California has more billionaires than any other state and an abundance of direct democracy. Those two facts intersect during election season, when spending by wealthy donors helps determine which initiatives make it on the ballot, and how many TV commercials and mailers campaigns can buy.

Their donations carry the potential to influence state policy for years to come. Here’s a look at three high rollers influencing California’s statewide ballot in November.

Tom Steyer: The San Francisco billionaire, who left the hedge-fund world a few years ago to devote himself to Democratic politics and environmental causes, is now the biggest individual donor to a super PAC in the nation. He’s put $38 million into a committee running ads against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and working to register new voters in battleground states.

Even though blue California isn’t a swing state, Steyer is digging deep here, too. He’s spent $1.6 million on a drive to register new voters, including young adults and people of color, whose lack of participation Steyer calls a “threat to democracy.”

There’s speculation that he plans to run for governor in two years. Steyer said he’ll make that call after the election.

In a state with a long list of liberal ballot measures, Steyer and his political organization, NextGen Climate group, are boosting some of the most progressive causes. He has given $1 million to Proposition 56, which would raise cigarette taxes by $2 a pack to fund the Medi-Cal health plan for the poor, and $50,000 to Proposition 67, which would ban plastic shopping bags.

NextGen even gave $61,000 to a campaign opposing money in politics. Proposition 59 asks voters if they want elected officials to take steps to repeal Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed unions and corporations to spend unlimited sums on political campaigns.

Charles Munger Jr.: A physicist who lives in Palo Alto, Munger is California’s biggest Republican donor and the son of a corporate billionaire.

In addition to funding GOP candidates, Munger has a history of supporting ballot measures that have gradually altered the state’s political landscape by chipping away at power held by Democrats and their allies in organized labor. He contributed to measures that created a neutral body to redraw legislative and congressional districts and paved the way for the state’s open primary system.

This year, Munger has poured $7.9 million into Proposition 54, which goes after the Legislature’s practice of writing and passing some bills at the last minute without giving the public much chance to weigh in. The measure would require that all bills be published at least 72 hours before a vote.

“No one citizen benefits from transparency so much that they would take the Legislature on over this, but everyone will benefit considerably, so it’s worthwhile doing this as a form of philanthropy,” Munger said.

Munger is the sole financial donor to Prop. 54, prompting critics to say that the measure is not about philanthropy but about evening the political playing field for Republicans and their business allies. With Democrats holding a solid majority in the Legislature, last-minute maneuvers typically pass despite Republican objections.

Munger noted that in 2006, when Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate, a Democratic senator wrote a bill to require that all legislation be in print for 72 hours before a vote. That senator? Barack Obama.

Sean Parker: The billionaire founder of Napster and first president of Facebook, Parker has contributed $400,000 to Proposition 63, a gun-control measure, and $7.5 million to support Proposition 64, which would legalize recreational marijuana.

Both initiatives are backed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was a guest at Parker’s 2013 wedding — a lavish Big Sur bash that infuriated environmentalists because it involved building a dance floor and other construction near an ancient redwood forest. Parker has given Newsom more than $56,000 for his 2018 run for governor.

Parker did not respond to an interview request. Prop. 64 spokesman Jason Kinney said in a statement that Parker supports making marijuana use legal for adults as “an important cause for social justice.”

CALmatters is a nonprofit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies and politics. For more stories by Laurel Rosenhall, go to www.calmatters.org/newsanalysis.