Measure on the ballot in the 2024 California General Election in California.
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.
Get StartedAllows local bonds for affordable housing for low- and middle-income Californians, or for public infrastructure including roads, water, and fire protection to be approved by 55% of voters, rather than current two-thirds approval requirement. Bonds must include specified accountability requirements, including citizens oversight committee and annual independent financial and performance audits. Allows local governments to assess property taxes above 1% to repay affordable housing and infrastructure bonds if approved by 55% of voters instead of current two-thirds approval requirement.
A "yes" vote supports allowing local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure.
A "no" vote opposes allowing local bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure.
"In addition to affordable housing, Prop. 5 makes it easier for local voters who choose to invest in safety repairs and improvements to bridges, roads, public transportation, water systems, and other critical public infrastructure as they see fit. Local voters can also approve bonds for emergency preparedness, including local fire stations and engines, ambulances, and early-warning systems for natural disasters. Prop. 5 trusts local voters to prioritize what's most important in their communities." - California Voter Information Guide, in support of Proposition 5 (Learn more)
"Prop. 5 gives local voters more control over funding for affordable housing and vital infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, local fire protection and water systems. Without raising taxes, Prop. 5 shifts local public policy decisions and spending priorities away from state government, giving local voters and taxpayers more tools, more power, and greater autonomy to address those issues in their own communities." - California Voter Information Guide, in support of Proposition 5 (Learn more)
"The politicians in Sacramento have made a mess with their financial mismanagement and wasteful spending, turning a $100 billion surplus into a $73 billion deficit with unsustainable spending. Prop. 5 allows politicians to cover up their mess by shifting the costs for state programs to local taxpayers. And Prop. 5 was written to define "infrastructure" so broadly that it can include just about anything the politicians and special interests want to fund on the backs of taxpayers." - California Voter Information Guide, in opposition to Proposition 5 (Learn more)
"Prop. 5 changes the constitutional requirements that have existed for 145 years by reducing the voter approval requirements to pass bonds. Prop. 5 makes it easier for cities, counties, and special districts to increase property taxes to pay for our already massive debt levels in California." - California Voter Information Guide, in opposition to Proposition 5 (Learn more)
First—That Section 1 of Article XIIIA thereof is amended to read: SECTION 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed One 1 percent (1%) of the full cash value of such that property. The one 1 percent (1%) tax to shall be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties. (b) The limitation provided for in subdivision (a) shall not apply to ad valorem taxes or special assessments to pay the interest and redemption charges on any of the following: (1) Indebtedness approved by the voters prior to before July 1, 1978. (2) Bonded indebtedness for to fund the acquisition or improvement of real property approved on or after July 1, 1978, by two-thirds of the votes cast by the voters voting on the proposition. (3) Bonded indebtedness incurred by a school district, community college district, or county office of education for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, approved by 55 percent of the voters of the district or county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition on or after the effective date of the measure adding this paragraph. November 8, 2000. This paragraph shall apply only if the proposition approved by the voters and resulting in the bonded indebtedness includes all of the following accountability requirements: (A) A requirement that the proceeds from the sale of the bonds be used only for the purposes specified in Article XIIIA, Section 1(b)(3), this paragraph and not for any other purpose, including teacher and administrator salaries and other school operating expenses. (B) A list of the specific school facilities projects to be funded and certification that the school district board, community college board, or county office of education has evaluated safety, class size reduction, and information technology needs in developing that list. (C) A requirement that the school district board, community college board, or county office of education conduct an annual, independent performance audit to ensure that the funds have been expended only on the specific projects listed. (D) A requirement that the school district board, community college board, or county office of education conduct an annual, independent financial audit of the proceeds from the sale of the bonds until all of those proceeds have been expended for the school facilities projects. (4) (A) Bonded indebtedness incurred by a city, county, city and county, or special district for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure or affordable housing, or the acquisition or lease of real property for public infrastructure or affordable housing, approved by 55 percent of the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district, as appropriate, voting on the proposition submitted at the same election as the measure adding this paragraph or at a later election held after the effective date of the measure adding this paragraph. This paragraph shall apply only if the proposition approved by the voters and resulting in the bonded indebtedness includes all of the following accountability requirements: (i) A requirement that the proceeds from the sale of the bonds be used only for the purposes specified in this paragraph, and not for any other purpose, including city, county, city and county, or special district employee salaries and other operating expenses. The administrative cost of the city, county, city and county, or special district executing the projects and programs of the proposition shall not exceed 5 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the bonds. (ii) A requirement that the proceeds from the sale of the bonds only be spent on projects and programs that serve the jurisdiction of the city, county, city and county, or special district. (iii) The specific local program or ordinance through which projects will be funded and a certification that the city, county, city and county, or special district has evaluated alternative funding sources. (iv) A requirement that the city, county, city and county, or special district conduct an annual, independent performance audit to ensure that the funds have been expended pursuant to the local program or ordinance specified in clause (iii). (v) A requirement that the city, county, city and county, or special district conduct an annual, independent financial audit of the proceeds from the sale of the bonds until all of those proceeds have been expended for the public infrastructure or affordable housing projects, as applicable. (vi) A requirement that the city, county, city and county, or special district post the audits required by clauses (iv) and (v) in a manner that is easily accessible to the public. (vii) A requirement that the audits required by clauses (iv) and (v) will be submitted to the California State Auditor for review. (viii) (I) A requirement that the city, county, city and county, or special district appoint a citizens' oversight committee to ensure that bond proceeds are expended only for the purposes described in the measure approved by the voters. (II) Members appointed to an oversight committee established pursuant to subclause (I) shall receive educational training about bonds and fiscal oversight. (ix) A requirement that an entity owned or controlled by a local official that votes on whether to put a proposition on the ballot pursuant to this paragraph will be prohibited from bidding on any work funded by the proposition. (B) Notwithstanding any other law, if the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district have previously approved a proposition pursuant to this paragraph, the city, county, city and county, or special district shall not place a proposition on the ballot pursuant to this paragraph until all funds from the previous proposition are committed to programs and projects listed in the propositions specific local program or ordinance described in clause (iii) of subparagraph (A). (C) (i) The Legislature may, by two-thirds vote, enact laws establishing accountability measures in addition to those listed in subparagraph (A), provided such laws are consistent with the purposes and intent of this paragraph. (ii) The Legislature may, by two-thirds vote, enact laws imposing additional conditions or restrictions on the acquisition or lease of real property for the purposes described in this paragraph. Any repeal of conditions or restrictions on the acquisition or lease of real property for the purposes described in this paragraph shall require a two-thirds vote. (D) The Legislature may, by majority vote, enact laws for the down payment assistance programs established pursuant to this paragraph, provided that those laws further the purposes of this paragraph. (E) For purposes of this paragraph: (i) (I) "Affordable housing" shall include housing developments, or portions of housing developments, that are affordable to individuals, families, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, or first-time homebuyers, who are lower income households or middle-income households earning up to 150 percent of countywide median income, as those terms are defined in state law. Affordable housing shall include capitalized operating reserves, as the term is defined in state law. (II) "Affordable housing" shall also include any of the following: (ia) Down Payment assistance programs. (ib) First-time homebuyer programs. (ic) Permanent supportive housing, including, but not limited to, housing for persons at risk of chronic homelessness, including, but not limited to, persons with mental illness. (id) Associated facilities, if used to serve residents of affordable housing. (ii) "At risk of chronic homelessness" includes, but is not limited to, persons who are at high risk of long-term or intermittent homelessness, including persons with mental illness exiting institutionalized settings, including, but not limited to, jail and mental health facilities, who were homeless prior to admission, transition age youth experiencing homelessness or with significant barriers to housing stability, and others, as defined in program guidelines. (iii) "Permanent supportive housing" means housing with no limit on length of stay, that is occupied by the target population, and that is linked to onsite or offsite services that assist residents in retaining the housing, improving their health status, and maximizing their ability to live and, when possible, work in the community. (iv) "Public infrastructure" shall include any of the following: (I) Facilities or infrastructure for the delivery of public services, including education, police, fire protection, parks, recreation, open space, emergency medical, public health, libraries, flood protection, streets or highways, public transit, railroad, airports, and seaports. (II) Utility, common carrier or other similar projects, including energy-related, communication-related, water-related, and wastewater-related facilities or infrastructure. (III) Projects identified by the State or local government for recovery from natural disasters. (IV) Equipment related to fire suppression, emergency response equipment, or interoperable communications equipment for direct and exclusive use by fire, emergency response, police, or sheriff personnel. (V) Projects that provide protection of property from sea level rise. (VI) Projects that provide public broadband internet access service expansion in underserved areas. (VII) Private uses incidental to, or necessary for, the public infrastructure. (VIII) Grants to homeowners for the purposes of structure hardening of homes and structures, as defined in state law. (v) "Special district" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision (c) of Section 1 of Article XIIIC and specifically includes a transit district, a regional transportation commission, and an association of governments, except that "special district" does not include a school district, redevelopment agency, or successor agency to a dissolved redevelopment agency. (F) This paragraph shall apply to any city, county, city and county, or special district measure imposing an ad valorem tax to pay the interest and redemption charges on bonded indebtedness for those purposes described in this paragraph that is submitted at the same election as the measure adding this paragraph or at a later election held after the effective date of the measure adding this paragraph. (c) (1) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law or of this Constitution, a school districts, district, community college districts, and district, or county offices office of education may levy a 55 percent 55-percent vote ad valorem tax pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b). (2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law or this Constitution, a city, county, city and county, or special district may levy a 55-percent vote ad valorem tax pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b). Second—That Section 18 of Article XVI thereof is amended to read: SEC. 18. (a) No A county, city, town, township, board of education, or school district, shall not incur any indebtedness or liability in any manner or for any purpose exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided for such that year, without the assent of two thirds of the voters of the public entity voting at an election to be held for that purpose, except that with respect to any such public entity which that is authorized to incur indebtedness for public school purposes, any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the purpose of repairing, reconstructing reconstructing, or replacing public school buildings determined, in the manner prescribed by law, to be structurally unsafe for school use, shall be adopted upon the approval of a majority of the voters of the public entity voting on the proposition at such the election; nor unless before or at the time of incurring such indebtedness provision shall be made for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such indebtedness as it falls due, and to provide for a sinking fund for the payment of the principal thereof, on or before maturity, which shall not exceed forty 40 years from the time of contracting the indebtedness. A special district, other than a board of education or school district, shall not incur any indebtedness or liability exceeding any applicable statutory limit, as prescribed by the statutes governing the special district as they currently read or may thereafter be amended by the Legislature. (b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), on or after the effective date of the measure adding this subdivision, in the case of any school district, community college district, or county office of education, any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, purposes described in paragraph (3) or (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 1 of Article XIIIA shall be adopted upon the approval of 55 percent of the voters of the district or county, school district, community college district, county office of education, city, county, city and county, or other special district, as appropriate, voting on the proposition at an election. This subdivision shall apply only to a proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the purposes specified in this subdivision only if the proposition meets all of the accountability requirements of paragraph (3) or (4) of subdivision (b) (b), as appropriate, of Section 1 of Article XIIIA. (2) The amendments made to this subdivision by the measure adding this paragraph shall apply to any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds pursuant to this subdivision for the purposes described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 1 of Article XIIIA that is submitted at the same election as the measure adding this paragraph or at a later election held after the effective date of the measure adding this paragraph. (c) When two or more propositions for incurring any indebtedness or liability are submitted at the same election, the votes cast for and against each proposition shall be counted separately, and when if two-thirds or a majority or 55 percent of the voters, as the case may be, voting on any one of those propositions, vote in favor thereof, the proposition shall be deemed adopted. Third—In the event that this measure and another measure or measures relating to state or local requirements for the imposition, adoption, creation, or establishment of taxes, charges, and other revenue measures shall appear on the same statewide election ballot, the other measure or measures shall be deemed to be in conflict with this measure. In the event that this measure receives a greater number of affirmative votes, the provisions of this measure shall prevail in their entirety, and the provisions of the other measure or measures shall be null and void.
View your personalized ballot, check your voter registration, make a plan to vote, and research every name and measure on the ballot with BallotReady.