If you have ever felt like your perspective doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 like the voices of others in your community, particularly those with resources and power, have far more say in your community\u2019s direction and the choices its leaders make \u2014 you are not alone.<\/p>\n
Over many years, a small number of deep-pocketed interest groups have rigged the rules in their favor.<\/p>\n
Such is the case with Proposition 43, which California voters will decide on in November.<\/p>\n
Prop. 43 would require at least two-thirds of local voters to approve any local ballot initiative that creates, extends or increases a special tax on or after Jan. 1. This new supermajority vote requirement would apply to voter initiatives raising revenue for cities, counties, special districts, school and community college districts and any other local government entity.<\/p>\n
Currently, if the residents of your community qualify a ballot measure to raise revenues for childcare, affordable housing, wildfire protection or health services, it can be approved with just a simple majority of voters. Under Prop. 43, approval would require a two-thirds supermajority, allowing one third of voters to block the will of the majority of the community.<\/p>\n
Prop. 43 would make it harder for communities to generate revenues to meet local needs. California already imposes high barriers to raising revenues by requiring special tax proposals initiated by local governments to be approved by two-thirds of voters. Extending the two-thirds vote requirement to special tax proposals initiated by local voters would reduce the likelihood that these measures would pass, even if a significant majority of local voters support the measure.<\/p>\n
In recent years, communities across California have approved special taxes put on the ballot by local voters. Many of these proposals would have failed if Prop. 43\u2019s supermajority vote requirement had been in effect. This includes Measure C in Santa Cruz (56% support), which provides $4.5 million in affordable housing for local workers, and Measure D in Santa Clara (55% support), which provides $17 million to restore and protect local parks and open space.<\/p>\n
Prop. 43 also would have blocked voter-initiated revenue proposals in San Francisco (for childcare and education), Fresno (for community parks) and Los Angeles (for affordable housing and homelessness services). These are just a few of many examples from across the state.<\/p>\n
Prop. 43\u2019s constraints on local revenues would also increase challenges for communities already struggling with federal budget cuts to health care, food assistance and education that are boosting demand for local services. Those pressures will increase substantially in the coming years as harmful federal policies continue to go into effect. Prop. 43 would also unnecessarily tie local residents\u2019 and local governments\u2019 ability to respond, reducing the capacity of firefighters and teachers and the ability to meet local needs.<\/p>\n
At its core, Prop. 43 would make the votes of one-third of your community members worth two-times as everyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Because it\u2019s a statewide constitutional measure, Prop. 43 also gives voters statewide a permanent say in your local elections. What\u2019s especially galling is that Prop. 43 proponents aren\u2019t willing to live by the same strict rules they want to apply to everyone else: They helped to defeat a legislative proposal that would have required the same two-thirds majority of voters statewide to pass Prop. 43.<\/p>\n
The bottom line on Prop. 43 is clear. It would make it harder for local communities to meet their needs and is fundamentally undemocratic, seeking to diminish the voices of the majority in choices about the future of the places they call home.<\/p>\n
Chris Hoene is the executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center, a nonpartisan research and analysis nonprofit advancing public policies that expand opportunities and promote well-being for all Californians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you have ever felt like your perspective doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 like the voices of others in your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1400,7,5307,964,181,975,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-494647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-california-ballot-measures","tag-commentary","tag-latest-headlines","tag-opinion","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}