HJTA FILES INITIATIVE TO SAVE PROP. 13

In the wake of state court decisions that opened a loophole in Proposition 13 and made it easier to raise taxes, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has filed a new initiative with the California Attorney General’s office that would place a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot to close the loophole.

The Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Prop. 13 will restore the requirement that local special taxes, those that earmark the revenue for a specific purpose, must go on the ballot and be approved by two-thirds of voters in order to pass.

A 2017 state Supreme Court decision, California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland, contained ambiguous language suggesting that if a tax increase is put on the ballot by a citizens’ initiative instead of by a government body, such as a city council, then the state constitution does not apply and the two-thirds vote isn’t needed.

This is a frontal assault on Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 initiative that limits tax increases and protects Californians from being taxed out of their property. In addition to controlling property taxes, Prop. 13 made it harder to raise other taxes.

The effort by special interests to undermine Prop. 13 began immediately, and ever since, taxpayers have been in a battle over whether it will or will not be easier to raise taxes. The “Upland” decision is the latest attack on Prop. 13’s protections.

The Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Prop. 13 will close the “Upland” loophole. It also will end the unconstitutional tax increases related to property ownership that courts have so far allowed to go into effect. One of these is the massive real estate transfer tax in the City of Los Angeles, Measure ULA. This and similar taxes will “sunset” two years after HJTA's initiative passes.

In order to qualify The Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Prop. 13 for the November 2026 ballot, HJTA must collect a minimum of 874,641 signatures of registered California voters by approximately January 1. We will aim to collect about 1.3 million total signatures to ensure that we have more than enough valid signatures to qualify.

This is where we need your help to Save Prop. 13.

You can sign the petition right now, if you have a computer and printer available. Go to SaveProp13.com and click “Sign the Petition.” Download the petition, which comes with complete instructions and a clip-and-tape mailing label for your convenience. Print the petition. Then simply write in your name and residential address, sign the petition, and fill out and sign the Declaration of Circulator to legally verify that you saw the voter (you) sign it. The Declaration of Circulator is a state requirement, and without it, the signatures on that petition will not count.

You can also be the Circulator of the petition signed by another voter, verifying that you saw that person sign the petition. You can circulate an unlimited number of petitions for other voters to sign. There’s room for two voters who live in the same county to sign each petition. Please remind them to write the residential address where they are registered to vote; otherwise, their signature will not count. As long as you witness them signing the petition, you can fill out the Declaration of Circulator, or they can do it themselves.

If you don’t have access to a computer and printer, call our offices in Sacramento at 916-444-9950, or Los Angeles at 213-384-9656, or email info@HJTA.org, and we’ll be happy to mail the petition to you.

Please share the SaveProp13.com link with your friends, family, coworkers and anyone you meet who is tired of paying tax after tax after tax. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is taking action to protect Californians from higher taxes. We greatly appreciate your support of this important effort.

Thank you!

Contributions to Protect Proposition 13 are not tax-deductible.
Paid for by Protect Prop. 13, a project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Committee’s Top Funder California Business Roundtable.