{"id":507075,"date":"2026-10-25T01:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T01:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/507075\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T01:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T01:22:08","slug":"prop-4-asks-if-voters-support-public-funding-in-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/507075\/","title":{"rendered":"Prop. 4 asks if voters support public funding in elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 This year, California voters will be asked to decide whether or not they support Proposition 4 \u2014 a proposition that, if passed, will repeal a prohibition against using public dollars in election campaigns.<\/p>\n

Currently, tax dollars cannot be offered to politicians to help them run for office.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Proposition 4 say that legalizing the use of public funds or matching fund programs, allows a more diverse array of candidates to run for office and that candidates will be able to focus more on policy and less on attracting wealthy donors. Opponents argue that public dollars should not be used to subsidize campaigns and that money will go toward political strategists rather than public services.<\/p>\n

The California Clean Money Campaign supports Proposition 4, saying that \u201cProposition 4 is necessary because we need to give communities the option to pass small donor public financing of campaign systems,\u201d the organization’s president and executive director Trent Lange said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lange added that the matching funds \u201callow candidates that qualify to raise the funds they need from small donors, rather than spending all their time on the phone talking to public special interest and wealthy donors.\u201d<\/p>\n

In California, charter cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley are exempt from the ban and are allowed to operate matching fund programs. It is not required for candidates to participate in the matching programs in these cities, according to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matching funds help \u201ccity candidates run their campaigns for elected office without relying on large donors or excessive fundraising. To receive funding, candidates must agree to participate in the program and must meet the program\u2019s qualification requirements and spending limits,\u201d according to the commission.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles, donations up to $257 for city-wide candidates are matched at a 6:1 rate.<\/p>\n

Proposition 4 would not require cities across the state to institute the matching fund programs, but would allow them to. Opponents of Proposition 4 say that tax dollars are better used in other places, outside of political campaigns and that the law wouldn\u2019t prevent candidates from accepting donations from private donors in addition to the public matching funds.<\/p>\n

Mike Madrid, a fellow at the USC Center for the Political Future and a political strategist, is staunchly opposed to Proposition 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving taxpayers pay for campaigns is never a good idea under any scenario.\u201d Madrid added, \u201cThere is too much focus on trying to meet matching fund requirements depending on the different laws. That money should be used for government services, patching up potholes, getting people off of the streets, feeding hungry people, building affordable housing, not for political campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Proposition 4 is passed, money used in campaigns cannot come from funds meant for education, transportation or public safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 This year, California voters will be asked to decide whether or not they support Proposition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5997,7,69451,48,52,51,47,50,49,100,13,5999,5996],"class_list":["post-507075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-california","tag-chace-beech","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}