After considering bond measures as large as $500 million — and the tax rate hikes that would result — the Fresno Unified School Board voted unanimously Wednesday evening to put a $325 million bond measure on the March ballot. The ballot language for the bond measure says that the property...
Fresno Unified Wrestles With How Big to Make Bond Measure
Faced with lower community support for a bond measure that would hike property taxes, the Fresno Unified School Board appears split on whether to ask voters to greenlight a $500 million bond measure. The board is likely to vote on a bond measure resolution at the Nov. 20 meeting following...
Walters: High-Octane Ballot Measures Lining up for 2020
Gov. Gavin Newsom this week vetoed a perennial effort by his fellow Democrats to hamstring business and conservative groups’ use of statewide ballot measures. Assembly Bill 1451 would have prohibited qualifying ballot measures by paying professional circulators on a per-signature basis, but gave Democrats’ union allies a carveout. Paraphrasing former Gov....
Walters: California Tax Votes Clouded by Legal Confusion
The state Supreme Court stirred up a legal hornet’s nest two years ago when it suggested — but didn’t explicitly declare — that a two-thirds vote requirement for specific local tax increases might not apply to measures placed on the ballot via initiative petition. The supermajority vote requirement dates back...
Walters: A Resurrection for Redevelopment?
Voters and elected officials adopt policies on assurances of beneficial impacts, but they often interact with other decrees to produce what are called “unintended consequences.” Redevelopment has been a classic example for nearly seven decades, and it may be on the verge of another twist. Redevelopment, authorized in the early...
Walters: 2020 Property Tax Measure Altered
Sponsors of a 2020 ballot measure to increase property taxes on factories, stores, warehouses, office buildings and other commercial real estate withdrew it this week and launched a revised version. It would be, the union-led sponsoring coalition said, an improvement that eases the potential impact on small business. More likely,...
Walters: 2020 Property Tax Measure Altered
Sponsors of a 2020 ballot measure to increase property taxes on factories, stores, warehouses, office buildings and other commercial real estate withdrew it this week and launched a revised version. It would be, the union-led sponsoring coalition said, an improvement that eases the potential impact on small business. More likely,...
Walters: California Tax Revenue Is Soaring
It’s the good news that California’s political establishment — Democratic politicians and their allies in public-employee labor unions — prefer not to acknowledge. The official line from the establishment is that California’s schools, local governments, and state programs are being financially starved. The drumbeat of impoverishment is clearly aimed at...
Walters: Conflict Over Votes for Local Taxes Heats Up
For decades, it’s been an article of political faith – as well as law – that local government taxes designated for particular purposes require two-thirds approval by voters. The supermajority vote provision was created by Proposition 13, California’s famous – or infamous – property tax limit measure, passed by voters...
If California Stopped Giving Away Billions, It Wouldn’t Need New Taxes
You'd think that California, which boasts the world's fifth-largest economy, would have ample tax revenue for schools, roads, and a public safety net. But, in some people's eyes, the taxes and fees generated by our $2.75 trillion economy aren't sufficient to cover the Golden State's needs. Thus, on the 2020...