Don't Get Tricked on Nov. 3

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Picture it: the kitchen counter, the ballot envelope you've been side-eyeing for weeks. Fourteen props. Statewide races. And somewhere in the middle, a billionaire-funded head fake wearing a costume that says "protect your retirement." You've got a pen and maybe twenty minutes before your phone wins.

The play, straight up: Yes on 40. No on 41 and 42. Then yes on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 37 and 38, and no on 39, 43, 44 and 45.

That's Francesca Fiorentini's slate from her California election guide on The Bitchuation Room, and we co-sign it.

Before the clock strikes

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Missed the Oct. 19 registration deadline? Breathe. You can register and vote the same day at your county elections office or any vote center, through Election Day.

Voting by mail? It has to be postmarked on or before Nov. 3, so mail it early or hit a drop box before polls close at 8 p.m. A ballot in the junk drawer is just a very civic bookmark.

Props 40, 41 and 42: the main event

Prop 40, the billionaire tax. A yes charges California's billionaires a one-time 5% tax on their wealth. It hits people worth more than $1 billion who lived here on Jan. 1, 2026, and the money goes to health care, food assistance and public education. A no means it never happens.

Why it exists: Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW, the health care workers union that put Prop 40 on the ballot, told The Bitchuation Room it's a five-year patch for the federal health care cuts in the bill President Trump signed last year. Without it, he says, 3.5 million Californians lose their health insurance, 150,000 frontline health care workers get laid off, and the state eats a $25 billion yearly hole in health care funding. His numbers, and he says even opponents don't dispute the scale.

Who pays: about 250 people. Total. Regan says California's billionaires added roughly $500 billion in wealth last year alone, and they can pay up front or 1% a year for five years. A payment plan. For billionaires. Nobody offered you that on a parking ticket.

Billionaires pay a lower tax rate than you and I do. And it's not close. | Dave Regan, SEIU-UHW

Props 41 and 42, the poison pills. Here's the razor in the candy bowl. Prop 41 requires audits of new tax programs. Prop 42 bans any new state tax on personal property like financial assets, business interests and retirement accounts, backdated to cover taxes passed after Jan. 1, 2026. Regan says both were bankrolled by Google co-founder Sergey Brin to knock out Prop 40.

The math is the game. If 40 and 42 both pass, they conflict, and the one with more votes wins. KSBY's breakdown with retired election law attorney Chuck Bell lays it out: Prop 42 needs just one more vote than Prop 40 to cancel it completely. One vote. Could be yours.

Prop 42's backers have a real pitch, so let's run it: they told KSBY it protects your retirement savings and personal property from being taxed in the future, and they point to support from firefighters and the building trades. But Prop 40 only taxes about 250 billionaires. Your 401(k) was never the target. The only thing Prop 42 reliably protects this election is Sergey Brin's money.

Why it matters in the 805: on Medi-Cal, working in a clinic or hospital, or buying your own plan? That's your coverage on the ballot. Regan says the closures would hit hardest in urban centers and rural California, and a lot of the 805 is rural California.

The play: Yes on 40. No on 41. No on 42. Vote all three or the trick works.

Taxes, money and who runs the show

Prop 3, high-earner tax: YES. A yes makes California's existing income tax on its highest earners permanent, funding schools and health care. A no lets it expire. Francesca's a yes on taxing the top 2%. Classrooms and clinics stay funded. Your paycheck doesn't feel it.

Prop 4, public campaign financing: YES. A yes lifts the ban on public money for campaigns, so the state and cities can publicly finance candidates who agree to spending limits. A no keeps the ban. Francesca calls it how we start ending billionaires funneling cash into "do-nothing Democrats." Fewer politicians owing their seat to the same five donors? Bet.

Prop 43, the special tax threshold: NO. A yes raises the bar for voter-proposed local special taxes from a simple majority to two-thirds. A no keeps it at a majority. That makes it way harder for 805 cities and counties to pass measures neighbors put on the ballot themselves. Francesca notes the California Federation of Teachers and SEIU nurses oppose it. So do we.

Prop 2, rainy day fund: YES. A yes raises the limit on what the state can stash in its emergency reserve. A no keeps the current cap. More cushion, fewer panic cuts to schools the next time the economy dips.

Housing and health

Prop 1, housing bond: YES. A yes lets the state borrow $11.25 billion for affordable housing, including housing for veterans. A no kills the bond. Anyone who's tried to rent in Goleta, Ventura or SLO has a horror story.

Prop 37, homebuyer loans: YES. A yes creates low-cost mortgage help for middle-income buyers of new homes. A no skips it. Francesca backs anything that helps first-time buyers. In the 805, owning a home is a ghost story: everybody swears they know someone who did it.

Prop 38, research bond: YES. A yes borrows $8.4 billion for immunology and immunotherapy research. A no rejects it. Francesca points to support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the American Nurses Association, and calls it a drop in the bucket for the state budget.

Prop 44, clinic funding rules: NO. Supporters frame it as making clinics spend more on patient care. Francesca says it piles penalties and restrictions on community health clinics without a single new dollar, and pediatricians are lined up against it. Clinics are already stretched. Don't tie their hands.

Prop 45, environmental review: NO. A yes speeds up environmental reviews for housing and infrastructure projects. A no keeps the current process. Francesca says it loosens environmental rules at the worst possible time. Fire season, coastal erosion, our creeks: no shortcuts for developers.

Democracy itself

Prop 39, voter ID: NO. A yes requires identification to vote in California. A no keeps the current rules. Francesca is blunt: voter fraud "is not a thing, it doesn't happen." Our take: an ID rule built to stop a problem that doesn't exist mostly turns away voters without the right card on hand. Chasing ghosts, with your vote as collateral.

Prop 5, recall reform: YES. A yes changes recalls so a recalled official isn't replaced by whoever wins the same-day pile-on vote. A no keeps the current setup. Francesca calls it much-needed, given how often recalls get aimed at whoever's governor.

The names on your ballot

Francesca's statewide picks, all Democrats: Xavier Becerra for governor, Fiona Ma for lieutenant governor, Shirley Weber for secretary of state, Malia Cohen for controller and Eleni Kounalakis for treasurer. Honest flag: Francesca says Becerra is against the billionaire tax, so a vote for him is not a vote for Prop 40. Vote the prop either way.

The pick she was hyped about: Jane Kim for insurance commissioner. She wants a real watchdog on insurers, maybe even a public option for car and home insurance. "We're all getting gouged," she said. Anyone dropped by their home insurer near a fire zone just nodded.

Pismo Beach: a new mayor, guaranteed

KSBY reports Pismo Beach is guaranteed a new mayor for the first time in 10 years. Three candidates: Scott Newton, Shelby Bowen and Cynthia Replogle. Francesca skips this race and we're not picking for you. Here's how they differ, per KSBY.

All three say city leaders need to be more responsive. Replogle says many residents feel unheard even when they speak up, and wants a resident advisory panel to balance the city's tourism bureau. Newton's top issue is the state taking local control from cities like Pismo; he wants the city to stand up for itself. Bowen wants residents' ideas going straight to the council, and second homeowners invested in more than weekend spending.

Now go vote

Back to that kitchen counter. Fill it out, sign the envelope, get it in. Then text the group chat the cheat code: yes on 40, no on 41 and 42. That's how a head fake dies.

Want more 805 stories before you vote? Open the new issue of Connxct Magazine.

Sources

Francesca's California Election Guide (The Bitchuation Room)

Californians Will Die If We Don't Tax Billionaires (The Bitchuation Room)

How California's Prop. 42 could nullify the billionaire wealth tax (KSBY)

Meet the candidates running in Pismo Beach's upcoming elections (KSBY)

California Secretary of State: Elections

Statistics about Prop 40's impact come from Dave Regan of SEIU-UHW, as stated on The Bitchuation Room. Double-check your own ballot and your county elections office before you vote.

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