U.S. Ballot Initiatives Cover Gig Work, Recreational Marijuana -- and Much More
November 02 2020 - 8:47AM
Dow Jones News
By Jacob Gershman
Should Uber drivers be treated as employees? Should people be
free to smoke marijuana? Is the wolf a friend or foe?
These are among the many questions voters will be deciding by
public referendum this week along with who should occupy the White
House and control Congress.
Citizens, advocacy groups and lawmakers this election year have
put more than 100 measures on the ballots of 34 states, according
to Ballotpedia. Proposed changes to state constitutions and laws
touch on a range of topical issues, from abortion and voter
eligibility to drug legalization and prison slavery.
As usual, some of the most consequential and controversial
policy debates are before California voters.
The heavyweight among them is Proposition 22, a ballot measure
on whether Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and DoorDash Inc. and
other gig-economy companies should be exempted from a new state law
that entitled their drivers to stronger employee protections and
costlier benefits such as overtime pay and paid sick leave. The gig
giants have spent around $200 million -- a record sum for a
California ballot initiative -- campaigning for the measure, far
outspending labor unions opposing it.
California voters are also deciding whether to allow more local
governments to establish stricter rent controls over some older
residential properties. Republicans and real-estate interests have
urged voters to reject the measure, as has Democratic Gov. Gavin
Newsom, while other state Democrats are in favor.
California voters are also weighing several criminal-justice
changes. Proposition 20 would expand the list of violent offenses
disqualifying an inmate from early parole opportunities, more
harshly punish serial shoplifters and expand DNA collection for
theft and drug crimes.
Law-enforcement groups advocating for the changes say they are
intended to close loopholes in recently enacted criminal-justice
laws that they blame for rising crime. The ACLU of Northern
California and other groups opposing Proposition 20 say the measure
would lead to rising rates of incarceration.
Elsewhere, at least two measures deal with abortion. A Louisiana
proposal would amend the state's constitution to make clear that no
such right to the procedure is recognized. Should a more solidly
conservative U.S. Supreme Court give states more authority to
regulate abortion, Louisiana state courts would have less ability
to strike down antiabortion laws.
A Colorado measure would make it a misdemeanor to perform
abortions after the gestational age of the fetus is at least 22
weeks, with safety exceptions. Seventeen other states restrict
abortions at the same point in pregnancy, according to the abortion
research group Guttmacher Institute. Colorado is among a handful
that lack any law linking fetal age to restrictions.
The legalization of recreational marijuana is on the ballot in
Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota. Currently, 11 states
and the District of Columbia have made it legal for adults to
possess limited amounts for personal use.
Oregon, among those 11 states, could push drug legalization
further. A proposal would direct the Oregon Health Authority to
regulate the manufacture, delivery, purchase and consumption of
psilocybin, the psychoactive component in "magic mushrooms," for
mental-health treatment. Several cities have already decriminalized
psilocybin and other psychedelic plants.
Colorado voters are deciding whether to release gray wolves into
the state's western wildlands, where the predator once roamed
before it was largely exterminated more than 70 years ago. Their
numbers have returned to about 6,000, and they are no longer
endangered in the continental U.S., but they remain rare in
Colorado.
Supporters say reintroducing wolves to Colorado would restore
balance to an ecosystem strained by more than 700,000 deer and elk.
Ranchers and farmers say they fear for their livestock, forming a
"Stop the Wolf" coalition with hunting associations.
Suffrage is on the ballot in Alabama, Colorado and Florida,
where voters are weighing whether to restrict the right to vote to
only U.S. citizens. Currently, Arizona and North Dakota are the
only states with constitutions that exclude noncitizens from the
polls.
Florida is also deciding whether to switch to an open primary
system. A single primary contest for each office would be open to
all registered voters. The top two vote-getters would advance to a
general election, regardless of political party.
In the state of Washington, sex education is on the ballot.
Voters are deciding whether to repeal a new law requiring public
schools to provide "age-appropriate" comprehensive sexual-health
education to public-school students in all grades.
Write to Jacob Gershman at jacob.gershman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 02, 2020 08:32 ET (13:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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