California voters dealt a decisive rejection to a ballot measure that would have made it easier to raise property taxes by getting around Proposition 13.
Proposition 5 was resoundingly defeated in the November 5 election after being placed on the ballot by the state legislature. It would have cut the vote threshold needed to approve local bonds (debt) from 66.7% down to just 55%.
“Bonds are the method that local governments use to borrow money,” HJTA President Jon Coupal said. “Since the 1879 California Constitution, local debt has required the approval of two-thirds of the local electorate. Proposition 5 would have removed this long-standing taxpayer protection, which is also a core element of Proposition 13.”
While an amendment passed in 2000 (Prop. 39) allows school bonds to pass with 55% approval, all other local bonds require two-thirds. Proposition 5 would have expanded that lower threshold to all bonds for “infrastructure,” broadly defined, as well as government-funded housing projects and programs.
Defeating Proposition 5 was the number one priority of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in the November election. The measure, which was called Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1 in the legislature, was proposed repeatedly by Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry for several years before finally gaining the votes to be placed on the ballot.
HJTA’s 2023 Legislative Report Card graded lawmakers on their vote on ACA 1. The Report Card can be found at hjta.org/legislation/report-cards.
During an October webinar with supporters, Aguiar-Curry said she intended to come back again with a proposal to cut the vote threshold needed to pass special taxes from two-thirds to 55%, a direct attack on Proposition 13.
“This defeat should send a strong message that voters will not tolerate any effort to gut Proposition 13,” Coupal said.
Over 56% of California voters were saying “no” to Prop. 5, a margin of more than 1 million votes, as Taxing Times went to press. For final election results in all races, go to hjta.org/November-2024.