: 

    • Californians for Equal Rights

    • Chinese American Civic Action Alliance

    • Students for Fair Admissions

    • California Republican Party

Proposition 17

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Michelle says 

  • A constitutional amendment allow those on parole to vote 

  • What does parole mean: the release of a prisoner temporarily (for a special purpose) or permanently before the completion of a sentence, on the promise of good behavior.

  • Allows parolees to run for office if they have not been convicted of perjury or bribery. 

  • California currently prohibits state prisoners and parolees from voting 

A YES vote means:

  • Would allow people on parole for felony convictions to vote 

  • Supporters say: 

    • Those on parole are trying to reintegrate themselves into society. Civic engagement will lead to fewer parolees committing other crimes; it allows them to help remove the stigma of their past. People who complete their prison sentences deserve the right to participate in a democracy.

  • Supporters:

    • U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D) 

    • California Democratic Party 

    • ACLU of California 

    • League of Women Voters of California

A NO vote means:

  • Would continue prohibiting those on parole from voting. 

  • Opponents say: 

    • Parole is an opportunity for violent offenders to prove they’ve been rehabilitated. Voting is a right that offenders should receive once they demonstrate they have been rehabilitated; not before.

  • Opponents: ​

    • California Republican Party

✅ Proposition 18

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Caitlynn says 

  • Allows 17-year-olds to vote in the primary and special elections if they will be 18 by the general election 

A YES vote means:

  • Increases youth voter participation by allowing them to participate in the full election cycle from the beginning

  • Many of them work, pay taxes, and are allowed to join the military, so they should be eligible to vote

  • Endorsements:

    • California Association of Student Councils

    • Governor Gavin Newsom

    • Secretary of State Alex Padilla

    • California League of Conservation Voters

    • California School Boards Association

A NO vote means:

  • 17 year olds are biologically still kids because their brains are not fully developed yet

  • They cannot enter legal contracts and still need parent permission for certain activities

  • They lack real world experiences like owning a house and paying bills

  • Opponents: ​

    • Election Integrity Project California

    • Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

Proposition 19

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Kim says 

  • Allows homeowners who are over 55, with severe disabilities, or whose were destroyed by wildfires or natural disasters to move their primary residence’s tax base value to a replacement residence of any value, anywhere in state

    • Give these people a property tax break when purchasing a new home anywhere in the state and keep relatively low property taxes 

  • Limits tax benefits for specific transfer of property between family members

  • Expands tax benefits for transfers of family farms 

  • Distributes resulting state revenues and savings (if leftovers) to fire protection services and reimbursing local governments for taxation-related changes

    • Fiscal Impact: Local governments could gain tens of millions of dollars of property tax revenue per year, probably growing over time to a few hundred million dollars per year. Schools could receive similar property tax gains. Most of tax revenue would go to firefighters

A YES vote means:

  • Limits property taxes for seniors, wildfire victims, and homeowners with disabilities 

    • Removes unfair location limitations to eliminate sudden tax increases so that wildfire victims can move to a replacement home anywhere in CA

  • Increases fire protection, emergency response, and school funding

  • Endorsements:

    • Governor Gavin Newsom (D) 

    • State Senator Toni Atkins (D) 

    • State Treasurer Fiona Ma (D) 

    • State Controller Betty Yee (D) 

    • California Democratic Party

    • California Professional Firefighters 

    • California State Federation of Labor

    • California NAACP State Conference 

    • CalAsian Chamber of Commerce 

    • California Association of Realtors 

    • California Black Chamber of Commerce

    • California Senior Advocates League 

    • California Statewide Law Enforcement Association 

    • Californians for Disability Rights

A NO vote means:

  • “Raise property taxes by removing two voter-approved taxpayer protections from the State Constitution. This measure would require reassessment to market value of property transferred from parents to children, and from grandparents to grandchildren." -- President Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association 

  • Removes Prop 13 tax protections and replaces with tax increase on inherited property 

  • Current law permits homeowners 55 and older to move to replacement home and transfers base-year property tax assessment from previous to new property

    • Only one transfer within same county or one that accepts transfers, if transfer is of equal or lesser value 

  • Voters rejected similar proposition that increase transfer opportunities, but rejected it 

  • Opponents

    • ACLU of Southern California

    • Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Associatoin

Proposition 20

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Caitlynn says 

  • Gives prosecutors the ability to charge crimes of more than $250 as felonies rather than misdemeanors  

  • Increases penalties for former inmates who violate their terms of supervised release three times 

  • Requires law enforcement to take DNA samples of those who are convicted of certain misdemeanors to be stored 

  • Reduce the number of felonies that allow an inmate to be considered for early parole

A YES vote means:

  • When California reduced several felonies to misdemeanors, car thefts and shoplifting increased

  • Non-violent felons have the opportunity to apply for early release but child abuse, domestic violence, hate crimes, and aggravated assaults are not considered violent felonies

A NO vote means:

  • When California enacted measures to increase penalties, it lead to mass incarceration overcrowding prisons 

  • All offenders, except those who commit serious crimes, should have the chance to rehabilitate themselves

Proposition 21

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Kim says 

  • Amends state law to permit local governments to establish rent control on residential properties that are over 15 years old. Permits local limits on annual rent increases to differ from current statewide limit 

  • Allows rent increases in rent-controlled properties of up to 15 percent over 3 years at start of new tenant (above increase by local ordinance)

  • Exempts individuals who own no more than two homes from new rent-control policies 

  • Prohibits rent control from violating landlords’ right to fair financial return 

  • Allows cities to pass rent control measures on almost all rental housing that is more than 15 years old → allow cities to pass limits on rent increases to protect California residents 

  • Stop more homelessness and gentrification

  • Cities and states may lose revenue in “high tens of millions per year” according to Legislative Analyst’s office since landlords will pay lower property taxes

A YES vote means:

  • Endorsements

    • Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent) 

    • California Democratic Party

    • Dolores Huerta - Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers

    • ACLU of Southern California

    • Democratic Socialists of America, Los Angeles 

    • Eviction Defense Network 

    • Los Angeles Tenants Union 

    • National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles

    • Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation: "Among the 17 million renters in California, the suffering is unabated. Not only do we see increased homelessness, but the affordability crisis has reached epic proportions with many people paying 50 percent or more of their income to keep a roof over their head."

    • U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont): "This initiative will allow California cities to pass sensible limits on rent increases and protect families, seniors and veterans from skyrocketing rents”

    • Prop 21 would save taxpayers money with rent control policies that provide reasonable and predictable rent increases 

    • Preserves affordable housing

A NO vote means:

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom (D): "In the past year, California has passed a historic version of statewide rent control – the nation’s strongest rent caps and renter protections in the nation – as well as short-term eviction relief. But Proposition 21, like Proposition 10 before it, runs the all-too-real risk of discouraging availability of affordable housing in our state." 

  • “Seniors, veterans and affordable housing experts all oppose Prop. 21 because it will make housing less available and less affordable at a time when millions of Californians are struggling to get back to work and keep a roof over their heads. The California Council for Affordable Housing calls Prop. 21 a "flawed idea."”

  • No solution when repealing housing law 

  • “Eliminates homeowner protections and permits regulators to tell single-family homeowners how much they can charge to rent a single room”

  • Opponents

    • ​Governor Gavin Newsom (D) 

    • Republican Party of California

    • California District of Iron Workers 

    • AMVETS, Department of California 

    • American Legion, Department of California 

    • California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce 

    • California Chamber of Commerce 

    • California Council for Affordable Housing 

    • California NAACP State Conference 

    • California Seniors Advocates League 

    • California Taxpayers Association 

    • Congress of California Seniors 

    • Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

Proposition 22

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Michelle says 

  • The bill would exempt bill companies like Uber, Lyft, Doordash, and Instacart from treating workers as employees, leading to the withholding of overtime pay, health care, paid sick leave, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation.

  • These workers would instead be classified as ould instead keep workers classified as contractors and be able to offer narrower benefits, including pay at least 120% of minimum wage, health care subsidies and accident insurance.

  • A State law mandated that all of these companies classify these workers as employees. 

A YES vote means:

  • Supporters say: 

  • This is a business necessity for gig companies to continue offering drivers work on flexible schedules — and consumers on-demand rides at low prices. 

  • It is a backdoor way for labor groups to try to unionize app drivers. 

  • Uber has said that up to 76% of its 209,000 California drivers could be cut if the company is forced to comply with the state’s stricter law 

  • Rider prices would increase 25-111% across the state

  • Supporters: 

    • Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Doordash

    • California Chamber of Commerce

    • California Police Chiefs Association

    • California NAACP

A NO vote means:

  • Opponents say: 

  • We need to protect workers’ rights

  • Gig companies undermine job stability and exploit drivers, so their warnings about job cuts are overstated and designed to get regulators to back off

  • Workers need protections like paid sick leave and unemployment insurance.​​

  • Opponents:

    • The Democratic presidential ticket: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

    • Service Employees International Union

    • California Teachers Association

    • Gig Workers Rising, a driver advocacy organization

Proposition 23

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Cady says 

  • Requires clinics to have at least one physician present during all working hours

  • Requires clinics to report infection data to the state health department and National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)

  • Prohibits clinics patient discrimination based on the type of insurance 

  • Requires clinic operators to obtain permission from state health departments before closing

A YES vote means:

  • Supporters say: 

  • There are increasing numbers of patients requiring kidney treatments (roughly 80,000 Californians), yet existing dialysis clinics fail to offer proper safety precautions to its patients

  • Immediate physician attention improves patient outcomes during procedures

  • Improvements apply to clinics in all communities, making healthcare more equitable for all

  • Supporters: 

    • California Democratic Party

    •  Service Employees International Union

    • United Health Care Workers

    •  California Labor Federation

A NO vote means:

  • Opponents say: 

  • Prop 23 is redundant and unnecessary as clinics are already required to report infection data to the federal government

  • Keeping a physician on-hand during all operating hours drives up costs significantly to unaffordable levels.

  • Opponents:

    • DaVita

    • Fresenius Medical Care

    • California Medical Association

    • California State Conference NAACP

Proposition 24

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Benjamin says 

  • Prop 24 protects and expands data privacy protections in California. Proposition 24 focuses on the number of businesses and organizations that are being watched for data misconduct while creating a new department solely focused on data protection. According to prop 24, businesses will be more strictly penalized for their actions in regards to data privacy violations and allow California residents to decide how their data is used and held with businesses.

  • By passing Prop 24, the state will:

  • Provide users an opt-out before sharing any sensitive information with corporations

  • Not share personal information and data upon a user’s request

  • Fine corporations up to $7500 for a violation of children’s data privacy

  • Obtain user or parent permission upon requiring personal information

  • Allow users to change their personal information at any time

  • Prohibit indefinite data storage and usage

  • Restrict these laws to businesses with more than 100,000 households a year

  • Create a state agency to oversee data collection

A YES vote means:

  • Supporters say: 

  • This new law would create enforcement of data violation and deter future data misconduct

  • Consumers would have the easy ability to access, change, and remove their personal data from corporations’ servers

  • This law would make it harder for lobbyists to create new data legislation

  • Supporters: 

    • U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D) 

    • State Senator Ben Allen (D) 

    • State Senator Robert Hertzberg (D) 

    • State Senator Nancy Skinner (D) 

    • Assemblymember David Chiu (D) 

    • State Controller Betty Yee (D) 

    • Andrew Yang (D) - Former 2020 presidential candidate 

    • Common Sense

    • Consumer Watchdog

A NO vote means:

  • Opponents say: 

  • This law allows tech companies to offer more expensive or lesser service to those who do not allow their data to be shared

  • Small business owners could have their data more easily accessible and more easily sold

  • Many tech advocacy organizations and community leaders oppose it

  • Opponents:

    • Green Party of California 

    • Libertarian Party of California 

    • Republican Party of California 

    • Dolores Huerta - Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers 

    • ACLU of California 

    • California Small Business Association

    • Center for Digital Democracy 

    • Consumer Action 

    • Consumer Federation of California 

    • League of Women Voters of California 

    • Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce 

    • Media Alliance 

Proposition 25

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Benjamin says 

  • Prop 25 radically reshapes the cash bail system, replacing the bail system with an algorithm that determines a person’s likelihood of appearing in court. In general trials, defendants are required to pay a significant fee in the form of a bail bond which would be returned upon their future appearance in court, deterring the flight of offenders upon release. Instead of paying a significant fee to the court or bail bonds corporations, prop 25 would determine release based on Californians’ likelihood of returning to court and allow law-obeying citizens to leave jail and retain repeated offenders without the need for significant financial deterrents.

A YES vote means:

  • Repealing bail would eliminate the bail bonds industry, where bondsmen levy a 10% premium on all bail bonds (ranging in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars) and rely on predatory tactics to harass low-income defendants to extract profits

  • Eliminate the wealth-based inequality prevalent in the bail system where poor defendants spend large amounts of their savings on a bail bond (much of which is nonrefundable), and wealthy defendants simply write a check and ignore their court dates.

  • Allow low-income defendants imprisoned for small crimes or misdemeanors escape often yearslong prison times waiting for their trials and meaningfully work to support their families and homes during this period.

  • Significantly decrease the caseload of the justice system by eliminating more than 50,000 inmates imprisoned due to poverty and simplifying the court appearance process

  • Possibly increase economic spending as people have thousands of dollars put back in their pockets to spend on their communities.

  • Endorsements

    • U.S. Representative Karen Bass (D) 

    • U.S. Representative Ted Lieu (D) 

    • Governor Gavin Newsom (D) 

    • State Senate President Toni Atkins (D) 

    • State Senator Robert Hertzberg (D) 

    • Speaker of the State Assembly Anthony Rendon (D) 

    • California Democratic Party 

    • California Teachers Association 

    • SEIU California State Council 

A NO vote means:

  • The bail bonds system works perfectly well, and replacing it with a potentially more expensive system does not benefit the taxpayers

  • More people going free before trial will commit more crimes

  • The bail bonds system AND the bail algorithm are inherently racist, and replacing the program with a numerical program will still lead to people of color being incarcerated at higher rates

  • Opponents

    • Republican Party of California 

    • Orange County Board of Supervisors 

    • ACLU of Southern California 

    • American Bail Coalition 

    • California Bail Agents Association 

    • California NAACP State Conference 

    • California Small Business Association 

    • Crime Victims United of California 

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