<\/p>\n
Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, unveils a pair of ballot initiatives in November 2013 outside the Attorney General\u2019s Office in Sacramento.<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n
The leader of the union championing a controversial effort to tax California billionaires<\/a> has over the past decade floated a series of ballot initiatives that would benefit members, then later drawn back when lawmakers agreed to compromise or support similar legislation.<\/p>\n The Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers West union, led by President Dave Regan, has been organizing a ballot measure levying a one-time 5% tax on billionaires to generate $100 billion over five years and make up for a multibillion dollar hole created by Congress\u2019 \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d which gutted federal funding for state medical programs and added barriers to accessing public benefits.<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom and some in Silicon Valley oppose the tax effort, saying it will drive away top earners who already contribute much of their wealth in taxes. California is home to 85 of the 400 richest people in America, according to Forbes<\/a>. The Teamsters union recently signed on in support of the wealth tax, as have gubernatorial hopefuls<\/a> former State Controller Betty Yee and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders,<\/a> I-Vermont.<\/p>\n UHW and Regan are pushing the tax forward as a solution to staving off hospital closures and preventing millions of Californians\u2019 health insurance from lapsing.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no solution out there to figure out this hole of $20 billion per year,\u201d said UHW Chief of Staff Suzanne Jimenez in an interview last month. \u201cThat kind of cut to a state of 39 million, that\u2019s significant, and it\u2019s only going to lead us to one place: a crisis of health care.\u201d<\/p>\n Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, announced a \u201cwater\u2019s edge\u201d tax this week that would prevent wealthy California companies from relocating offshore to avoid taxes. That effort has the support of SEIU, the parent union that is separate from UHW.<\/p>\n Newsom told reporters on Tuesday that he \u201chadn\u2019t had any conversations\u201d about Connolly\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n What if there\u2019s an exodus of billionaires?<\/p>\n The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office said late last year that the wealth tax could result in revenues of \u201ctens of billions of dollars spread over several years,\u201d but those gains could dissipate as more billionaires cut ties with California. Regan said in October that the wealth tax would \u201cstabilize\u201d premiums and coverage for Californians and protect health care jobs. If successful, some dollars would also go to funding kindergarten through 12th grade education.<\/p>\n The New York Times reported that some billionaires \u2014 like Newsom allies and Google founders<\/a> Sergey Brin and Larry Page \u2014 moved some businesses across state lines to avoid a Jan. 1 deadline as the tax, if successfully implemented, would retroactively apply to any in-state assets they owned at the time. After reestablishing himself in Nevada Brin gave $20 million<\/a> to a coalition opposing the wealth tax.<\/p>\n Critics in politics and organized labor have criticized Regan, a longtime labor leader who first joined UHW in 2009, for using ballot initiatives and other tactics to cajole employers and lawmakers into negotiating with the union. Regan told The Sacramento Bee in 2017<\/a> that ballot measures were \u201cthe best bargain in American politics.\u201d<\/p>\n That has paid off in some respects. In 2016, former Gov. Jerry Brown said the threat of a Regan-backed referendum forced lawmakers to act on legislation that eventually raised the minimum hourly wage to $15.<\/p>\n Accusations made against Regan<\/p>\n The same year, a process server accused Regan of shoving him down the front steps of Regan\u2019s East Bay home trying to serve Regan with legal papers. Regan\u2019s attorney at the time said the<\/a> process server refused to leave his home when asked.<\/p>\n Former Assemblymember Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, told the Legislature Regan pushed him<\/a> during a confrontation in 2018 at a restaurant in Sacramento. A UHW spokesperson told The Bee that the conflict with Bloom was \u201cprovoked\u201d by a third person and had been blown out of proportion.<\/p>\n And in 2009, a year after he joined UHW as vice president, leaders of the rival National Healthcare Workers United union accused Regan of threatening to call immigration officials on undocumented members during a competitive campaign to organize home care workers in Fresno County, according to The Fresno Bee<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chris Newman, the legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, recalled the \u201cugly\u201d fight, which followed the ouster of Sal Rosselli, the former UHW president who founded NUHW.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all share a vision that all residents of California regardless of immigration status deserve access to health care and workers\u2019 rights,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it\u2019s true that anyone used the threat of immigration status to coerce, it would be akin to treason.\u201d<\/p>\n UHW spokesperson Nathan Selzer dismissed the accusations as false in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cSEIU-UHW has always supported immigrants and immigrant communities, and is deeply committed to safeguarding the safety, dignity, and well-being of all healthcare workers and our communities, regardless of immigration status,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n UHW floated three unsuccessful referendums between 2018 and 2022 to regulate the kidney dialysis industry<\/a>, whose clinic workforces the union eyed as ripe for organizing.<\/p>\n The Information<\/a> reported that some labor leaders reacted with lukewarm enthusiasm on a call with Regan shortly before UHW announced the wealth tax proposal last fall.<\/p>\n Selzer said \u201cmultiple unions\u201d had signed on in support, and that UHW expected \u201chundreds more\u201d to publicly announce their endorsements later in the year \u201cto maximize impact later in the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters of the tax like former McKinsey consultant Scott Ellis and Tarzana attorney Drew Pomerance said a handful of billionaires fleeing the state \u201cdistracted\u201d from the U.S.\u2019s accelerating wealth divide.<\/p>\n Pomerance said he noticed that despite stagnating wages, wealthy people continued to amass more riches, leading to the creation of \u201can elite super class\u201d while the middle class and homeless people struggled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really coming into focus now as the evolution between the internet, globalism, finance and deregulation has allowed for an extraordinary accumulation of wealth by a few individuals,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cThe main goal is, how much wealth is enough? These are guys who have millions, billions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 11:03 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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