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LA County Half-Cent Sales Tax Measure Makes November Ballot
The passage of Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax, was celebrated in 2017 by then-L.A County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and others.
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Martin Zamora
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Courtesy L.A. County Board of Supervisors
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Topline:
Voters in L.A. County will once again decide whether to raise their own sales tax to fund homelessness services.
Why now: The L.A. County registrar on Thursday confirmed that the measure qualified for the November ballot. The office reported that proponents submitted more than 410,000 signatures in May, but just 238,922 valid signatures were required to qualify.
The backstory: You might remember voters passed a quarter cent tax in 2017 — known as Measure H. That's due to end in 2027.
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How much money are we talking about? Supporters of the half-cent sales tax say it would generate about $1.2 billion in funding each year. Now that it's qualified for the ballot, the fiscal impacts will be studied by the state legislative analyst office, and that report will be available to voters.
Why it matters: The campaign over this measure could be contentious. Opponents say the initial Measure H tax has failed to do what was promised, with homelessness up nearly 40% in the county. Advocates of this new initiative, known as the “Affordable Housing, Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Now,” say there's a key difference with the new initiative: a focus on preventing people from ending up on the streets in the first place.
What's next: Registrar officials say at the Board of Supervisors meeting on June 25, supervisors will decide whether to "directly submit the ordinance to the voters without any changes" or to request a report to be returned within 30 days.
Keep in mind: Backers of this new initiative say it only requires a simple majority. Measure H passed with 69% of the vote and needed a 2/3rds or more majority because it was tax proposed for a specific purpose.
Go deeper: David Wagner, who covers housing for LAist, wrote more about this proposed measure when the signatures were presented to the L.A. County Registrar last month.
Updated June 20, 2024 at 1:28 PM PDT
This story updated with additional details about next steps for county supervisors. It also corrected the percentage needed for the new measure to pass.
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