Voters backed progressive policy measures.
In this year’s election, voters given the opportunity to weigh in directly on questions of economic justice showed policy preferences far more progressive than those reflected in many national and state election outcomes. Across the country, voters seized opportunities to approve state or local ballot measures increasing the minimum wage, expanding paid leave, strengthening workers’ rights to unionize, preserving public education, and protecting access to abortion. These ballot measure outcomes reflect a clear ongoing trend of strong voter support for policies that prioritize worker, racial, and gender justice—and illustrate how state and local governments can continue to play important roles in enacting such policies.
State And Local Ballot Measures
Minimum Wage
Five states voted on wage-related measures in 2024. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009. In the absence of action at the national level, 30 states and 63 localities have raised their own minimum wages beyond the federal minimum of $7.25.
Alaska: Voters passed Ballot Measure 1 to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by July 1, 2027. We estimate this will increase pay for an estimated 30,000 workers in the state. Additionally, the measure requires employers to provide earned paid sick leave and protect workers’ rights to opt out of mandatory “captive audience” meetings on political or religious topics at work (see below).
Missouri: In another win for low-wage workers, voters passed Proposition A to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. The measure also requires employers to provide earned paid sick leave (see below). The Missouri Budget Project (a member organization of EPI’s EARN network) estimates the measure will raise wages for over 560,000 Missouri workers and provide paid sick leave to nearly 730,000 workers.
California: As of this writing, Proposition 32 is too close to call. If passed, the proposition would increase the state’s minimum wage to $18 per hour and tie future increases to inflation. In that case, California would have the highest state minimum wage in the nation (though one that still falls short of the state’s average living wage of $32.81). According to the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (a member organization of EPI’s EARN network), the proposed increase would raise wages for about 2 million Californians who currently work full time but earn less than $18 per hour.
Glendale, Arizona: Proposition 499, an ambitious local proposal to raise the minimum wage for hotel and event center workers to $20 an hour (with annual increases) and set various standards for hotel work hours, did not pass. The proposal would have also created a new city Department of Labor Standards dedicated to investigating employer violations such as wage theft and overtime violations. Though this measure did not succeed, it does provide an innovate policy model for other local governments to consider.
Tipped minimum wage
While the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25, the federal “tipped minimum” wage remains $2.13 per hour. As a result, employers of tipped workers can rely on customers to pay the bulk of wages for tipped staff. Even as most states have now enacted minimum wages above the federal $7.25 per hour, many still maintain exceptionally low tipped minimum wages.
Arizona: Voters rejected Proposition 138 in a win for tipped workers. If passed, it would have lowered the state’s tipped minimum wage, contradicting the national trend toward raising the minimum wage and eliminating gaps between tipped and non-tipped hourly workers.
Massachusetts: In one exception to the overall trend of voter approval for state measures to raise wages, Question 5 failed in the face of heavy opposition from the restaurant industry. If passed, the measure would have gradually increased the minimum wage for tipped employees to meet the state’s standard minimum wage ($15) over the course of five years. Massachusetts will maintain its tipped minimum wage.
Paid Leave
Absent federal action, a growing number of states and localities have expanded workers’ ability to earn paid sick leave to care for themselves and their families. This year, voters passed ballot measures to further that expansion in three states.
Alaska’s successful minimum wage measure (see above) included a provision requiring employers to allow employees to accrue paid sick leave (up to 40 hours per year at businesses with fewer than 15 employees and up to 56 hours per year for larger employers).
Missouri’s successful minimum wage measure (see above) included a provision requiring employers to allow employees to accrue paid sick leave at a rate of one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked.
Nebraska: Amendment 436 passed, which requires businesses to offer earned paid sick leave to employees. Small businesses with fewer than 20 employees will be required to allow employees to accrue up to five paid sick days a year, while employees of larger businesses will be entitled to up to seven days.
Workers’ Rights
Due to longstanding gaps and exclusions in federal labor law, far too many U.S. workers either still lack any legal pathway to a union contract or face daunting obstacles to exercising their rights to unionize. Multiple successful ballot initiatives this year showed that in the absence of federal labor law reform, state and local governments can play key roles in ensuring more workers gain full union and collective bargaining rights.
Alaska: In addition to regulations on minimum wage and paid sick leave, Alaska’s successful Ballot Measure 1 bans mandatory captive audience meetings. Alaska now joins eight other states that have enacted laws to prevent employers from requiring employees to listen to political, religious, or anti-union employer views on work time.
Denver, Colorado: A large majority of voters approved Question 2U, a local ordinance to extend collective bargaining rights to 7,000 municipal workers. While Colorado has enacted legislation granting collective bargaining rights to some state and county employees in recent years, other local government workers still lack this protection in the state.
New Orleans, Louisiana: Voters passed a “Workers Bill of Rights” amendment to the city charter that articulates rights such as access to fair wages, paid leave and health care, and the right to unionize. The measure sets out an aspirational framework for encouraging (and potentially incentivizing) local employers to improve job quality but does not set mandates to raise wages or improve working conditions since local governments in Louisiana are blocked from enacting such policies under state preemption laws.
Massachusetts: Voters passed Question 3, which creates a unique state-level framework that rideshare drivers could use to form organizations authorized to bargain with rideshare companies over wages and working conditions, without addressing the question of drivers’ legal status as employees. Rideshare companies have long fought to keep drivers classified as independent contractors as this exempts them from the protections of many state and federal laws, including the right to unionize under the federal National Labor Relations Act.
Oregon: Voters passed Measure 119, which helps protect cannabis workers’ right to unionize by requiring employers to sign a “labor peace agreement” in order to receive a license to operate in the state. Such agreements stipulate that employers will not interfere with organizing efforts if workers choose to unionize.
Reproductive Rights
The right to an abortion is a matter of economic security, independence, and mobility for millions of women across the country. People who are denied abortion access are more likely to live in poverty, be unemployed, and face other adverse economic outcomes.
Ten states had measures on the ballot this November that would provide a state constitutional right to abortion, the majority of which succeeded. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, and Nevada passed these measures, enshrining this crucial right in state law.
In New York, voters passed Proposal 1 to expand the state constitution’s Equal Protection Clause to protect people from discrimination (including in the workplace) regardless of “ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability” or “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.” Though the amendment does not include the word “abortion,” it provides safeguards for those who seek them.
On the other side, voters in South Dakota rejected their proposed amendment for a constitutional right to abortion. Voters in Nebraska faced competing initiatives this year but rejected wins for abortion rights on both counts. Initiative 439 (which would provide a fundamental right to abortion) failed, whereas Initiative 434 passed (which would prohibit abortion after the first trimester with limited exceptions). Finally, in Florida, 57% of voters favored their amendment to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution, falling just short of the 60% threshold needed to pass.
Criminal Justice
– Constitutional amendments to abolish slavery
Many state constitutions retain similar language to the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amendment, which prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. The Abolish Slavery National Network and other civil rights advocates argue that extremely low-paid (or, in some cases, unpaid) forced work in U.S. prisons amounts to modern slavery. Incarcerated workers are not only exempt from minimum wage laws but are also denied overtime protection, workplace safety guarantees, and the right to unionize. Closing these loopholes is a first step toward establishing basic rights for the incarcerated workforce.
Both California and Nevada proposed ballot measures to remove language in their state constitutions permitting slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. Voters in Nevada passed Question 4, joining eight other states that have passed ballot measures to abolish slavery in prisons in recent years. A similar proposal in California, Proposition 6, is still too close to call. If passed, it would also directly prohibit prisons from punishing incarcerated people who refuse to work.
– Criminalizing immigration
Arizona: In a significant loss for immigrants’ rights, Proposition 314 passed. This damaging, anti-immigrant law triggered several changes to the state’s criminal and immigration law, including making it a state crime for noncitizens to enter the state at any location other than official ports or for an individual in the country illegally to submit false information to apply for a job. The changes also empower state courts and law enforcement to initiate and carry out deportation proceedings.
School vouchers
School vouchers divert public funds to private and religious schools. Despite widespread evidence documenting that vouchers are a failed policy that damage public schools, deepen inequality, and weaken student educational outcomes, state efforts to expand voucher programs remain a central feature of the relentless campaign to defund and then privatize public education.
Voters rejected school vouchers in every state with a measure on the ballot.
Colorado: Voters rejected Amendment 80, which would have provided for a state constitutional “right to school choice” for K–12 students and established the groundwork for private school vouchers. The Colorado Fiscal Institute (a member organization of EPI’s EARN network) found that vouchers would have cost the state at least $640 million.
Kentucky: A majority of voters in every county in the state rejected Amendment 2, which would have allowed the state legislature to provide state funding to K–12 students outside of public schools. The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (a member organization of EPI’s EARN network) found that passing the amendment and creating a state subsidy program for private schools could have cost the state $1.19 billion, equivalent to the cost of employing 9,869 Kentucky public school teachers and employees.
Nebraska: Voters approved Referendum 435, repealing a state law that allowed the state to spend up to $10 million a year on subsidizing tuition for K–12 students who attend private schools.