State propositions providing better living conditions for farm animals and funds for children's hospitals were approved by voters in Tuesday's election, but voters rejected a proposition to reduce parole for nonviolent drug offenders and provide funding for treatment, preliminary results show.

As of press time, unofficial returns showed two environmental propositions and parental notification of abortions were all losing by narrow margins, while the effort to change the way legislative districts are drawn up and a proposal for a high speed train between Los Angeles and San Francisco were narrowly passing.

Proposition 2, which prohibits farms from caging chickens, calves, and pregnant pigs in ways that prevent them from lying down, stretching their appendages, or turning around, won with 63 percent of the vote. Other states have eliminated calf and pig crates, but California is the first to free chickens. Violating the statute would be a misdemeanor punishable by $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Although the battle over Prop 2 wasn't as high profile as the battle over marriage equality, $14 million was spent on the campaign and Oprah Winfrey dedicated an entire show to it.

Proposition 3, the children's hospital bond, raises $980,000,000 in bonds, to be repaid from the state's general fund, to finance the construction, remodeling, and renovation of childrenÕs hospitals. It had been in a neck-and-neck battle very early in the evening before winning with about 55 percent of the vote.

The three propositions that supporters said would be boons to the environment and reduce dependence on foreign oil fared badly. Proposition 7, requiring all utility suppliers to procure half their power from renewable resources by 2025, lost with about 65 percent of voters against it and 35 percent in favor. Critics said the law was poorly written and could run many small energy providers out of business. It was opposed by the Sierra Club, major utility companies, and every major newspaper.

Proposition 10, which would have subsidized the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles and research and production of renewable energy technology, was seen by opponents as a $10 billion drain on the state budget over a 30-year period and lost by roughly the same margin, 60 percent to 40 percent.

"California voters didn't fall for a Texas oil tycoon's $10 billion money grab, no matter how much he spent camouflaging it as green," said Richard Holober, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California and spokesperson for No on Prop 10, referring to oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens. "The defeat of Prop 10 sends a signal that California's ballot initiative process is not for sale to the highest bidder."

The most ambitious project on the ballot Tuesday was Proposition 1A, and it was winning by about the same numbers as marriage equality was losing, 52 percent to 48 percent. It called for a $9.95 million general obligation bond to partly fund an 800-mile, $40 billion high-speed train running between San Francisco and Los Angeles. To be completed in 2030, it was expected to cut travel time between the two cities to two hours and 40 minutes.

That initiative has been kicking around in one form or another for the past four years. Politicians, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), all backed the proposition, as did the cities of Sacramento, San Jose, and San Mateo and the California Democratic Party, and it was endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times. It was opposed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the Libertarian Party of California, the Oakland Tribune, the Sacramento Bee , the Orange County Register , and the San Diego Union Tribune . Eighty percent of the vote in San Francisco backed the train.

Proposition 4, which would require a 48-hour waiting period after a physician notifies a minor's parents about a pregnancy before an abortion could be performed, was being rejected by about a 5-point margin. Similar propositions had previously lost in 2005 and 2006.

Hanging on by the narrowest of margins was Proposition 11, which would create a 14-member commission to draw up legislative districts, taking that task away from the legislators themselves. Opposed by the state Democratic Party and rejected by 64 percent of San Francisco voters, it was winning 50.5 percent to 49.5 Wednesday morning with about 5 percent of precincts still to report.