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General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Fourteen propositions, in plain English.
Plain-English breakdowns of all 14 statewide propositions: what each one does, what the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) says it will cost, who is paying for the campaigns, and what happens if it passes. Several measures are titled to sound like something they are not, each card flags that. Statewide measures only; local measures are not covered.
Ballots
Already mailedSent to all 23.2 million registered California voters
Mail deadline
Postmarked by Nov 3Counts if received by November 10
Registration
Closed Oct 19Same-day registration is still available through Election Day
Scope of this guide
Statewide measures onlyLocal county, city, and school measures are not covered here
The real story of this ballot: one tax, two kill switches
Three of the fourteen measures are really one fight. Prop 40 is a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires. Props 41 and 42 never mention it, but each could void it in court if it draws more yes votes than Prop 40 does. One committee, "Building a Better California," backed by Sergey Brin and L. John Doerr III, is funding all three sides of that play at once.
Prop 40
The target
A one-time 5% tax on net worth above $1 billion, sponsored by the SEIU-UHW health care workers union to fund health care. About 200 to 214 billionaires would owe it.
Prop 41
Kill switch one
Sold as tax audits and transparency. Its spending-limit clause targets exactly the exemption Prop 40's revenue relies on, without ever naming it.
Prop 42
Kill switch two
Sold as protecting retirement savings. It bans taxes like Prop 40's outright, including retroactive ones, which is precisely how Prop 40's January 1, 2026 residency cutoff works.
Why your votes interact: under California's conflicting-measures rule, if Prop 41 or Prop 42 passes with more yes votes than Prop 40, courts could void Prop 40 even if Prop 40 itself passes. On September polling, Prop 42 was outpolling Prop 40, which is the scenario that kills the tax. Voting on these three is one decision, not three.
$636M
Given by top contributors across 11 measures, as of October 5, 2026 (FPPC)
$244.65M
Put by Building a Better California into No on 40 / Yes on 41 / Yes on 42 alone
$97.8M
Behind Yes on 42, the largest single committee on the entire ballot
All fourteen at a glance
Polling is PPIC's September 2026 survey unless noted; campaign money is from FPPC filings as of October 5, 2026. Tap a card to jump to that measure and mark your call.
The measures, one by one
In ballot order. Each card leads with the short version, tap “Full breakdown” for the funding, the backers, the likely effects, and the wording check.
Your ballot
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What is still unsettled
Campaign totals will change. The money figures come from the FPPC top-contributor list as of October 5, 2026 and Ballotpedia aggregates. Late-October filings will differ, sometimes by a lot.
Prop 38's biggest donor figure is reported, not filing-verified. The claim that Gary Michelson's entities gave the Yes campaign $50 million or more comes from California Today's reporting and was not independently verified against filings; the $31.2 million figure is the documented share of the $48.2 million yes total.
Prop 40's revenue is genuinely unknown. SEIU-UHW claims $100 billion; academic analysts call that optimistic. The real number depends on valuations of illiquid assets, how many billionaires are ruled residents, and litigation.
Whether 41 or 42 would actually void 40 is a court question. The voter guide warns it could happen; nothing is settled until judges rule after the election.
Polls will move. PPIC's October survey was expected in late October and could shift the close races (Props 39, 40, 42, 45).
Sources
Research compiled October 19–20, 2026 from the sources below. Official titles and measure details are from the Secretary of State's Official Voter Information Guide; fiscal estimates are the LAO's.
CA Secretary of State, Official Voter Information Guide, Nov 3, 2026: https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/ (per-measure pages at /propositions/{N}/)
Every question is tied to a fact in the guide. Statewide propositions only; local measures are not included. Your answers are saved only on this device, in this browser, so you can leave and come back. They are never sent anywhere.