*Breaking News* Save Prop. 13 Taxpayer Champions Turn In 1.3 Million Signatures For November Ballot Measure

Business And Taxpayer Coalition Moves To Put Local Tax Limits Before Voters In 2026

⏱️ 6 min read

Taxpayers Go On Offense

For decades, California’s tax battles have largely been defensive. Stop this increase. Slow that fee. Sue over this workaround.

Today, the good guys have ridden out onto the battlefield - going on offense!

A broad coalition led by four campaign co-chairs — the California Business Roundtable, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the California Business Properties Association, and the California Taxpayers Association — announced that it has submitted more than 1.3 million signatures to qualify the Local Taxpayer Protection Act for the November 2026 ballot. That is not a symbolic filing. To qualify a constitutional amendment, roughly 874,641 valid signatures are required. Even accounting for invalids, 1.3 million signatures represents a serious organizational and financial effort.

“Taxpayers deserve certainty and fairness. The Local Taxpayer Protection Act protects the integrity of voter-approved tax safeguards and prevents end-runs around longstanding constitutional protections. This is about defending taxpayers and making sure local governments live within their means.”

- Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

If certified, the measure will set up one of the most consequential tax fights California voters have seen in years — a direct clash over whether local governments must meet stricter voter approval standards before raising taxes.

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Below the paywall, we break down:

• What the Local Taxpayer Protection Act would actually change in practice

• Why the two-thirds versus 50% threshold fight is the real battleground

• How opponents are likely to frame this — and where that argument is vulnerable

• What this signals about the 2026 political climate - especially with another solid ballot measure turning in sigs next week…

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