
Proposition 16 was a proposed state constitutional amendment in the US state of California which was rejected by a majority of voters on 3 November 2020. The proposition would have repealed the state's 1996 Proposition 209, which - modelled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - outlawed discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, or ethnicity in public employment, public contracting, and public education. The supporters of the proposition, including several corporations (such as the Golden State Warriors, the San Francisco 49ers and Giants, AirBnB, Facebook, Lyft, Reddit, Twitter, Uber, United Airlines, and Wells Fargo) and non-profit groups (such as the ACLU, Anti-Defamation League, American Beverage Association, the California Asian, Hispanic, and Black Chambers of Commerce, the NAACP, the Los Angeles and San Francisco Chambers of Commerce, and the National Organization for Women), opposed Proposition 209's ban on public-sector affirmative action, although the US Supreme Court had previously found hiring quotas unconstitutional in 1978's Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke. While the proposition received the support of progressive Democrats and the African-American community, it was opposed by Asian-Americans of all political persuasions (on the grounds that repealing the bill would lead to "positive discrimination" against Asian-Americans, who were "overrepresented" in California's public colleges and universities) and conservative Republicans. By 6 November, it was estimated that the proposition had failed with just 43.9% of the vote to 56.1% against.