ACTION ALERT: We need every HJTA member to oppose the newest attack on Proposition 13, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1. This measure would make it easier to raise property tax bills by lowering the two-thirds vote for approval of local bonds and parcel taxes to just 55 percent to fund an unlimited number of infrastructure projects including affordable housing.
WHEN TO TAKE ACTION: NOW! ACA 1 will be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee Wednesday afternoon. Please call the legislators listed below and ask them to protect Proposition 13 by voting NO on ACA 1. If you live in the Sacramento area, feel free to come to the Capitol and voice your opposition to ACA 1 in person. The hearing is in Rm. 447 at 1:30 p.m.
WHY:
- Lowering the two-thirds vote for bonds and parcel taxes makes it easier to approve debt that is included “below the line” on property tax bills and is not included in Prop 13’s one percent cap. This can add hundreds of dollars a year to residential and commercial property tax bills, and last for decades.
- Parcel taxes are very regressive in that all property owners pay the same amount, regardless of the size of the home or business. Also, numerous parcel taxes have been approved since 2010 with a two-thirds vote. There’s no need to lower the threshold.
- While everybody gets to vote on local bonds and parcel taxes, only property owners pay them. We need to protect the 54 percent of Californians who own homes and continue to demand a supermajority threshold to authorize debt.
- California needs more affordable housing. But adding hundreds of dollars a year to property tax bills, when California has the 15th highest per capita state and local property tax burden in the nation, will not make either home ownership or apartment rentals more affordable.
Call the following Members of the Local Government Committee, especially if you live in the areas they represent, and urge them to oppose ACA 1:
Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (Napa, Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento) – Ms. Aguiar-Curry is the Chair of the Local Government Committee and the author of ACA 1: 916-319-2004
Richard Bloom (Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Malibu, West Hollywood, Santa Monica): 916-319-2050
Tasha Boerner Horvath (Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad, and Encinitas): 916-319-2076
James Ramos (Highland, Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, and San Bernardino): 916-319-2040
Luz Rivas (Pacoima, Arleta, San Fernando): 916-319-2039
Robert Rivas (Hollister, Gilroy, Salinas, Soledad): 916-319-2030
To find the names and contact information for your representatives in Sacramento, go to findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
Defeating ACA 1 is a top priority for your Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. In addition to urging HJTA members to call their representatives in the Assembly, we are also collecting signatures on petitions urging Assembly Members to vote NO on ACA 1. You can help by downloading and printing petitions and giving them to friends and neighbors to sign. Here’s the link where you can find a printable petition.
Thank you for your help, and for strengthening the voice of taxpayers in California. We greatly appreciate you.
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — California’s largest grass-roots taxpayer organization dedicated to the protection of Proposition 13 and the advancement of taxpayers’ rights.
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It can’t be more clear. The very same State government that insists on “affordable housing,” at the local level, is legislating to make housing less affordable.
Add this legislation to insisting on all new housing to include solar panels is a for instance.
Strange, I don’t see anything here with a video.