We are excited to announce our positions on local and state ballot measures for the November 8th, 2022 election! Download them in English, Tagalog, Spanish, and Chinese:
Download our English voter guide
Download our Tagalog voter guide
Download our Spanish voter guide
Download our Chinese voter guide
What would each ballot measure do?
Local measures:
Prop A: Adjust Retiree Supplemental Cost of Living (Vote YES!)
Costs are rising and San Francisco has always been expensive. Prop A allows city employees who retired before November 6, 1996, to receive a supplemental cost of living adjustment.
The retirees impacted by this situation are generally older, including many above the age of 75. An overwhelming majority make less than $50,000 per year. Restoring the cost of living benefit would ensure equity for low-wage workers that served San Francisco. We are urging a YES on vote Prop A to restore a benefit that senior retired city workers earned throughout their years of service.
Prop B: Eliminates the Department of Sanitation and Streets and transfer its duties back to the Department of Public Works (No position)
Prop B eliminates the Department of Sanitation and Streets and transfers its duties to the Department of Public Works and retains the Public Works Commission and the Sanitation and Streets Commission
Prop C: Create a Homelessness Oversight Commission (Vote YES!)
Prop C creates a Homelessness Oversight Commission to oversee the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and require the City controller to conduct audits of homelessness services. With an annual budget of about $700 million, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is the largest city agency that doesn’t have an oversight body.
Prop D: Make it harder for low-income families to qualify for affordable housing (Vote NO!)
SF Rising Action Fund endorses a NO vote on Prop D. San Francisco is already saturated with market-rate housing, with more and more working-class people of color being pushed out of the city due to a rising cost of living. Prop D would redefine affordable housing to be even more expensive than it already is. A one bedroom apartment costing nearly $4,000 a month would be considered “affordable housing,” whereas today’s market rate is $3,095 per month.
There is also no requirement in this measure to build two or three bedroom units, meaning developers wouldn’t build the housing San Francisco families desperately need.
We need more truly affordable housing in our city if we are going to ensure every San Franciscan has a place to live. Prop D would only make it easier for greedy developers to make more money off of units that aren’t even truly affordable for the average working family.
Prop E: Jumpstart Affordable Housing Projects (Vote YES!)
SF Rising Action Fund urges voters to vote YES on Prop E. The Affordable Housing Production Act would jumpstart the development of housing projects like 100% affordable housing, teacher and educator housing, and requires more units to be made affordable in market-rate projects, including 2- and 3-bedrooms units.
This proposition would help ensure that San Franciscans have a voice in development projects by allowing the Board of Supervisors to maintain its oversight in approving spending and public land for developers. Prop E would also require developers to hire skilled and trained construction workers and pay them a prevailing wage.
In a city of over 8,000 unhoused people, and constant development of market-rate housing, it’s critical that we bring bold solutions to our affordable housing crisis and we believe Prop E will help us affirm housing as a human right.
Prop F: Extend the Library Preservation Fund (Vote YES!)
Our public libraries are a critical part of our city. They are essential to families, youth, and all San Franciscans who rely on the library’s free resources.
Renews the Library Preservation Fund for 25 years, allows the city to temporarily freeze the annual minimum library funding amount when the city expects a budget deficit over $300 million, and increases the minimum hours the main library and its 27 branches must be open per week. It will allow the Library to expand its wide-ranging services and respond to the needs of the community. Without Proposition F, library hours and resources will be slashed and branches will close.
Prop G: Create a Student Success Fund from Excess State Funds (Vote YES!)
SF Rising Action Fund endorses a YES vote on Prop G. If passed, Prop G would create a Student Success Fund that would give up to $60 million in grants to schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. The money will be used to fund support programs, summer learning opportunities, and school nurses and psychologists. San Francisco collects more property taxes than the state threshold for public school funding. This proposition would put excess tax revenue towards the Student Success Fund.
If we want our communities to thrive, we must invest in our schools and give students the tools to succeed. Vote YES on Prop G to support students, school staff, and education in San Francisco.
Prop H: Increase voter turnout by moving city elections to even years (Vote YES!)
SF Rising Action Fund endorses a YES vote on Prop H, which would move city elections from odd years to even years. Voter turnout doubles in even years because voters are already voting in larger elections at the state and federal levels. If we were to consolidate local elections to take place in even years, more community voices would be heard in our local elections, strengthening our democracy.
The measure would also save the local government $6.9 million each odd-numbered fiscal year. In the past 5 years, more than 55 cities in California have made the switch from odd-year city elections to even-year cycles, including Los Angeles and San Jose, because of the tremendous voter turnout increase in even-year elections.
Prop I: Allow Vehicles on Great Highway and JFK Drive (No position)
Allows vehicles on John F. Kennedy Drive except from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and legal holidays year round and Saturdays from April through September and on Great Highway in both directions at all times.
Prop J: Maintain Recreational Use of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park (No position)
Upholds an ordinance adopted in May 2022 closing portions of John F. Kennedy Drive and certain connector streets in Golden Gate Park to use the area as open recreation spaces, closing those streets seven days a week to private motor vehicles with limited exceptions.
Prop L: Continue the existing Sales Tax for Public Transportation (Vote YES!)
We need smoother and safer streets, on-time and reliable transit, and alternatives to driving that can help reduce the emissions that cause global warming.
Prop L continues an existing one-half cent sales tax through 2053 for transportation project funding and allows the Transportation Authority to issue up to $1.91 billion in bonds for transportation projects to be repaid with proceeds from the tax. Prop L is supported by first responders who rely on well-maintained streets to save lives, by Muni, BART and Caltrain riders, bicyclists, Muni drivers, and advocates for pedestrian safety, seniors and people with disabilities.
Prop M: Tax Empty Homes to Invest in Affordable Housing (Vote YES!)
There are currently 40,000 vacant homes in the city of San Francisco. Meanwhile, there are 8,000 unhoused residents. Prop M would tax property owners who own a building with at least three empty residential units that are empty for 182 days a tax year.
The tax on these empty homes would go towards the Housing Activation Fund, which helps fund programs which give rent subsidies to older adults 60+ and low-income residents and help obtain, restore, and maintain vacant buildings for affordable housing.
Our city’s housing crisis is a policy choice and if Prop M passes, we would be one step closer to ensuring all San Franciscans have a place to live. SF Rising Fund urges voters to vote YES on Prop M.
Prop N: Use public funds for the Golden Gate Park Concourse Underground Parking facility (No position)
Prop N would let the city use public money to buy, operate or subsidize public parking in the underground Music Concourse Garage in Golden Gate Park.
Prop O: Create a Parcel Tax to fund City College (Vote YES!)
Prop O would secure $43 million a year for the City College of San Francisco through a parcel tax, or property tax for property owners that increases by size of the unit.
The City College of San Francisco has seen hundreds of layoffs and course cuts in the recent year. Enrollment has dropped from 73,000 in 2012 to just 24,500 today. City college is extremely important as it is the only free college in our city, being an important opportunity for working-class students of color wanting to earn a degree.
The parcel tax would support educational programs for students like job trainings, basic skills classes, and other services to provide students with what they need to complete their studies. For these reasons, SF Rising Action Fund urges voters to vote YES on Prop O.
State measures:
Prop 1: Protect Abortion Rights in California Constitution (Vote YES!)
This adds the right to abortion into the California Constitution to ensure people continue to have the power to control their own bodies and decisions.
Prop 1 will amend the State Constitution to explicitly prohibit the State from denying or interfering with personal choices related to reproductive care. It declares that individuals have a fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and to use or refuse contraceptives. As the supreme court, radical right wing forces, and state legislatures across the country attempt to take away the right for people to decide if, when and how to have a family, Californians need protection to assert our freedoms. Black, Indigenous, people of color, low income people, and gender non-conforming people are disproportionally impacted by the restriction of reproductive freedoms, and our community must step forward in solidarity for all families.
Prop 26: Allow Indian Gaming (No position)
Allows federally recognized Native American tribes to operate roulette, dice games, and sports wagering on tribal lands. Imposes a 10% tax on sports-wagering profits and revenue would go towards problem-gambling programs.
Prop 27: Legalize Online Sports Betting (Vote NO!)
Legalizes online and mobile sports wagering, which currently is prohibited, for persons 21 years and older. Such wagering may be offered only by federally recognized Indian tribes and eligible businesses that contract with them. Individuals placing bets must be in California and not located on Indian lands. Imposes 10% tax on sports-wagering revenues and licensing fees. Directs tax and licensing revenues first to regulatory costs, then remainder to: 85% to homelessness programs; 15% to nonparticipating tribes. It threatens tribal sovereignty by giving out of state corporations like Draft kings and Fan Duel major control of the gaming industry and it excludes tribes from offering online sports betting unless they “irrevocably” surrender their sovereign rights.
Prop 28: Guarantee Arts Funding for Public Schools (Vote YES!)
This measure would guarantee that 1% of education funding go to the arts, and would direct more funds to schools serving disadvantaged students.
California public school students are currently required to take art classes to graduate, but our underfunded schools are not guaranteed funding to ensure that arts programming is robust and beneficial, especially in low income and communities of color. This measure would guarantee that 1% of the states education funding go to the arts, prescribe that 80% of that funding go to training and supplies, and would direct more funds to schools serving disadvantaged students. More teachers would get hired, and more students would benefit from attention to the arts.
Prop 29: Require Medical Oversight of Dialysis Clinics (Vote YES!)
To ensure that dialysis patients have proper and safe supervision at clinics, Prop 29 would require a doctor, NP, or PA to be onsite while operating.
80,000 people in California use dialysis to treat kidney conditions at 650 clinics across the state. However, only two corporations operate most of those clinics, and they are making massive profits while understaffing these vital medical centers and creating unecessary risk for patients. This is the third time that health care workers have placed this ballot initiatve in front of voters- both previous efforts lost after dialysis companies spent millions to defeat it. This time, an additional transparency measure would force clinics to disclose if a doctor owns more than 5% of an ownership stake in the clinic, which is a positive development. Kidney disease disproportionately impacts poor folks and people of color, and greedy corporations need to do their part to ensure workers protections and patient safety.
Prop 30: Incentivize driving zero-emission vehicles (No position)
Increases tax on personal income over $2 million by 1.75% and allocates 45% for incentives for zero-emission vehicle purchases, 35% for charging stations for zero-emission vehicles, with at least half of this funding directed to low-income households and communities, and 20% for wildfire prevention and suppression programs.
Prop 31: Protect Kids from Vaping (Vote YES!)
If passed, this measure would maintain the ban on flavored tobacco products, which target kids and drive dangerous long term use.
Big Tobacco corporations have targeted young people and particularly youth of color by promoting flavors such as mango and cotton candy. These companies see profits in getting kids hooked on their dangerous and unhealthy products. And, in large, part it has worked- youth report in large numbers that they started smoking through flavored tobacco. The legislature passed a law two years ago banning the sale of these products, but the monied interests have spent millions to stop the law from going into effect and put this referendum on the ballot. A “yes” vote will result in the ban of flavored tobacco.
