Imagine you’re looking at your ballot and you see a measure titled something like: “Better Roads and Schools – See Voter Guide for Details.” Would you take a few minutes to dig into the fine print? Or would you just vote “yes,” assuming it sounds like a good idea?
Most people would expect the ballot to say something more straightforward, like “Raises the sales tax” or “Increases your property taxes to fund school bonds.” But how many voters will actually go searching for the truth when it’s buried in the voter guide?
Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento are counting on the fact that many voters won’t do the homework and will vote for a feel-good ballot measure feeling like they’re good citizens for doing so. Then, when the bill comes due, they will inevitably complain about having to pay higher taxes with little awareness that they brought it upon themselves.
California State Assemblymember Catherine Stefani knows voters can be duped. And, being a Democratic legislator, she also knows Sacramento, cities and school districts want to raise more taxes. So, she authored Assembly Bill 699 that would obscure tax increase proposals set before the voters.
This bill is too clever by half. Instead of honest transparency, Assembly Bill 699 makes it easier to pass feel-good tax measures that sound great on the surface but hit your wallet later. Since many voters only read the ballot label and do very little (if any) independent research, this slick modification will make tax increase initiatives easier to pass in the voting booth.
But it’s also insulting. Allowing for what can only be described as a cute manipulation, is an affront to the intelligence of California’s voters. It’s a clear message from the majority party that they think voters aren’t smart or engaged enough to notice what’s really going on.
Right now, the law says that any tax measure on the ballot must clearly state the tax rate, how long it will be in effect, and how much money it will generate. That’s thanks to two good-government bills from less than a decade ago.
In 2015, I proudly joined all 40 of my Senate colleagues in supporting Assembly Bill 809 by then-Assemblyman Jay Obernolte. The statute required ballots used for proposed county, city, or district ordinances submitted to the voters as an initiative measure be printed with specified text including a statement related to the imposition of a tax or to raise the rate of a tax, as well as the amount of money to be raised annually and the rate and duration of the tax to be levied.
In 2017, 33 senators, including myself, voted for another Obernolte measure, Assembly Bill 195 that would extend this requirement for local initiatives and referenda with a requirement that the analysis be impartial. These were common sense, bipartisan reforms meant to make the ballot question easier to understand and more honest for voters.
So why are Democrats now trying to roll back that progress?
It seems the new crop of legislators is more interested in making it easier to raise taxes than in keeping voters informed. And that’s a problem. AB 699 is moving quickly through the Legislature on a party-line vote, with every Republican voting “No” as it heads to the State Senate. It’s time for Californians to speak up. Voters should not be tricked into approving tax increases because the ballot language was carefully crafted to hide the truth. The supermajority in Sacramento shouldn’t be allowed to con people into paying more without knowing it.
If this bill reaches the governor’s desk, he should remember that transparency is not just the polite thing to do; it’s the right thing to do. Voters deserve honesty, not manipulation. And lawmakers should respect the people they serve enough to tell them the truth.
John Moorlach is a senior fellow at California Policy Center. He previously served in the California Senate and on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
