Thanks to contributions from a government-sector service workers’ union and a coalition of construction workers’ unions, a sales tax increase that will benefit those union members appears to be headed for the November ballot in Los Angeles County.
Of course, when you see it on the ballot, it won’t be called “The Pay Increase for the People Who Paid for this Proposition” initiative. Its proponents call it the “Affordable Housing, Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Now” measure.
The initiative would double and extend the Measure H sales tax, passed by L.A. County voters in 2017. Measure H was a ten-year sales tax increase of 0.25%. This initiative replaces it with a 0.5% sales tax increase permanently, and it directs the money to the organizations and union members who are paying for the initiative.
The text of the measure promises “bold new action” to solve everything. It will “move people from the streets and into housing faster.” It will “prevent homelessness.” It will “provide more mental health and substance abuse treatment.” It will “increase the availability of affordable housing.”
Yes, gather ’round for Dr. Huckster’s Medicine Show, coming to your mailbox or vote center this fall, assuming it has enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Every problem, every difficulty, every crisis that’s keeping you up at night will be fixed by the contents of this one little bottle of Dr. Huckster’s Latest Cure-All Tax Hike.
The California constitution says local tax increases for a specific purpose require the approval of two-thirds, 66.67%, of voters. Measure H passed with 69.34% after Los Angeles County unlawfully spent nearly $1 million of your tax dollars on the campaign. Later the county agreed to pay a $1.35 million penalty to settle charges of violating campaign finance law.
Happily for Dr. Huckster, there is now a loophole created by the state courts that makes it much easier to pass tax increases.
According to this judicial interpretation of the state constitution, local tax increases proposed by a “citizens’ initiative” are exempt from the two-thirds requirement. This is known as the “Upland” loophole, named for the 2017 state Supreme Court decision in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland. “Citizens’ initiative” tax increases now pass with 50%-plus-one-vote, even though an identical measure would require 66.67% to pass if it was put on the ballot by a county board of supervisors, city council or other government body.
The result of this unmoored judicial meddling with your constitutional taxpayer protections is a wild-west landscape in which special interest groups can write a tax increase, direct the money to themselves, pay for signature collection to get it on the ballot, pay for a campaign to bamboozle the voters, and pass the measure with a simple majority instead of the two-thirds vote that the constitution requires.
Dr. Huckster couldn’t be happier if he was imbibing the original formula of Coca-Cola.
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This initiative is brought to you by a campaign committee called (not a satire) “Experts United for Homelessness and Housing Solutions, A Coalition of Nonprofit Organizations and Housing Advocates.” These united experts have received donations of $200,000 from the Southern California Pipe Trades District Council 16, $250,000 from the “Service Employees International Union Local 721 CTW, CLC Issues & Initiatives” committee, and $845,000 from United Way of Greater Los Angeles, although campaign finance reports list all but $125,000 as a “loan.”
Kicking in more funding is the “Members’ Voice of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California” committee, which is currently listed as the second-highest contributor to the “Experts United” committee.
The payoff is described on page 18 of the 20-page initiative: more money for everyone working on homelessness projects and services. The measure requires the establishment of a “labor council” to “discuss pay equity and career development at contracted service providers.” And it declares that “any construction or rehabilitation project receiving funding or financing from this Ordinance” is “a public work for which prevailing wages shall be paid….”
Homelessness was once regarded as a tragic problem to be solved. No longer. Now it’s the lucky good fortune of monstrous enablers who benefit financially at the expense of everyone who pays taxes in California.
Whatever this is called when it’s on your ballot, vote no.
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley