Billions have been spent on California’s
 ballot measure battles. But this year is
 unlike any other

Powerful interest groups have a long history of circumventing the statehouse and putting decisions directly to Californians. By now, voters are used to having the airwaves flooded with ads and their mailboxes stuffed by campaigns.

But it has never been like this. Wealthy individuals, corporations, organized labor and other well-funded interests have poured more than $785 million into the 12 yes-or-no questions on this year’s ballot, a record-breaking sum.

The Times compared their fundraising to the historical record and found that four of the 10 most expensive campaigns ever are happening now.

This year's spending blitz is led by Proposition 22 — the most expensive proposition campaign in the state's history. In addition, fights over property taxes, rent control and dialysis each have more than $100 million behind them. They join past struggles over energy policy, prescription drug prices and tribal casinos on the list of the state's most expensive measures.

Here are the top 10 ballot measure battles since the state started digitally tracking campaign finances two decades ago.

1.

2020

Proposition 22

Passed

$224,271,800

Supporters

Opponents

$204M

$20M

Yes

No

59%

41%

The costliest ballot measure fight in California history got underway last year after passage of Assembly Bill 5, which narrowed the professions classified as independent contractors.

Uber and Lyft pledged to fight back with a proposition to create a special set of rules for app-based companies, in which workers would be independent contractors but receive limited job benefits. Three other companies that rely on gig economy drivers for labor — DoorDash, Instacart and Postmates — joined the ride-hailing services to put in more than $200 million for an untraditional and aggressive campaign to sway Californians to vote "yes." The companies got their way: Voters approved the measure.

Labor unions led the unsuccessful campaign against Proposition 22, but raised just $16 million. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed AB 5 into law, declined to take a stance on the controversial measure.

Supporters

Uber

$58,361,469

DoorDash

$51,905,814

Lyft

$48,937,462

Instacart

$31,584,393

Postmates

$13,319,307

Opponents

Service Employees International Union

$5,044,567

United Food & Commercial Workers

$4,225,000

Teamsters

$2,435,837

California Labor Federation

$2,274,565

2.

2012

Propositions 30 and 32

$185,948,365

Labor

Business

$127M

$59M

Proposition 30

Yes

No

55%

45%

Proposition 32

Yes

No

43%

57%

Until this year, the top spot belonged to a high-stakes battle between labor unions and business groups that spanned two ballot measures in the 2012 midterm elections.

Proposition 30, championed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown, aimed to raise income and sales taxes with promises that it would help fund education. The powerful California Teachers Assn. enthusiastically endorsed the plan.

The teachers union also spent heavily to defeat another proposal that fall, Proposition 32, which aimed to dilute the heft of labor groups like the CTA by barring union members' dues from being used to fund political campaigns.

Conservative billionaires bankrolled a little-known group, the Small Business Action Committee, on the other side. Charles Munger Jr., a wealthy state GOP activist, contributed more $30 million. Another $11 million came from a shadowy Arizona-based group hit by a massive fine after an investigation revealed the money’s undisclosed connection to billionaires Charles and David Koch.

Labor groups and Brown prevailed at the ballot box when Proposition 30 passed and Proposition 32 failed.

Labor

California Teachers Assn.

$33,088,343

Service Employees International Union

$20,744,583

Democratic State Central Committee of California

$8,309,913

California Labor Federation

$6,815,613

American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees

$4,847,076

California Federation of Teachers

$3,464,164

Business

Charles Munger Jr.

$33,947,735

Americans for Job Security

$11,000,000

American Future Fund

$4,080,000

A. Jerrold Perenchio

$1,300,000

William Oberndorf

$1,250,000

3.

2008

Propositions 94-97

All passed

$154,554,073

Supporters

Opponents

$115M

$39M

Yes

No

56%

44%

Four Southern California tribes spent heavily to protect an expansion of gambling approved the year before. Opponents — including racetrack owner Terrence Fancher, casino workers’ union Unite Here, and two competing tribes — gathered enough signatures to put four measures on the ballot aimed at rolling back the growth of the gaming outlets.

All four measures passed with similar support, allowing the gaming agreements to move forward.

Supporters

Pechanga Band of Lusiseno Mission Indians

$46,067,880

Morongo Band of Mission Indians

$42,046,064

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians

$20,865,025

Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation

$6,031,637

Opponents

United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria

$13,009,836

Pala Band of Mission Indians

$12,985,836

Stockbridge Real Estate Fund

$3,000,000

Unite Here

$3,000,000

Bay Meadows Racetrack

$2,756,750

Hollywood Park Racetrack

$2,756,750

4.

2006

Proposition 87

Failed

$153,900,683

Supporters

Opponents

$60M

$94M

Yes

No

45%

55%

Proposition 87 would have imposed a tax on oil production to fund alternative energy research. The initiative was the brainchild of the late Hollywood producer Stephen Bing and became a cause célèbre among tech billionaires.

Chevron and Aera Energy, a company jointly operated by Shell and ExxonMobil, led a successful campaign to defeat the measure.

Supporters

Stephen Bing

$49,581,810

Vinod Khosla

$2,043,051

Larry Page

$1,000,000

Peter Bing

$1,000,000

Sergey Brin

$1,000,000

Wendy Schmidt

$1,000,000

Opponents

Chevron

$38,000,000

Aera Energy

$32,824,243

Occidential Petroleum

$9,550,000

ConocoPhillips

$3,025,000

BP

$3,000,000

Plains Exploration

$2,804,595

5.

2020

Proposition 15

Failed

$139,235,072

Supporters

Opponents

$67M

$72M

Yes

No

48%

52%

Proposition 15 aimed to increase how much large California corporations pay in property taxes. The measure was the most significant threat ever to 1978's Proposition 13, but it did not win over voters.

The California Teachers Assn. spent heavily to support the measure, which had the blessing of Gov. Gavin Newsom and other prominent Democrats.

The California Business Roundtable helped opponents of the measure top supporters' contributions. Its backers include real estate developers such as Kilroy Realty, the real estate arm of Blackstone and local GOP mega-donor Geoffrey Palmer.

Supporters

California Teachers Assn.

$20,311,267

Service Employees International Union

$16,884,179

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

$14,314,217

California Federation of Teachers

$1,280,601

California Community Foundation

$1,200,790

American Federation of Teachers

$1,000,000

Opponents

California Business Roundtable

$38,997,074

California Business Properties Assn.

$2,252,500

Boston Properties

$1,500,000

California Taxpayers Assn.

$1,435,000

Nextera Energy

$1,295,000

Michael K. Hayde

$1,200,000

6.

2018

Proposition 8

Failed

$130,514,074

Supporters

Opponents

$19M

$111M

Yes

No

40%

60%

Proposition 8 sought to limit the profits of the kidney dialysis industry by requiring clinics to give rebates to insurers and pay a new tax on revenue.

The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which aims to organize the dialysis industry, sponsored the measure and contributed most of the $19 million raised to pass it.

DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care, which combined control 75% of the industry in California, bankrolled the successful opposition campaign.

Undeterred by failure, labor groups pushed a similar measure onto the ballot this year, and the same protagonists are waging another expensive fight over the future of the dialysis industry.

Supporters

SEIU United Healthcare Workers West

$17,972,319

California State Council of Service Employees

$1,000,000

California Democratic Party

$53,667

Opponents

DaVita

$67,043,918

Fresenius Medical Care

$33,986,507

U.S. Renal Care

$8,176,421

7.

2016

Proposition 61

Failed

$128,258,357

Supporters

Opponents

$19M

$109M

Yes

No

47%

53%

Amid a national debate around rising drug costs, Proposition 61 sought to lower how much California agencies pay for prescription drugs. The measure would have barred state government health programs from paying more for these drugs than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which typically pays less than most health providers.

Leading the fight to vote “yes” was the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which contributed more than $18 million, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who endorsed the measure.

Pharmaceutical companies amassed more than $100 million to defeat the measure and were successful.

Supporters

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

$18,780,562

California Nurses Assn.

$269,056

Opponents

Merck

$9,420,395

Pfizer

$9,420,395

Johnson & Johnson

$9,301,646

Amgen

$7,673,222

Abbvie

$6,859,873

Sanofi-Aventis

$6,720,945

8.

2020

Proposition 21

Failed

$125,436,982

Supporters

Opponents

$40M

$85M

Yes

No

40%

60%

The Los Angeles-based nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation did not succeed in bankrolling its most expensive attempt yet to expand rent control. The measure would have permitted communities to adopt greater protections by allowing limits on rent increases in buildings more than 15 years old.

The foundation's president, Michael Weinstein, is well-known as an aggressive, litigious leader thanks to his history of sponsoring high-profile ballot measures, including another on this list.

Supporters

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

$40,187,371

California Nurses Assn.

$50,000

California Democratic Party

$27,025

Opponents

Essex Property Trust

$15,013,300

Equity Residential

$11,052,800

Avalonbay Communities

$8,779,500

California Business Roundtable

$7,250,000

Prometheus Real Estate Group

$3,134,600

UDR

$2,525,042

9.

2020

Proposition 23

Failed

$114,192,950

Supporters

Opponents

$9M

$105M

Yes

No

36%

64%

Two years after a similar measure failed, healthcare workers and the dialysis industry waged another costly ballot-box fight with Proposition 23. The result was the same: Voters sided with the dialysis clinics.

The measure would have required clinics, which stay open for long hours and on weekends to accommodate their patients, to have at least one physician on-site during the clinic’s operating hours, and came amid a state shortage of doctors.

Supporters

SEIU United Healthcare Workers West

$8,922,356

California Democratic Party

$41,898

Opponents

DaVita

$66,812,981

Fresenius Medical Care

$29,780,597

U.S. Renal Care

$7,635,118

10.

2016

Proposition 56

Passed

$102,685,713

Supporters

Opponents

$32M

$71M

Yes

No

64%

36%

Proposition 56 raised cigarette taxes by $2 a pack to fund increased spending on state healthcare services.

Its financial backers were led by billionaire Tom Steyer, who briefly ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. In a sign of how public opinion had turned against the tobacco industry, business groups other than cigarette manufacturers sat out the fight.

Supporters

Tom Steyer

$11,300,000

California Assn. of Hospitals & Health Systems

$10,096,250

California State Council of Service Employees

$2,099,896

California Dental Assn.

$1,010,655

California Medical Assn.

$1,003,734

Blue Shield

$1,000,000

Kaiser Permanente

$1,000,000

Planned Parenthood

$953,642

Opponents

Philip Morris USA

$38,642,580

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco

$24,897,480

UST

$4,294,901

John Middleton Co.

$1,326,115

ITG Brands

$1,050,000