Affirmative action back on ballot?

By Mikhail Zinshteyn CalMatters

California voters may soon vote on whether they support using state money to fund programs that improve the health, education or economic wellbeing of specific racial, ethnic and sexual or gender groups.

“Didn’t we already vote this down in 2020?” a voter may rightfully ask, referring to the failed campaign of Proposition 16, which sought to undo California’s voter-approved 1996 ban on using race, sex, national origin and ethnicity as a factor in public university admissions and other state programs.

The latest effort, known as Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7, wouldn’t fully overturn Proposition 209, which created the country’s first ban on affirmative action 27 years ago. Instead, it would allow state agencies to send the governor a waiver request to avoid Proposition 209’s restrictions, as long as the exception is based on scholarly research.

The aim is to have the constitutional amendment appear as a proposition on the November 2024 ballot, when voters will decide the country’s next president. To get there, the measure

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2023