Bills that threaten homeowners and small businesses are currently moving through the legislature!
The new Legislature is dominated by pro-tax politicians who have a two-thirds supermajority in Sacramento. Bills that undermine the taxpayer protections in Proposition 13 have been introduced and are being heard in committees. If approved, these bills could cost every property owner thousands of dollars annually.
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As one of the largest grassroots anti-tax organizations in the nation, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association relies on the support of our Members, which allows us to influence legislation and protect taxpayers. Please use “Contact Your Representative” to the left of this page to urge your representative to support taxpayers when voting on the following important bills.
NOTE TO HJTA MEMBERS: For an updated status on any of these bills, please go to http://leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html and type in the bill number in the space provided. For questions regarding a position on a bill, please contact HJTA Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at scott@hjta.org.
Tell your representatives that you oppose these bills, which attack your Proposition 13 protections.
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Check back often to see the latest threats to Proposition 13 and to learn how you can fight back.
| HJTA Position | Bill | Topic | Status | Author | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposed | ACA 1 | Local government financing: affordable housing and public infrastructure: voter approval | Pending Referral | Cecilia Aguiar-Curry | ACA 1 repeals one of the most important protections in Proposition 13 by lowering the existing two-thirds vote threshold for both local bonds and special taxes to 55 percent for a myriad of purposes. | Assembly |
| Opposed | ACA 3 | Wealth tax: appropriation limits. | Pending Referral | Alex Lee | ACA 3 authorizes the Legislature to impose a tax on all forms of personal property or wealth, whether tangible or intangible, and classify any form of personal property or wealth for differential taxation or for exemption by a majority vote. Also effectively undoes the Gann Limit. | Assembly |
| Opposed | ACA 11 | State tax agency. | Pending Referral | Phil Ting | ACA 11 would abolish the elected State Board of Equalization and transfer the administration of property taxes to unelected bureaucrats in the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. | Assembly |
| HJTA Position | Bill | Topic | Status | Author | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oppose | AB 259 | Wealth Tax: False Claims Act. | Pending Referral | Alex Lee | AB 259 imposes a 1 to 1.5 percent tax on the “worldwide net worth” of California’s wealthiest residents. However, ACA 3 contains no such limitation. Unconstrained by spending limits or a two-thirds vote requirement, the Legislature could move these brackets down to hit average taxpayers at any time. | Assembly |
| Oppose | AB 362 | Real property taxation: land value taxation study. | Pending Referral | Alex Lee | AB 362 would require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to "study" abolishing Prop. 13 and replacing it with a land value tax. | Assembly |
| Oppose | SB 532 | Ballot measures: local taxes. | In Committee Process | Scott Wiener | SB 532 removes the requirement that all local tax and bond measures disclose in the ballot label the rate of the tax, its duration, and amount of money to be raised. | Senate |
| Position | Bill | Topic | Status | Author | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opposed | AB 85 (2021-2022) | Budget Act of 2020 | Approved by the Governor. | Phil Ting | Retroactively changes the Budget Act of 2020 to allow a diversion of $35 million in state and federal money to a partisan and politically-connected consulting firm. | Secretary of State |
| Supported | AB 398 (2021-2022) | Department of Motor Vehicles: records | Approved by the Governor. | Vince Fong | Would prohibit the Department of Motor Vehicles from selling information from its records while also ensuring that the department cannot issue charges that exceed a service’s cost. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | AB 428 (2021-2022) | Local government: board of supervisors | Approved by the Governor. | Chad Mayes | Limits the ability of voters to impose term limits and set compensation levels for county supervisors. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | AB 1177 (2021-2022) | California Public Banking Option Act | Approved by the Governor. | Miguel Santiago | Establishes a taxpayer-funded public bank to offer access to zero-fee, zero-penalty, federally insured transaction account and debit card services at no cost to account holders. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 9 (2021-2022) | Housing development: approvals | Approved by the Governor. | Toni Atkins | While owner-occupied homes in single-family zones will likely not see reassessment from SB9, there’s a possibility that tenant-occupied homes, and owner-occupied homes not in single-family zones, could face a challenge to the valuation when sold. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 10 (2021-2022) | Planning and zoning: housing development: density. | Approved by the Governor. | Scott Wiener | Authorizes a local government to adopt an ordinance to zone any parcel for up to 10 units if certain considerations are met and overrides HOA agreements and voter initiatives that prohibited or limited such development. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 29 (2021-2022) | Elections: vote by mail ballots | Approved by the Governor. | Tom Umberg | Should be amended to require that technology be employed to assist in the maintenance of accurate and current voter registration records. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 85 (2021-2022) | Budget Act of 2020 | Approved by the Governor. | Nancy Skinner | Retroactively changes the Budget Act of 2020 to allow a diversion of $35 million in state and federal money meant to help counties cover the costs of holding an election during a pandemic to a partisan and politically connected consulting firm. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 93 (2021-2022) | Employment: rehiring and retention: displaced workers: COVID-19 pandemic | Approved by the Governor. | Nancy Skinner | Beyond the inclusion of a $6 million appropriation from the Labor and Workforce Development Fund, this is a budget bill that has nothing to do with the budget. | Secretary of State |
| Supported | SB 219 (2021-2022) | Property taxation: delinquent penalties and costs: cancellation: public health orders | Approved by the Governor. | Mike McGuire | Would authorize the auditor or the tax collector to cancel any penalty, costs or other charges resulting from a missed property tax payment due to a documented hardship caused by the shelter-in-place order if certain considerations are met. | Secretary of State |
| Supported | SB 274 (2021-2022) | Local government meetings: agenda and documents | Approved by the Governor. | Bob Wieckowski | Would require local agencies to make agendas and all the documents constituting the agenda packet available by Email at the request of a member of the public. | Secretary of State |
| Support | SB 303 (2021-2022) | Property taxation: transfer of base year value: disaster relief | Approved by the Governor. | Andreas Borgeas | Extends the five-year time period under existing tax law to transfer base year value to a comparable property following a disaster by a further two years due to the hardships created by the COVID-19 pandemic and government-imposed lockdown. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 323 (2021-2022) | Local government: water or sewer service: legal actions | Approved by the Governor. | Anna Caballero | A direct attack on Proposition 218 that seeks to destroy the rights hard-won for taxpayers in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. City of La Habra. | Secretary of State |
| Opposed | SB 660 (2021-2022) | Initiative, referendum, and recall petitions: compensation for signatures | Vetoed by the Governor. | Josh Newman | All SB 660 would do is drive up the cost of getting measures on the ballot. This favors wealthy and entrenched interests. | Veto sustained. |
| Supported | SB 675 (2021-2022) | Property taxation: monthly installment payments. | Vetoed by the Governor. | Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh | Authorizes a County Board of Supervisors, if they so choose, to allow property owners either over the age of 62, or those individuals on SSID regardless of age, to pay their property tax in monthly installments. | Veto sustained. |