This election cycle, voters have been focused on the highly competitive and record spending top-of-the-ticket races for California Governor and U.S. Senate. The candidates’ ads have dominated the press, radio and television airways. In addition to voting for representatives at the local, state and federal levels, voters will also have to work their way through nine ballot measures.

Several of the measures are high-profile, such as Proposition 19, which seeks to legalize marijuana, and Proposition 23, which would suspend California’s landmark climate-change law for the foreseeable future. Although the spending is not as high on these measures as some other recent initiatives, their passage could have significant impacts on the state of California. Proposition 25 would make it easier to pass a state budget by reducing the current two-thirds vote requirement to a simple majority, while Proposition 26 would make raising revenue more difficult by requiring a two-thirds vote on many fees. Below, we present a “snapshot” of each initiative and a concise argument both for and against.