Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles Voting Slate: Candidate Endorsements Election: Tuesday

General Election “Key” Dates

Tim Gaspar – Council District 3

Jose Ugarte – Council District 9

John McKinney – City Attorney

City of Santa Monica Ballot Measures

Would allow the state to sell $11.25 billion in bonds to fund various affordable housing programs. Of that total amount, $1.25 billion would go toward veteran housing, while the rest would fund rental homes, homeownership programs, farmworker housing, affordable student housing, tribal housing and more. The bond is expected to help fund up to 40,000 multifamily rental units, while also helping another 40,000 households buy a home. The California Legislature put this measure on the ballot.

Would allow the state to deposit up to 20% of its general fund tax revenue in the state’s reserves, up from the current ceiling of 10%. The deposits would not count toward the voter-approved Gann Limit, which caps the amount state lawmakers can spend each year and requires excess funds to be returned to the people. It also authorizes spending some tax revenue to pay down California’s $20 billion federal unemployment insurance debt. The California Legislature placed this measure on the ballot.

Would make income taxes on higher earners permanent to fund education and healthcare. The tax, first enacted in 2012, is set to expire in 2031. Under the measure, income taxes for top earners range from 10.3% (for individual income over $360,000) to 12.3% (for individual income over $721,000), with graduated rates in between. Eighty-nine percent of the money goes to K-12 public schools and 11% goes to community colleges, with any excess going to public healthcare. The tax typically raises $5 billion to $15 billion a year — about 3% to 10% of overall K-12 spending. The California Teachers Association put this measure on the ballot.

Would authorize California’s state and local governments to establish public campaign funds for candidates if they choose to. It would reverse a 1988 ban on such systems for the state and most local governments. Currently, only five California cities have public financing for local offices, including Berkeley and San Francisco. The California Legislature put this measure on the ballot.

Would delay replacing recalled state officials. Under current law, after choosing whether to recall an elected official, voters are asked who should replace them. This constitutional amendment, placed on the ballot by state lawmakers, would delay the election of a successor until a separate election. The recalled officer would be allowed to run in that election. If the governor is recalled, the lieutenant governor would take over their duties until a new governor is elected. The California Legislature put this measure on the ballot.

Would create low-cost mortgages for homebuyers. California’s Housing Finance Agency would be able (but not required) to borrow up to $25 billion to help would-be homebuyers purchase newly constructed houses and condos. These loans could provide up to 17% of a home’s purchase price, leaving buyers with a cash down payment of 3% if paired with a typical mortgage — $24,000 for an $800,000 home. Homebuyers would repay the loan in monthly installments to private lenders. Anyone earning up to twice the area’s median income would be eligible. Private lenders, not taxpayers, would be on the hook if homebuyers default. It was placed on the ballot by a coalition of real estate interests and labor unions.

Would create an $8.4 billion bond largely to fund research into fighting cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, plus other diseases that can be treated through immunotherapies. Half the money would go to a research institute affiliated with the University of California. The other half would be distributed to select public universities and nonprofits. Drugs created through this research would have to be discounted at 20% for Californians and 10% of any revenue from the drugs would go back to the state general fund. Philanthropist and medical inventor Gary Michelson put this measure on the ballot.

Would require voters to show government-issued identification at the polls and order election officials to verify that all registered voters are U.S. citizens. Voters who cast a mail-in ballot would need to give the last four digits of a government ID, such as a driver’s license number. California currently requires residents to provide an identification card and Social Security number to register to vote, but does not request it at polling places. It was placed on the ballot by conservative groups.

The Billionaire Tax Act would require the estimated 200 Californians whose net worth exceeded $1 billion at the start of this year to pay a one-time 5% tax. Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the group that put the measure on the ballot, projects that it would raise roughly $100 billion over five years. That money would be earmarked primarily for healthcare, with some reserved for food assistance and education. If propositions 41 or 42 earn more votes than Proposition 40, this measure would be nullified.

Would make it harder to pass new special taxes by requiring the state auditor to review any special tax proposal before it goes to voters. The auditor would assess whether the program that would receive funding could cut spending by at least 10% annually. Any new special tax approved by voters would count toward California’s spending limit, potentially triggering automatic refunds that reduce funding for other state programs. If this proposition receives more votes than Proposition 40 (a wealth tax on billionaires), Proposition 40 is nullified, even if Proposition 40 also passes. It was placed on the ballot by opponents of the proposed billionaire tax.

Would make it much harder to create a wealth tax in California by prohibiting new taxes on the mere ownership of assets such as investment accounts, business interests and personal property — assets that are typically only taxed when they are sold or generate income. Like Proposition 41, which also attempts to block Proposition 40 (a wealth tax on billionaires), Proposition 42 would nullify Proposition 40 if it receives more votes, even if the billionaire tax also passes. It was placed on the ballot by opponents of the proposed billionaire tax.

In a deal struck between the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and legislators June 25, the measure would restore the voter threshold for citizen-led initiatives for new local special taxes, from a simple majority to two-thirds. Limits real estate transfer taxes to 1.5%. It restores Prop. 13’s two-thirds vote requirement to pass local special taxes. Prop. 43 closes the court-created “Upland” loophole that has allowed special interest groups to write their own tax increases, direct the money to themselves, collect signatures to place them on the ballot and then evade the two-thirds vote requirement. Because of this loophole, Californians are paying billions of dollars in taxes that they should not have had to pay.

The measure, backed by the SEIU-UHW — would require community clinics that serve low-income patients to spend 90% of their annual revenue on patient care. The measure directs the attorney general to publish guidance on what spending qualifies and allows the state to fine clinics that don’t spend the full 90%. The labor union Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West put it on the ballot after pushing a similar bill last year that failed. Clinics failed to keep the measure off the ballot with a lawsuit earlier this year.

Would limit reviews under the state’s landmark environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act. Placed on the ballot by the California Chamber of Commerce, the measure aims to help developers advance projects they designate as “essential” more quickly and easily. It would impose a 365-day limit on environmental reviews for those projects, including infrastructure like roads and bridges, housing, schools, broadband and wildfire mitigation. It would also require courts to rule within 270 days on lawsuits related to the environmental review law.