Political Update | Evan McLaughlin, Political Director

Fire Department Budgets Are On The Ballot

As much as the CPF Political Department tries to design our candidate endorsement process around core policy issues that impact firefighters’ wages, hours, benefits, or workplace protections, we’re still dealing with candidates who are people. Legislators get to press a button to support or oppose legislation we care about, and the Governor holds the pen that can either sign it into law or veto it. With elected officials, we’re always going to be one step removed from the process of making laws—because that’s the responsibility reserved for them.

Ballot measures are a very different matter. Love them or hate them, they require the public to make the ultimate decision. And if you’re a registered voter, you have the same ability to make a good law or stop a bad one as everyone else.

(Also, if you aren’t registered to vote but are eligible to be one, please visit registertovote.ca.gov to fix that right away.)

A banker, a tech bro, a fry cook, a social media influencer, and a firefighter all have the same right to vote on ballot measures that impact the bottom line of your fire department.

Make no mistake: this November, fire department budgets are on the ballot.

As local and state governments are feeling the crunch of the economy and past bills come due, many CPF locals are leading ballot measures to raise revenue so that their fire departments can maintain or improve their ability to deliver services by preventing brownouts, replacing crumbling apparatus and facilities, building new fire stations, or adding personnel.

Because many CPF members don’t live or vote in the service area where they work, CPF’s Digital Election Guide includes all the city, county, and special district endorsements that have been submitted by CPF Locals. You can visit CPFelectionguide.org to check if the measures and candidates on your ballot are endorsed by the local firefighter union.

But every voter in California will see statewide ballot measures that will shape the way fire department budgets are financed, which is why CPF has made a few of them important priorities for the November General Election.

NO on Prop 43 – Top CPF Priority

Proposition 43 threatens local government funding by repealing a court decision from the City of Upland about a decade ago that protected the public’s right to pass a special tax for a dedicated purpose with a simple majority. If Prop 43 passes, a special tax would require a very steep two-thirds supermajority vote by the public to be enacted – a daunting threshold that has often thwarted the best laid plans of firefighters who campaigned to improve their departments.

Several CPF Locals from around the state have relied upon case law to allow them to chart a pathway for new revenue dedicated for fire protection instead of being raised into a city or county general fund. Another half-dozen majority-vote special taxes for firefighting are on this November ballot as well.

While we believe that neither the Upland-style special taxes that have already passed or could pass this November would be overturned if Prop 43 passes, Prop 43 still poses a major threat to the financial health of the fire service.

First, some of those special tax measures that have passed include sunset dates, so the extension of those taxes would have to pass with a two-thirds supermajority even if it only took a simple majority to pass them initially.

Second, the Upland decision would cut off plausible funding opportunities for fire departments around the state beyond 2026 by allowing a small faction of 34 percent of the voters the ability to block any new revenue proposal.

We have to protect the ability of CPF members to have a fair fight when they band together to drive a citizens’ initiative. Allowing a small minority to block progress in every community in our state is unacceptable. Vote no on Prop 43.

YES on Prop 3 – High CPF Priority

Speaking of sunsets, Proposition 3 is the critical extension of an existing income tax on high earners (couples earning $721,000 or more in annual income, or individuals earning $360,000 per year). This income tax has been in place since 2012, but it will expire in 5 years unless it is extended by Proposition 3 on this November’s ballot.

Without Prop 3’s passage, about $12 billion of annual state General Fund financing is at risk. That’s important because at least 1 out of every 3 CPF members works in a fire department that receives some financing from the General Fund — not just CAL FIRE, which receives the vast majority of its funding from the General Fund, but also the Contract Counties including Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Kern, Santa Barbara and Marin.

Additionally, programs like the AB 700 Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program, the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee (Cal-JAC), and several capital improvement projects in local departments received state General Funds.

Every time a new benefit or workplace protection is proposed by legislation, the fiscal analysts in the State Capitol always highlight whether the costs to the state can be absorbed by the General Fund, even if the bulk of the financial impact is really in local departments.

We need a healthy state General Fund to keep advancing the protections and benefits firefighters and their families need. Vote Yes on Prop 3.

CPF Ballot Measure Recommendations

CPF’s Executive Board has acted on endorsements for or against several statewide ballot measures appearing on the November General Election ballot following presentations from the campaigns, research from the Political and Legislative teams, and rigorous deliberation.

These ballot measure endorsements were focused on one thing: recommending whether a proposition would lead to more jobs, better jobs, and better lives for CPF members, or would harm those goals. Many of the measures that appear on the ballot did not receive a recommendation either way, even though they were studied by the Executive Board, because they did not intersect with CPF’s core issue areas.

PROP 1
Housing Bond

CPF Endorsement: YES

Prop 1 builds affordable homes for veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, low- and middle-income working families, vulnerable Californians and essential workers—teachers, firefighters and nurses. Expands homeownership opportunities, fast-tracks affordable shovel-ready homes, helps those one crisis away from homelessness.

PROP 2
Rainy Day Fund

CPF Endorsement: YES

Prop 2 protects the firefighter funding during down budget years by doubling the state's Rainy Day Fund. Instead of allowing politicians to overspend when there is a budget surplus, Prop 2 ensures more steady funding for CAL-FIRE, Contract Counties, and other firefighter programs like Cal-JAC, Cal-OES, and AB 700 cancer research funding during economic downturns.

PROP 3
Extension of Existing High-Earners Income Tax

CPF Endorsement: YES

Prop 3 protects about $12 billion in the state general fund without raising taxes. Prop 3 maintains the current tax rates the wealthiest 2% have paid for 15 years in order to prevent massive cuts to CAL-FIRE, Contract Counties, Cal-JAC, Cal-OES, and AB 700 cancer research.

High CPF Priority

PROP 4
Public Campaign Financing

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 4.

PROP 5
Elected Official Recall Reform

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 5.

PROP 37
Realtor Association’s Home Loan Downpayment Bond

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 37.

PROP 38
Immunology Research Bond

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 38.

PROP 39
Voter I.D. Requirement

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 39.

PROP 40
Billionaires Tax

CPF Endorsement: NO

Prop 40 is a risky and unproven tax scheme that risks the health of our state’s economy and could damage state and local budgets that fund fire departments.

PROP 41
Audits and Limitations on State Special Taxes

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 41.

PROP 42
Protecting Personal Savings and Pensions

CPF Endorsement: YES

California’s Constitution currently allows the Legislature to tax the present value of retirement benefits before they are even being paid out to retirees. Prop 42 prohibits new and retroactive taxes on our retirement nest eggs before they hatch.

PROP 43
Local Taxpayer Deception Act 2.0

CPF Endorsement: NO

Prop 43 limits voters’ ability to fund critical, life-saving services like fire departments by allowing just 33.4 percent of voters to block new funding for local fire departments.

Top CPF Priority

PROP 44
Community Health Clinic Spending Requirement

CPF Executive Board did not recommend any position on Prop 44.

PROP 45
Chamber of Commerce’s CEQA Reform

CPF Endorsement: NO

Prop 45 guts the public review process that keeps our communities safe and healthy, both in assessing the ability for firefighters to respond to emergencies and in the prevention of toxic exposure risks.