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The Lockean Project

Void Prop 19

Void Prop 19, Monterey Herald – April 6, 2022

In November 2020, Proposition 19 narrowly passed. Television commercials in support focused on the protections it provided to persons who lost their property to natural disaster and elderly property owners who wanted to transfer their property tax basis to a different county.

However, the Prop 19 supporters did not advertise the provisions that took away the protections that California law provided to property transfers between parents and children.  These transfers had been largely exempt from tax reassessment since 1986, when the legislature voted unanimously in favor of putting Prop 58 on the ballot, and Prop 58  passed when over 75% of the voters approved.   This law excluded most transfers of real estate from parents to children from crippling property tax reassessments.  Proposition 19 largely eviscerated Prop 58, restoring reassessment with some limited exceptions.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has filed an initiative to restore the pre-Proposition 19 law and protect these family transfers.  To find out how to get this proposition on the ballot, contact HJTA / Repeal the Death Tax.  Time is of the essence.  The deadline to return petitions is April 15.

— Joseph Bileci Jr., Pacific Grove