Reed Hastings, the 54-year-old Netflix chief executive, and Sean Parker, the 34-year-old former co-founder of Napster, have donated a combined $1.6 million in support of California ballot measures before voters head to Tuesday's election.

Parker gave a combined $1 million for Propositions 1 and 2. The former measure authorizes $7.2 billion in bonds for the parched state to pay for water-supply projects. Proposition 2 concerns how the Golden State pays its debts.

For his part, Hastings gave $250,000 to Proposition 1 and another $246,664 to a voter ballot measure that would cut penalties for one in five criminals in the Golden State, campaign finance records show. Parker also gave $100,000 to support Proposition 47, according to data supplied by Maplight, a nonprofit in Berkeley, California that chronicles campaign financing.

"It's an example of how the increase in wealth and the influence of the technology industry has grown that you see wealthy technology executives getting involved and seeking to influence public policy," said Maplight President Daniel G. Newman.

The most controversial measure the two are backing is Proposition 47. If approved by voters Tuesday, the voter initiative would reduce incarceration penalties for a variety of crimes, including shoplifting, forgery, petty theft, writing bad checks, and drug possession. According to data supplied by Maplight, Hastings is the sixth largest donor backing the measure that has taken in nearly $5.2 million from supporters. The top backer is George Soros' Open Society Policy Center, which has given more than $1.46 million to the measure that backers say would save the state hundreds of millions in incarceration costs.

The contribution from Hastings amounts to more than half of what the anti-Proposition 47 camp has garnered. Opponents, mostly police officer associations and prosecutors who say the measure would minimize crime, have generated $429,500 against the measure, according to the Maplight data.

Parker is the second-largest donor for the committee that supports both Propositions 1 and 2. California Gov. Jerry Brown's committee came in first, with $3.367 million in funding for those measures.

When it comes to donating political money, both Hastings and Parker have big wallets and aren't afraid to use them. Last year, Hastings gave nearly a half million dollars to charter schools and another $1.2 million the year before, according to the San Jose Mercury News. In 2012, he gave $1 million to a ballot measure that raised California's sales tax and $250,000 to an initiative to abolish California's death penalty. The latter measure failed.

In 2011, Parker—now a main investor in startup Brigade Media of San Francisco—gave $100,000 to Ed Lee, the San Francisco mayor. The year before, he gave the same for a California voter initiative that, had it passed, would have legalized marijuana. He gave $50,000 to Brown this year and $13,600 to California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

A USC/Los Angeles Times poll published Sunday showed 56 percent of likely voters supporting Proposition 47, with 27 percent opposing it. A Public Policy Institute of California survey last month found that 56 percent of likely voters supported Proposition 1. About 32 percent were opposed. About 49 percent of voters said they supported Proposition 2, with 34 percent opposing.

Neither Hastings nor Parker immediately responded for comment.