Election 2024: states’ ballot measure initiatives impacting TBED

Forty-one states and Puerto Rico will vote on 151 statewide ballot measures this fall.   

Many of this year’s measures focus on abortion; citizenship or electoral system reforms (such as Arizona’s Proposition (Prop) 133 and Missouri’s Amendment 7, which would prohibit ranked-choice voting, while Idaho’s Prop 1, Nevada’s Question 3, and Oregon’s Measure 117 would establish ranked-choice voting); criminal justice or drug use policies (including the legalization of recreational (Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota) or medical (Nebraska) marijuana, as well as certain psychedelic substances (Massachusetts could be the third state to legalize psilocybin); and minimum wage increases. Voters in Alaska, California, Massachusetts, and Missouri will decide on minimum wage increases, with Nebraska voters deciding on an initiative requiring paid sick leave for employees. In Arizona, voters will decide whether tipped workers should be paid 25% less per hour than minimum wage.

A dozen initiatives would impact tech-based economic development—providing funding for initiatives, changing the electoral or redistricting system, altering taxes, or modifying the governance of higher education.

Alaska

Ballot Measure 2: Repeal Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative. This initiative would return Alaska to partisan primaries and general elections in which the candidate with the most votes wins the election. In 2020, Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 2, which was a citizen-initiated ballot measure that replaced partisan primaries with open top-four primaries and established ranked-choice voting (RCV) for general elections, including the presidential election.

Arkansas  

Issue 1: Lottery Proceed Funding for Vocational-Technical School Scholarships and Grants Amendment. The question seeks to allow proceeds from the state lottery to fund scholarships and grants for vocational-technical schools and technical institutes. If the issue passes, it would expand scholarships and grants to students attending vocational and technical schools or institutes.

Illinois   

Advisory Question (AQ)—nonbinding: Income Tax Advisory Question. A nonbinding question that advises state officials by asking voters whether to amend the Illinois Constitution to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1 million for the purpose of dedicating funds to property tax relief. Because it is nonbinding, it will have no legal effect, but it will allow government officials to gauge public opinion.

Maine   

Question 2: the Science and Technology Research and Commercialization Bond Issue. This bond issue would authorize $25 million in general obligation bonds to the Maine Technology Institute for research, development, and commercialization of Maine-based public and private institutions supporting technological innovation. Under the measure, the funds must be allocated to the targeted sectors of life sciences and biomedical technology, environmental and renewable energy technology, information technology, advanced technologies for forestry and agriculture, aquaculture and marine technology, composites and advanced materials, and precision manufacturing. Maine voters last approved a research and development bond in 2017, with 61% of the vote in favor.

Nevada    

Question 1: Remove Constitutional Status of Board of Regents Amendment. The amendment would remove the Board of Regents from the Nevada Constitution and authorize the state legislature to review and change the governing organization of state universities. A similar proposal to remove the constitutional status of the Board of Regents was also on the 2020 ballot in Nevada. Voters defeated that measure 50.15% to 49.85%.

New Mexico    

Bond Question 3: the Public Education Bond Issue. This question would authorize the issuance of $230,258,400 in bonds to fund various initiatives, including capital improvements and acquisitions at higher education institutions, distinct schools, and tribal schools.  

North Dakota     

Constitutional Measure 3: the North Dakota Legacy Fund Transfers Amendment. This amendment would decrease the amount of money that can be expended from the state legacy fund during a two-year period from 15% to 5% of the fund’s principal. The state legacy fund is a fund that receives 30% of tax revenue from oil and gas production each month. The amendment would provide for a distribution from the state legacy fund to a legacy earnings fund rather than sending the accrued earnings to the state general fund. The legacy fund was created through a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot. Recent polling suggests that North Dakota voters want more say on the uses of the legacy fund.

Ohio

Issue 1: the Establish the Citizens Redistricting Commission Initiative. The citizen-initiated constitutional amendment would establish the Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC), which would be responsible for adopting state legislative and congressional redistricting plans. Issue 1 is the third time Ohio voters have considered an overhaul to the existing redistricting system; it would replace the Ohio Redistricting Commission, established in 2015 for state legislative districts, and the process established for congressional districts in 2018. If approved, Ohio would become the ninth state to task a non-politician commission with redrawing its congressional district lines.

Oregon     

Measure 118: the Corporate Tax Revenue Rebate for Residents Initiative. In Oregon, corporations pay the corporate income tax or the minimum tax, whichever is higher. The Measure 118 proposal would increase the minimum tax on corporations by enacting a 3% tax on sales greater than $25 million in addition to the minimum tax amount already required by law and using the additional revenues to establish the nation’s largest universal basic income program. The measure would give every Oregonian an estimated $1,600 annually, distributed equally among residents of all ages and incomes. The system would go into effect next year.

Puerto Rico

Advisory Question (AQ)—nonbinding: the Puerto Rico Statehood, Independence, or Free Association Referendum. The question asks voters to choose an option for Puerto Rico's political status: statehood, independence, or sovereignty in free association with the U.S. Although citizens of Puerto Rico are citizens of the U.S., the Commonwealth does not have representation with voting privileges in the U.S. Congress nor do Puerto Ricans have the ability to vote for president in general elections. Puerto Rico voted on ballot measures addressing statehood in 1967, 1993, 1998, 2012, 2017, and 2020.  The last vote on a statehood referendum in 2020 was approved, with 52% in favor of statehood. The results of this question and past referendums are nonbinding because any changes to Puerto Rico’s status and statehood require action by the U.S. Congress.

Rhode Island      

Question 2: the Higher Education Facilities Bond Measure. This question would authorize $160.5 million in bonds for improvements to higher education facilities, with $87.5 million going to the construction of a University of Rhode Island Biomedical Sciences building and $73 million going to renovations and improvements to the Rhode Island College Institute of Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies.

Washington       

Initiative 2109: the Repeal Capital Gains Tax Initiative. This initiative would repeal the 7% capital gains excise tax imposed on sales and exchanges of long-term capital assets by individuals with capital gains over $250,000. The Washington State Legislature passed legislation creating the capital gains tax in 2021. It took effect on January 1, 2022, with the first payments due on April 18, 2023. In 2023, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the capital gains tax was an excise tax and did not violate the constitutional prohibition on income taxes.

Initiative 2117: the Prohibit Carbon Tax Credit Trading Initiative. This proposed initiative would prohibit any state agency from implementing a cap and trade or cap and tax program; prohibit carbon tax credit trading; and, repeal provisions of the 2021 Washington Climate Commitment Act (CCA), a state law that provided for a cap and invest program designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 95% by 2050. The cap and invest program was designed to allow businesses that reduce emissions to sell their remaining carbon emission allowance permits to other companies, thereby incentivizing companies to lower their emissions. In 2018, Washington voters rejected Initiative 1631, which would have enacted a carbon emissions fee of $15 per metric ton beginning in 2020 and increasing by $2 each year until the state's greenhouse gas reduction goals were met. Washington voters also defeated a carbon tax initiative—Initiative 732—in 2016.

This article was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.