We have an update to the effort to reform Proposition 13 with the California School and Communities First Funding Act: the campaign will continue to collect signatures until the end of July 2018, but will shift focus to getting it onto the November 2020 ballot.
As we’ve reported, the Act will restore over $11 billion per year to California’s schools, community colleges, health clinics, and other vital local services, by closing a loophole that allows many California businesses to avoid paying their fair share of property taxes. What more is there to say, other than that many progressives support this effort, including Robert Reich and the League of Women Voters!
The change in schedule to 2020 in the effort to raise taxes on commercial property by changing Prop. 13 means:
- We will continue to collect signatures with the same petitions we’ve been using. If you’ve already signed a petition, your signature will be counted, so please don’t sign again.
- Since ballot placement is based on the order that initiatives qualify, we will most likely be the first initiative to qualify for the 2020 ballot, putting us at the top of the ballot rather than the bottom of the ballot where we would be if we qualified for 2018.
- We will have more time to organize and educate people around a specific tangible policy and get the candidates running for office over the next two years to take a side – perhaps a good litmus test issue to differentiate where there are two progressive candidates running for Assembly or Senate seats.
- Some large donors have told us they don’t want to give money now but are willing to support a 2020 campaign.
Bottom line: we will have more time to do this important work and convince our neighbors that we need to invest in our children, public schools, and local communities.
