Released on December 9, 2025
Local Taxpayer Protection Act initiative reaches 25% threshold for signatures
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association announced today that the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 (Initiative 25-0006A1) has collected 25% of the required signatures needed to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot.
The initiative would restore the two-thirds vote requirement to pass all local special taxes, closing a loophole opened by the California Supreme Court in its 2017 decision in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland. The court’s ambiguous language has allowed tax increases proposed by a citizens’ initiative to pass with a simple majority, even though the same measure proposed by a city or county government would need a two-thirds vote.
In addition, the Local Taxpayer Protection Act would ban and “sunset” all real estate transfer taxes higher than 0.11%. This includes the so-called “Mansion Tax” in the city of Los Angeles, which is as high as 5.5%.
The initiative, a proposed constitutional amendment, needs about 875,000 valid signatures of California registered voters by February 25 to qualify for the 2026 ballot.
“We are pleased that the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association together with allies in the business community have made strong progress toward qualifying this initiative for the ballot to protect California taxpayers,” said HJTA president Jon Coupal. “When voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978 and Proposition 218 in 1996, they placed important limitations on tax increases, and for good reason. Courts have eroded taxpayer protections through the years, and we are committed to restoring the rights that Californians wrote into their state constitution.”
The initiative petition can be downloaded and printed at SaveProp13.com.
For More Information:
Jon Coupal, President, HJTA; 916-444-9950, jon@hjta.org
Susan Shelley, VP, Communications; 213-384-9656; susan@hjta.org
About the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is a member-supported nonprofit organization that fights for the interests of taxpayers and to secure the constitutional taxpayer protections voters have adopted through the initiative process, beginning with Proposition 13 in 1978. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation, a 501(c)(3), funds the organization’s legal and educational work. More information at hjta.org.