Do you believe SLO County Supervisor Paulding or the Supreme Court?

November 15, 2023

Opinion by Andrea Seastrand and Chuck Bell

President of the Central Coast Taxpayers Association Andrea Seastrand and Chuck Bell, a board member and local lawyer who represents the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, provided the following response to San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding’s claim that the two-third vote requirement of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, enacted by voters in the iconic Proposition 13 in 1978, was not an “essential part” of Proposition 13’s taxpayer protections.

Jimmy Paulding is flat wrong to deny that the two-thirds vote requirement in Proposition 13 was not an “essential feature” of the measure. Paulding used his false assertion to reject the claim that he was not supporting the county’s Jan. 2023 legislative position in favor of Proposition 13 when the progressive board majority, on a 3-2 vote with Paulding’s support, reversed its previous support of Proposition 13 at its Sept. 12 meeting.

Here’s what the California Supreme Court held in 1978:

Proposition 13 had four distinct elements, two of which were two-thirds majority vote requirements applicable to measures that seek to increase state taxes and local ad valorem property taxes.

Here’s exactly the Supreme Court’s words:

“In 1978, California voters adopted an amendment to their Constitution making comprehensive changes to state and local taxation via Proposition 13—an “interlocking package” of tax reforms. (Amador Valley Joint Union High Sch. Dist. v. State Bd. of Equalization (1978) 22 Cal.3d 208, 231 (“Amador Valley”).) These comprehensive reforms included four distinct elements,—establishing 1) a permanent property tax rate cap of 1% and a permanent cap of 2% on the annual increase of assessed value of such property; 2) a rollback and restriction on assessed real property values (retroactive to 1975 levels resulting in a substantial reduction of property tax revenue); 3) a supermajority requirement for the Legislature to adopt state taxes; and 4) a supermajority voter approval requirement for local special taxes.”

You can take it from the State Supreme Court or from Jimmy Paulding.