Voters Decide Ballot Measures Relating to Healthcare, Labor and Tech

Several measures on state ballots last week pertained to industries SNCJ focuses on. Here’s a recap of that Election Day activity.

Healthcare

Voters in 10 states considered ballot measures dealing with abortion, making it one of the most prominent issues on state ballots this year. But voters also decided a number of other health-related issues.

California voters passed two measures ostensibly dealing with healthcare issues, although other political matters were at play as well.

Proposition 34 will require healthcare providers who spent more than $100 million on anything other than direct patient care over a decade and operated housing with more than 500 high-severity health and safety violations to spend at least 98 percent of their revenue from the federal discount prescription drug program on patients.

Those very specific parameters could theoretically apply to more than one organization, but the measure was aimed squarely at one particular entity: the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the world’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care, and its polarizing president, Michael Weinstein.

Weinstein’s nonprofit buys prescription drugs for HIV and AIDS patients at a federally endorsed discount. The foundation then bills insurers for the full price of those drugs, generating millions of dollars in revenue.

Weinstein has used that windfall to fund a series of unsuccessful ballot measures on housing development, drug prices, requiring the use of condoms in porn and, most notably, rent control.

Weinstein was behind Proposition 33, also on California’s Nov. 5 ballot, which sought to repeal a 1995 state law preventing cities and counties from expanding local rent control laws. Prop. 33—which failed—was opposed by the California Apartment Association, which backed Prop. 34. In other words, Prop. 34 was actually more about rent control than healthcare.

California voters also passed Proposition 35, which makes the state’s temporary tax on managed care organizations permanent. The measure had wide support—including the backing of both the state Democratic and Republican parties—but it also blocks state lawmakers from using revenue generated by the tax to backfill deficits in other state programs. And California always has budget problems.

So you could argue that Prop. 35 was really about state budgeting and taxes.

In Illinois, voters approved an advisory question asking whether insurance coverage in the state should be expanded to include fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization. 

And in Massachusetts, voters defeated Question 4, which would have legalized psychedelics in the state, as well as regulated psychedelic therapy centers and other service providers. Voters have legalized psychedelics in Colorado and Oregon.

Labor

Voters in two states approved ballot measures raising their minimum wage to $15 per hour, while voters in two other states defeated measures regarding tipped workers.

In Missouri, voters passed Proposition A, which will increase the minimum wage in the state to $15 per hour by 2026. The measure also requires employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked by an employee.

In Alaska, voters passed Measure 1, increasing the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 2027.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, voters defeated Measure 5, which would have equalized the minimum wage for tipped and non-tipped workers, while in Arizona, voters blocked Proposition 138, which would have allowed tipped workers to be paid 25% less per hour than the minimum wage, with some exceptions.

Massachusetts voters also passed Question 3, allowing rideshare drivers, like those who work for Lyft and Uber, to unionize. April Verrett, president of the Service Employees International Union, told the Associated Press in July the measure would make Massachusetts “the first in the nation to establish a union for drivers in this way.” The AP also reported the group was working on a similar measure in California.

In Nebraska, voters passed Initiative 436, requiring businesses within the state to offer earned paid sick leave for employees. Under the measure, employers of a least 20 people will have to provide up to seven days of earned sick leave to their workers, while companies with less than 20 employees will have to provide up to five days of sick leave.

In Oregon, voters passed Measure 119, requiring cannabis businesses to submit a signed labor peace agreement with their licensure or renewal application committing the businesses to remaining neutral when labor organizations communicate with their employees about collective bargaining.

And in California, Proposition 32, aimed at increasing the minimum wage in the Golden State to $18 an hour by 2026, was still too close to call, 50.9% (“no”) to 49.1% (“yes”), with 75% of the vote counted.

Technology

Technology wasn’t a big issue on state ballots, but a measure in one state did touch on it.

In Maine, voters approved Question 2, authorizing $25 million in general obligation bonds “for research, development, and commercialization of Maine-based public and private institutions in support of technological innovation,” according to the text of the measure.

—By SNCJ Correspondent BRIAN JOSEPH

Handful of Healthcare, Labor and Tech Measures on State Ballots

In addition to the 10 states that considered ballot measures concerning abortion, three states considered ballot measures dealing with other healthcare-related issues, including the legalization of psychedelic drug therapy. Voters in seven states considered labor-related measures, including those raising the minimum wage. And a measure related to technology was on the ballot in Maine.

Visit our webpage to connect with a LexisNexis® State Net® representative and learn how the State Net legislative and regulatory tracking service can help you identify, track, analyze and report on relevant legislative and regulatory developments.