In 2022, there were 572 local ballot measures on six different election dates in California. Voters approved 396 (69%) of these measures and rejected 176 (31%). Out of these measures, 470 of them were on the November 8, 2022, ballot.
There were 147 fewer local ballot measures than in the previous even-year election in 2020. In 2020, there were 719 local measures on the ballot in California; in 2018, there were 726 local measures; and in 2016, there were 832 measures. This is a 25% decrease of the average number of measures during the last three even-year election cycles.
Out of California’s 58 counties, 54 of them had local measures on the ballot in 2022. Los Angeles County, with 97 local measures, had the greatest amount of local measures. For the other counties, the number of measures ranged from zero in four counties (Glenn County, Modoc County, Sierra County, and Tehama County) to 27 in Marin County.
The 2022 local ballot measures in California ranged by topic. Of the 572 measures, 249 measures were related to taxes; 142 were related to bonds and budgets; 103 were related to government and elections; 40 were related to housing and zoning; eight were related to marijuana; three were related to business; three were related to wages; and there were 24 other miscellaneous measures.
Taxes constituted the highest percentage of these measures, making up 44% of the measures on the local ballot in California. Of the 249 measures related to taxes: 70 measures concerned sales taxes; 67 measures concerned parcel taxes; 36 measures concerned hotel taxes; 28 measures concerned marijuana taxes; 11 measures concerned business taxes; 10 measures concerned property taxes; and 8 measures concerned utility taxes.
Of the 70 sales taxes, 44 were approved and 26 were defeated. Of the 67 parcel taxes, which are a form of special property tax, 38 were approved and 29 were defeated.
In addition, there were 123 local school bond measures on the ballot in California, making up 21% of all the local ballot measures on the 2022 ballot in California. Eighty-seven were approved and 36 were defeated. The 2022 elections had the lowest number of local school bond measures on the ballot since 2010. In 2020, the previous even-numbered election year, there were 182 local school bond measures on the ballot, 92 that were approved and 90 that were defeated.
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