Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Connie Juarez-Diroll, Chief Legislative Officer
Subject: Resolution Opposing Proposition 43
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution opposing Proposition 43, a state ballot measure that would increase the threshold for approving voter-initiated special tax measures that fund local government services to require approval of two-thirds of voters.
body
BACKGROUND:
In 1978, voters approved Proposition 13, which specified limits on property tax rates and established voter-approval requirements for certain local taxes. Subsequently adopted constitutional limits further specify that special taxes, which are imposed by a local government for specific purposes, require approval by two-thirds of voters. General taxes, which are imposed by a local government for general governmental purposes, require approval by a majority of voters.
Under current law, special taxes imposed by voter or citizen initiative do not require approval of two-thirds of the voters and are instead subject to approval by a majority.
Counties may adopt a position on the merits of a ballot measure, or proposed measure, so long as it does not use public funds or other resources to mount a campaign supporting or opposing the measure. (Vargas v. City of Salinas (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1, 36; see also League of Women Voters of California v. Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee (1988) 203 Cal.App.3d 529 (authorizing endorsement of a statewide measure at a public meeting).
DISCUSSION:
Proposition 43 would amend the state Constitution to require that all local special taxes receive approval from two-thirds of voters, regardless of whether the tax is imposed by a local government or by voters through the initiative process. This provision would effectively reverse the decision of the California Supreme Court in California Cannabis Coalition v....
Click here for full text