After Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. spent a record amount of funding on a California ballot proposition two years ago and initially won, other public companies thought they had the key to writing laws in the Golden State.
Proposition 27, which sought to legalize sports betting in California, was such a disaster that the online gaming industry spent about $108 apiece for 1.6 million “yes” votes. The measure, which lost with 83% voting no, is set to go down as one of California’s most spectacular election failures. The Mercury News initially calculated that stunning per-vote spending data.
The online-gambling concerns were not alone, however. After Lyft LYFT, -1.23% succeeded in getting Prop. 22 passed with help from rival Uber UBER, +0.28%, it decided to take another hack at establishing its own laws in California with Prop. 30, which proposed an additional 1.75% tax on those earning $2 million annually or more.
Separately, DaVita Inc. DVA, +1.51%, a kidney dialysis treatment company, spent $51 million in the second and third quarters to defeat Proposition 29, which sought to regulate kidney dialysis clinics. Their nondeductible ballot-measure spending ended up paying off for the Denver-based company. Proposition 29 lost with 69% voting no.