MARTINEZ, CA — The Libertarian Party of Contra Costa County (LPCCC) commended the Superior Court this week for ruling that the Measure B ballot question supplied to the Contra Costa County Registrar by the Board of Supervisors violates California Elections Code, and for requiring ballots be printed with revised language.
The measure, set for the June 2 election, seeks voter approval for an additional 0.625-percent countywide transaction and use (“sales”) tax. The original language described it as “a five-eighths of one cent temporary general sales tax.” The rate proposed is higher than each of the three other sales taxes the County already levies on purchases.
“Saying ‘one cent’ instead of ‘percent on purchases,’ sounds like the tax amount was less than a penny, total,” said Sandra Kallander, co-plaintiff and LPCCC chair. “The judge’s order to add ‘(0.625%)’ helps, but the ballot question the county supervisors provided was also so full of scary-sounding consequences for voting ‘no,’ such as the risk of hospital closures and starvation, that it read like a campaign mailer, taking sides—rather than being properly neutral. And the judge agreed.”
The parties negotiated a redraft to remove problematic language. The Court further ordered the deletion of the phrases “and reduce risk of closure at Contra Costa’s regional hospital and health clinics” and “independent citizens oversight” as prejudicial and argumentative, and added the parenthetical “(0.625%)” for the tax rate.
Judge Leonard Marquez cited Elections Code sections which he deemed require that ballot questions be held to a higher standard of neutrality than those governing the “impartial analysis,” arguments, and rebuttals, which the plaintiffs were also challenging as false or misleading.
Many of the latter were denied. Plaintiffs had asserted that the arguments in favor of the measure also crossed a line by falsely implying that use of the added sales tax revenue for healthcare and food benefits was guaranteed, even though the raised funds would fall under the general budget which includes everything from paperclips to pay raises, with no guarantee it would go toward hospital paperclips or pay raises.
The County filed a response, including: ”The Board [of Supervisors] chose to list services that are directly impacted by H.R. 1’s cuts to Medicaid—namely the health care services provided by the County’s public hospitals and clinics that relied on Medicaid revenue, while at the same time making no guarantee the monies will be spent for these purposes and calling out the nature of the tax as general tax.” [emphasis added]
“The arguments in favor, signed by a County Supervisor, a county department head, and three labor representatives, focus on maintaining ‘critical’ services for those in need, but don’t even mention cutting nonessential services and noncritical expenses,” Kallander said. “Their claim that ‘lives will be lost’ was a bit over the top.
“If the ballot question made it sound as though a ‘yes’ vote would fund hospitals and food benefits, and a ‘no’ vote would end them, so did everything else they wrote.”
Richmond resident and LPCCC Secretary Janice Mackenzie explained that this ruling is a victory for every Contra Costa voter, and she encouraged concerned voters to get involved.
“When you walk into the voting booth, the ballot question is supposed to tell you what a measure would do—without the drama or alarming implications. For years, government agencies across California have gotten away with treating the ballot question as free advertising. This week’s ruling pushes back against that abuse.”
“To help our public servants prioritize budget items sensibly and tighten their belts the way regular people do,” Mackenzie continued, “I would love to see more residents join such advocacy groups as the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, who submitted the argument against Measure B, or the Libertarian Party.”
Plaintiffs were represented by attorney Jason Bezis of the Law Offices of Jason A. Bezis in Lafayette.
ABOUT THE RULING: The court’s full written order was filed Wednesday and is posted on line at OdyPortal.CC-Courts.org
- Measure B question as ordered: “To help Contra Costa County address cuts in federal funding; support local services such as health care, supplemental food assistance, and other general county services; shall Contra Costa County adopt a five-eighths of one cent (0.625%) temporary general sales tax for 5 years, providing an estimated $150,000,000 annually, and subject to annual audits?”
- Measure B question as originally submitted: “To help Contra Costa County address deep cuts in federal funding; support critical local services such as health care, supplemental food assistance, and other general county services; and reduce the risk of closures at Contra Costa’s regional hospital and health clinics, shall Contra Costa County adopt a five-eighths of one cent temporary general sales tax for 5 years, providing an estimated $150,000,000 annually, not available to the federal government and subject to annual audits and independent citizens oversight?”
ABOUT THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY: The Libertarian Party (LP) was founded in 1971 and today ranks as the third largest political party in the United States, advocating individual liberty, limited government, and free markets. Learn about LP of Contra Costa County and its activities on Facebook
Related
- Feb 10 – Board of Supervisors Agree to Ask Voters to Backfill Federal Cuts With Sales Tax Measure
- Feb 10 – Letter: Contra Costa Taxpayers Association Questions Legality of County-Wide Sales Tax
- Feb 9 – HR 1 Response: Contra Costa County Could See Sales Tax Ask on June Ballot
- Jan 20 – Contra Costa County Supervisors Agree to Move Forward With Sales Tax Effort
- Jan 5 – Contra Costa Health: Most Recent Federal and State Updates
- Nov 2025 – Contra Costa County Set to Be Impacted by HR1 and State budget
