2012 California Proposition 31

The 2012 California Proposition 31 was officially titled "State Budget. State and Local Government. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute." It was a California ballot measure in the November 2012 California elections. The initiative would have established a two-year state budget, allowed the governor to make budget cuts in fiscal emergencies, prevented the state state legislature from spending more than $25 million without creating spending cuts or other budget offsets, and allowed local governments the ability to transfer certain amounts of property taxes among themselves instead of the state.^[2][3] Although the law was supported by the California Republican Party, multiple conservative groups came out against proposition 31, including members of the Tea Party movement who viewed the law as a way to undermine property rights.^[4][5][6]

If Proposition 31 had passed, it was estimated that the state government would have suffered a loss of $200 million, as these funds would have been transferred to local governments.^[7]