California’s Democratic supermajority wants to make it easier for local governments to take more of your money. On Wednesday, the Assembly’s local government committee advanced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1, which would ask voters to lower the threshold by which certain bonds and taxes can be approved at the local level.
Specifically, according to the committee’s bill analysis, “ACA 1 lowers the voter threshold from a two-thirds supermajority to 55% majority to approve local (city, county, and special district) GO bonds and certain special taxes for affordable housing, public infrastructure, and permanent supportive housing projects, and defines those terms.”
The proposal, introduced by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, is backed by the usual suspects, like from big government employee unions (California Professional Firefighters, California School Employees Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) but also YIMBY groups who want to see more government funding go toward housing.
If approved, ACA 1 would place the decision to lower the taxing threshold before voters alongside other ballot measures. This conveniently gives state lawmakers who vote to advance ACA 1 cover to say that they think it should be up to voters, not that they necessarily support the measure.
As the California Taxpayers Association notes, “This measure proposes to make it easier for local governments to increase various taxes, including sales taxes and property taxes. Higher sales taxes increase the cost of home construction and everyday necessities used by homeowners and renters, while property taxes increase the burden of homeownership — all of which make housing less affordable for working families, including renters.”
These very practical points fell on deaf ears in the Assembly’s local government committee, with Southern California Democratic Assemblymembers Blanca Pacheco of Downey, James Ramos of San Bernardino County and Juan Carrillo of Palmdale voting to advance the proposal. Orange County Republican Assemblymember Diane Dixon rightly voted against it.
Voters should remember this come the next election.
Pacheco, Ramos and Carrillo are doing their part to make the lives of ordinary Californians harder in order to make the lives of government officials easier. Unlike her colleagues on the Assembly local government committee, Diane Dixon deserves credit for standing up for overtaxed Californians.
—The Editorial Board, Southern California News Group
