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Update

RED ALERT: Click the Take Action button and call your Senator NOW to ask them to Vote NO on ACA 13!



Yesterday, the California State Assembly voted to pass ACA 13 (Ward). We have another chance to stop this measure in the Senate, but time is short. WE NEED YOU TO CALL YOUR SENATOR RIGHT AWAY! We anticipate that the Senate will vote on ACA 13 (Ward) quickly. If ACA 13 becomes law, it would become a serious threat to the limits on tax increases in Prop 13.

C.A.R. OPPOSES ACA 13 (Ward), a proposed state constitutional amendment, which will significantly weaken California citizens’ ability to use the statewide initiative process by imposing a higher vote requirement to pass citizen-led initiatives, making it much easier to pass property taxes.

C.A.R. opposes ACA 13 because it seeks to undermine Prop 13, which will lead to higher property taxes and make housing much less affordable.

Please call your Senator TODAY to oppose ACA 13.





Background

Under current law, state voter initiatives (“propositions”) and voter initiatives to amend the constitution both require a simple majority of voters to pass. That’s 50% of votes + one vote. Depending on the city or county, local measures usually also follow the same 50% + one vote system. The exception is when a measure creates or extends a local or special tax. Then the vote requirement is usually two-thirds.

ACA 13 would require that any citizens’ initiative to amend the state constitution that attempts to increase the percentage of the vote needed to pass a local or state ballot measure must itself pass by the same percentage. For example, the original Proposition 13 created a requirement that local special taxes receive the vote of two-thirds of the electorate at the ballot. If ACA 13 had been in place back then, Proposition 13 could only have become law if two-thirds of the voters voted for it rather than a simple majority. This is an unprecedented constitutional change that would tip the scales against citizen-led initiatives that seek to put in place Prop 13 type protections against government overreach on taxes or other issues.

The consequences of this measure could be disastrous, eroding the current protections established by Prop 13. So, for example, an initiative to remove the tax protections of Proposition 13 would only need a majority of votes to do so, but an initiative to protect or strengthen the property tax protections of Proposition 13 by enacting a two-thirds vote for new special taxes affecting property would require a two-thirds vote of the people, an enormous hurdle. The bottom line is that removing protections against taxation is easy but putting them in place becomes extremely hard. This increases the odds of groups trying to strip away Proposition 13’s tax protections which will only make housing less affordable as citizens will be burdened by higher property taxes.

So why is the legislature doing this? According to the Assembly Elections Committee analysis prepared for the August 23 hearing, ACA 13 seeks to undermine the chances that another initiative, titled, “the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act,” will pass. This initiative, which has already qualified to be included on the November 2024 ballot, among other provisions restores the requirement that special taxes affecting property must always in all situations have three-quarters of the vote of the people overruling a recent court decision which limited that. It also subjects more taxes to the vote of the people.

The legislature fears the outcome of a citizens’ initiative that has qualified for the ballot and rather than compete in the marketplace of ideas and trust the voters to decide as has always been done, the legislature has decided it would be easier to change the constitutional rules governing initiatives.

Here’s Why C.A.R. OPPOSES ACA 13

It will undermine the voice and power of California’s voters. This legislation would change the constitution to make it harder for voters to pass citizen-led initiatives such as Prop 13, Prop 218, and Prop 26. This attack on Prop 13 is in direct response to special interest greed which will result in more taxes being passed on to homeowners.

What's worse is ACA 13 ONLY applies to CITIZEN-LED initiatives, not those put on the ballot by the Legislature. It takes power away from the people not the government.

ACA 13 will further keep working families from being able to purchase a home by making it easier to increase property taxes. On August 15, KTLA TV reported that California’s housing affordability “hit a 16-year low in the second quarter of 2023.” Increasing property taxes will make it even more difficult for first-time buyers to make the leap from renting to homeownership. California’s growing diverse population continues to face uphill battles in buying a home and growing family savings, which is THE fundamental step needed to close the state’s wealth gap.

It could make buying and owning a home even more expensive by eroding Proposition 13 protections. ACA 13 seeks to undo protections enacted by Proposition 13, which established a 2/3 vote requirement for local governments to increase various taxes on homeowners. The passage of ACA 13 will only make it more difficult for homeowners to protect their homes from unfair taxation.

Save prop 13

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