By Jon Coupal – June 19, 2024

I’m writing to you with an urgent request to contact your representatives in the state Assembly and state Senate to urge a vote of NO on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 10.

ACA 10 is a desperate move by the Legislature in response to polling that shows dim prospects for ACA 1, a legislative constitutional amendment that attacks Proposition 13 and makes it easier to raise taxes.

ACA 1 would remove the protection of a two-thirds vote for local bonds and special taxes, reducing the vote threshold from 66.7% to just 55% to take on debt or raise other taxes for “infrastructure” and public housing projects. ACA 1 is already on the November ballot, and if approved by voters, we would likely see tax increases and costly bond proposals on every local ballot, effectively raising taxes after every election.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is strongly opposed to ACA 1, and we were glad to see polls showing that voters were, too.

But the tax-and-spend Legislature now thinks it can save ACA 1 by stripping out the part about “other taxes” and leaving only the part that makes it easier to pass local bonds, which are repaid by adding charges to property tax bills. ACA 10 is the proposal that would make this change.

By making it easier to pass bonds, ACA 10 will result in a wave of property tax increases in cities and counties across California.

This is not only an attack on Proposition 13, it is an attack on an important taxpayer protection that has been in the state Constitution since 1879.

Please call your representatives in the state Capitol and urge a vote of NO on ACA 10. Look up their names and contact information here:

findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov
Thank you for your immediate attention to this critically important matter. The Assembly could vote on ACA 10 as early as Thursday of this week.

Jon Coupal is President of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association