REPORT FROM THE CAPITOL

By David Wolfe, HJTA Legislative Director

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 right 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 David Wolfe at david@hjta.org.

Urgent Action Required | Active Bills | Taxpayer Victories and Defeats


HJTA PositionBill NumberTopicStatus
OpposeAB 656 California Higher Education Endowment Corporation: oil and gas severance taxAssembly Revenue and Taxation, two-year bill
Establishes a 9.9% oil and gas severance tax to fund a higher education endowment program.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Assembly Member Alberto Torrico
Contact Your Representatives
OpposeSB 88Local government: bankruptcy proceedings.Two-year bill
Prohibits local governments from declaring bankruptcy unless it is first approved by the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC). HJTA has long believed that local governments, as a matter of last resort, should have the ability to declare bankruptcy as a way to restructure union and pension contracts. Giving this authority to state agencies will place unnecessary hurdles in this process and will make difficult fiscal times for municipalities even worse.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Senator Mark DeSaulnier
Contact Your Representatives
OpposeSB 600 Cigarette and tobacco products taxes: Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Fund.Senate Revenue and Taxation, two-year bill
Places a $1.50 tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Senator Alex Padilla
Contact Your Representatives
SupportAB 1506State funds: registered warrants.In the Senate, two-year bill
Requires any state agency to accept an IOU in lieu of payment.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Assembly Member Joel Anderson
Contact Your Representatives
OpposeACA 13 Initiatives.Assembly Floor, two-year bill
Forces all ballot initiatives that have qualified for a General Election to be transferred for the Legislature for review within a 30-day period. If the Legislature declines to make changes to the measure, the number of signatures required to qualify the measure would double.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Assembly Member Ed Hernandez
Contact Your Representatives
OpposeACA 21Initiatives: constitutional amendments.Two-year bill
Any amendment proposed to the California Constitution by an initiative measure requires a two-thirds vote.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Assembly Member Charles Calderon
Contact Your Representatives
SupportACA 25Taxation: California Tax Commission.Two-year bill, Assembly Revenue and Taxation
Establishes the California Tax Commission by combining the Franchise Tax Board and the Board of Equalization.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Assembly Member Chuck DeVore
Contact Your Representatives
SupportSCA 2Revised biennial session.In Senate
Establishes a two-year budget session, where the first year would only be eligible for bills pertaining to the budget.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Senator Mark Wyland
Contact Your Representatives
OpposeSCA 5State budget.In Senate
Eliminates the two-thirds vote for the budget.

Author(s) and Committee(s):

  • Senator Loni Hancock
Contact Your Representatives
Sign up now to receive FREE tax payer updates via email.

The Howard Jarvis Heritage Society

Your planned gift can help sustain our work and give you tax advantages in return.

LEARN MORE