“The courts continue to affirm that only a simple majority vote is required when voters place measures on the ballot through the initiative process.”
SAN FRANCISCO (November 17, 2021) — City Attorney David Chiu issued the following statement today after the California Supreme Court denied review of the Court of Appeal’s ruling, upholding San Francisco’s Proposition G from the June 2018 ballot:
“The courts continue to affirm that only a simple majority vote is required when voters place measures on the ballot through the initiative process. This victory represents years of work by my predecessor, Dennis Herrera, and attorneys in our office to ensure the will of the voters is upheld. San Franciscans definitively voted to provide more resources for our school district and educators, and the courts once again validated that decision today.”
Case Background
Proposition G allowed the City to impose a parcel tax to provide funding to the San Francisco Unified School District for educator salaries and benefits. The measure was passed by San Francisco voters in June 2018 with more than 60 percent of the vote.
The San Francisco City Attorney’s office was the first public law office to successfully argue that only a simple majority is required when voters place measures on the ballot through the initiative process. Based on that voter-threshold principle, courts previously upheld San Francisco’s Proposition C from the June 2018 ballot and Proposition C from the November 2018 ballot.
###