Much is expected of the California voter.

In any given election year, we may be asked to dust off our labor lawyer hats, brush up on oil and gas regulations, reacquaint ourselves with decades of tax policy, or analyze infrastructure funding. We may have to weigh the moral pros and cons of capital punishment, marriage equality or pig protection and — over and over again — oversee all things dialysis clinic.

This November is no different. Voters will be asked to consider about 10 thorny policy proposals, from abortion to zero emission vehicles. What are these ballot measures really about? How did they make their way onto the ballot in the first place? And how did Californians first fall in love with direct democracy?

Below, California’s passion for propositions, explained.

After months of signature gathering, fundraising and legislative wrangling, we have a not-so-short list of ballot measures that you can vote on this fall.

• Putting abortion safeguards in the California constitution: After the news leaked in early May that the U.S. Supreme Court was planning to rule that the federal constitution doesn’t guarantee the right to an abortion — and it did reverse the five-decade-old precedent on June 24 — California’s top Democrats, vowing to “fight like hell,” proposed adding the protection to the state constitution. The proposed constitutional amendment was introduced in the Legislature in early June and was passed with the overwhelming support of both chambers by the end of...

Read Full Story: https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-ballot-measures-2022/