This CA ballot measure is bad news for local communities. Luckily, it's losing | Opinion
With 14 measures on the California ballot, it was understandably hard to keep them all straight — especially with the billionaire tax hogging the spotlight. That may be why Proposition 43 didn’t generate the attention it deserved, given that out of all the ballot measures, it arguably had the greatest potential to affect the everyday lives of nearly all Californians. Prop. 43 aimed to make it much harder to pass local taxes. It proposed raising the approval threshold from a simple majority to two-thirds — which is nearly impossible to meet. (Taxes placed on the ballot by local governments already require a super-majority to pass. Prop. 43 supporters wanted to extend that mandate to citizen-sponsored tax measures.) As of Thursday afternoon, Prop. 43 was failing by more than 10%, according to the Secretary of State website . That’s a relief. Citizen-sponsored taxes help fund critical services like fire prevention, police protection, flood control, hospitals, water and sewer plants and road maintenance. They make it possible for cities and towns to keep libraries open, playing fields mowed and recreation programs running. In short, they provide the stop-gap funds that state and federal governments can’t — or won’t — supply. Many local
