03/29/2024

THE BUZZ: FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: THROWDOWN IN THE PROP 13 BATTLE

It’s on: California business leaders Monday are kicking off a statewide effort to defend the landmark 1978 property tax measure Prop. 13 from an already-qualified 2020 “split roll” ballot measure that aims to revise it.

The California Business Roundtable has launched FightforProp13.org, a campaign that executive director Rob Lapsley tells POLITICO will begin this week with direct mail targeted at Los Angeles voters — but soon expand statewide.

With 40 years having passed since the Howard Jarvis-fueled property tax revolution — and amid a new generation of voters whom polls show may be are increasingly hostile to it — “we see that there’s a glaring need for re-education around Prop. 13,’’ Lapsley said.

“The Roundtable has been fighting on all fronts to deal with taxpayer and business protections when it comes to taxes … and we are under assault in the face of a $21 billion surplus,’’ and $20 billion in general fund reserves, he said in an interview this week. “We need to stand up and fight for what protections we have left — and we’ve engaged from both a fundraising and a messaging standpoint.”

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