Voters in five states will vote to legalize and/or tax marijuana, and in four states, voters will decide whether or not to hike cigarette taxes. On the issue of taxation alone, in Washington, voters must decide whether to impose a first-in-the-nation carbon tax and in Colorado, voters will decide whether or not to adopt a new income and payroll tax to fund a state public option health care system.
That’s just a small segment of the measurers that are expected to play a key role in U.S. politics, both at the statewide and local level. In California, voter could directly decide over 500 key community issues through local ballot measures. Statewide, Kansans will have the opportunity to vote on just one issue.
Recreational Marijuana
The movement to legalize marijuana, the country’s most popular illicit drug, will take a giant leap on Election Day if California and four other states vote to allow recreational cannabis, as polls suggest they may. Massachusetts and Maine both have legalization initiatives on the ballot that seem likely to pass. Arizona and Nevada are also voting on recreational marijuana, with polls showing Nevada voters evenly split.
The passage of recreational marijuana laws in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington over the past four years may have unlocked the door to eventual federal legalization. But a yes vote in California, which has an economy the size of a large industrial countries could blow the door open, experts say.
The passage of Proposition 64 in California, a.k.a. the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, would legalize marijuana for people 21 years of age and older. Adults could possess up to an ounce of cannabis, purchase dried flower and cannabis products from licensed retailers and grow up to six plants for personal use. The proposal has restrictions on where cannabis can be consumed.
Counties and municipalities would have the ability to limit or ban commercial marijuana operations, as well as set local tax rates.
Backers estimate that the Adult Use of Marijuana Act could potentially result in $1 billion annually in state tax revenue.
Medical Marijuana
Four states have medical marijuana initiatives on their ballot — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota.
A successful constitutional amendment in Florida requires the approval of at least 60 percent of voters to pass. Two years ago, a medical marijuana measure also on the ballot fell just 2.4% shy of that threshold.
Montana has had a medical marijuana law since 2004, but voters will have an opportunity to expand legal access to medical marijuana. This initiative will strike down existing rules limiting medical marijuana providers to three patients apiece.
The North Dakota residents will vote on medical marijuana after a separate initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana failed to make it on the ballot.
Kansas Neighbors
Both Missouri and Oklahoma considered marijuana ballot initiatives for 2016. In Oklahoma, the initiative received adequate signatures to make on the ballot, but was held up by legal challenges. In Missouri, an initiative failed to make in onto the ballot due to a lack of valid petition signatures.
Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave
Four states are voting to gradually raise the state minimum wage. Washington State is proposing a tapered increase to $13.50 an hour by 2020, just shy of the most-generous-in-the nation hourly minimum wage of $15 that New York and Washington, D.C. will enact in 2020.
Wage increases are also on the ballot in Arizona, Maine and Colorado, where minimum wage could rise to $12 an hour by 2020. Proposals in Arizona and Washington would also entitle most workers paid sick leave.
Colorado’s Universal Health Care Amendment
Colardo residents will vote on ColoradoCare, a two part initiatives that includes a new payroll tax and a new universal health care delivery system. An additional 10% payroll tax would be divided between employers paying 6.67% and employees paying 3.33% on the first $350,000 of earned income for individuals and $450,000 for couples. Although the tax would start immediately, the health care plan wouldn’t begin until 2019.
If passed, Colorado’s tax rate would surpass California’s to become the highest individual income tax rate in the counry.
Death Penalty Repeal
Most Americans support the death penalty, by a margin of 61% to 37%, according to the most recent Gallup poll. But since the mid-1990s opposition has steadily risen to what is now its highest level in more than 40 years. A proposal to repeal California’s death penalty will test whether opposition to the state’s 38-year-old policy has finally reached critical mass.
California’s ballot will also feature a dueling initiative that would strengthen the death penalty by making the process more streamlined. If both measures pass, the one with more “yes” votes becomes law and nullifies the other. If passed, this measure would make Colorado income tax rate the highest in the country, replacing California’s
Carbon Tax
Washington State residents could impose the first-in-the-nation carbon tax if they pass Initiative 732. Carbon would be taxed at an initial rate of $15 per metric ton of carbon emissions, with the rate rising each year until it reaches an inflation-adjusted $100 per metric ton.
Gun Control
Following the San Bernadino
shooting last December, a California gun control initiative garnered nearly twice the number of required signatures to get on the ballot. Proposition 63 would ban possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds (currently, sale is illegal, but possession is legal).
High-capacity magazines were once prohibited under the now-expired federal law, but California is poised to join a small number of states to reinstate a ban on large magazines. Some experts say it is more effective at reducing mass shootings than banning semi-automatic rifles. The initiative would also require a background check and authorization from the Department of Justice to purchase ammunition.
Tobacco Tax Increase
Several initiatives across the country would increase taxes on cigarettes including a California, Colorado and North Dakota. California would increase taxes on cigarettes from $0.87 to $2.87 per pack. Colorado’s proosed increases are similar., and would move the state to the 10th highest cigarette tax in the country.
Missouri has dueling cigarette tax proposals on the ballot. One would increase taxes from $0.17 per pack to $0.40 per pack over five years; a second would increase the tax immediately to $0.77 per pack. A measure in North Dakota would expand their cigarete tax category to include vapor products.
Soda Tax
Both California and Colorado are considering additional taxes on sodas.
