FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2024
Contact: Madison Nagle-Frizzi ▪ 916.825.1729 ▪ madison@calrest.org

SACRAMENTO, CA – Members of the No on Prop 32 campaign issued the following statements today, declaring victory on Prop 32.

Jot Condie, President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association:

“We are encouraged that California voters rejected this proposal that would have further driven California’s out-of-control cost of living crisis. Voters know who pays for wage mandates like Proposition 32 – they do. They’re sick of the high cost of living and they are clearly associating California’s laws and mandates as significant contributors. In a word, they are saying ‘enough’.

The rejection of Prop 32 is historic. Almost every previous minimum wage increase proposed in California – at the state and local level – has passed overwhelmingly. Even in supposedly progressive coastal California, Prop 32 barely won, while losing by a wide margin the rest of the state.

It is important that policymakers hear the message being sent by the voters – stop using California consumers as guinea pigs for public policy experiments that make life more expensive for everyone.”

Jennifer Barrera, President & CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce:

“Californians are struggling under the weight of increasingly higher costs for everything from food to energy. Voters understood that Proposition 32 was a costly proposal that would have created even more hardship. With the economy top of mind for many voters this election, the threat of higher costs – including the cost of labor for small business employers – clearly resonated.”

John Kabateck, California State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business:

“Voters correctly saw Prop 32 as another broadside on the ever-shrinking budgets of working-class families already struggling to make ends meet in these unyielding inflationary times. Many also correctly saw it as a threat to small-business solvency and lost job opportunities. Opposition to Prop 32 united families and businesses in common cause.”

Ronald Fong, President & CEO of the California Grocers Association:

“After a decade of wage hikes, Californians have done the math: The state has only become less affordable over time. Lawmakers should heed this signal from voters and relieve pressures on industry, focusing instead on building more housing and reducing the regulations that increasingly make everyday necessities unaffordable for many Californians.”

Background Notes:

The No on Proposition 32 campaign is comfortable making this declaration based on the following facts:

• Proposition 32 trails by 250,000 votes with less than 800,000 votes to be counted.
• Proposition 32 would need to receive almost 66% of the remaining votes to draw even.
• Only two counties in California, Alameda and San Francisco, passed Prop 32 by a margin greater than 65%, and these two counties collectively have only 21,000 votes left to count.
• There are approximately 230,000 votes left in counties that supported Proposition 32, and 555,000 votes left in counties that defeated Proposition 32.