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By @Marcus Detwiler

On Thursday, November 16, CSDA’s Board of Directors met in Sacramento and adopted “oppose” positions on a pair of ballot initiatives that may appear before California voters on the November 2024 ballot. The two ballot initiatives, numbered 23-0015A1 and 23-0025A1 respectively, would impose onerous new mandates related to public records and severely limit the ability to fund infrastructure necessary to support new housing.

Ballot Initiative 23-0015A1 “Government Transparency Act”

Proponents of Ballot Initiative 23-0015A1, an organization called Consumer Watchdog, have dubbed their proposal the “Government Transparency Act.” The title given to the initiative by the California Office of the Attorney General reads as follows: “INCREASES REQUIREMENTS ON GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND LEGISLATURE WHEN RESPONDING TO RECORDS REQUESTS. INITIATIVE STATUTE.”

Fittingly, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, the requirements that the initiative would place on local agencies would likely cost in excess of $1 billion. In independently assessing the measure’s impact on local agencies, CSDA has concluded that the Initiative 23-0015A1 will have potentially devastating impacts on local agency finances, placing excessive records retention requirements on public agencies— all of which remain ineligible for reimbursement pursuant to the state mandate process. The ballot initiative would dramatically increase a public agency’s exposure to litigation, and could stimulate a cottage industry dedicated to pursuing California Public Records Act litigation. CSDA’s analysis of the measure is available here.

Ballot Initiative 23-0025A1 “California Homeownership Affordability Act”

Meanwhile, proponents of Ballot Initiative 23-0025A1, Fox News contributor Stephen Hilton and Californians for Homeownership, self-titled their proposal the “California Homeownership Affordability Act.” The title given to this initiative by the California Office of the Attorney General reads as follows: “LIMITS ENVIRONMENTAL LAWSUITS CHALLENGING NEW HOUSING CONSTRUCTION. CAPS DEVELOPMENT FEES ON NEW HOUSING. INITIATIVE STATUTE.”

As determined by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, “[t]he 2 percent cap on local government development fees [imposed by this initiative] would reduce local government revenue likely by at least hundreds of millions of dollars per year, potentially exceeding $1 billion per year.” CSDA’s own analysis concluded that the initiative will have major impacts on local agency finances, placing an onerous two percent cap on development impact fees. Special districts that collect impact fees would face significant budget shortfalls resulting from slashed impact fee receipts, or would be forced to seek significant tax and fee increases on current residents that may be unwilling or unable to pay. Moreover, shifting the cost-burden from developers and new homeowners to current residents could lead to litigation under Proposition 218 by taxpayers claiming it is unconstitutional for current residents to subsidize services provided to developers and new residents. CSDA’s analysis of the measure is available here. 

To qualify for the November 5, 2024 General Election, proponents of initiative statute statewide ballot measures must secure 546,651 valid signatures from registered voters according to the following timeline (note that initiative constitutional amendments require 874,641 signatures):

·        April 23, 2024: Last day for proponent(s) to file the petition with county elections officials. 

·        May 3, 2024: Last day for county elections officials to complete raw count totals and certify raw numbers to the Secretary of State.

·        May 9, 2024: Last day for Secretary of State to determine whether the initiative petition meets the minimum signature requirement and, if the minimum signature requirement has been met, to notify counties to verify a random sampling of signatures.

·        June 21, 2024: Last day for county elections officials to verify and certify results of the random sampling of signatures to the Secretary of State.

·        June 27, 2024: Last day for Secretary of State to determine that the measure qualifies for the ballot or a full check is necessary. At this point, if a full check is necessary, the measure would not be eligible for the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.