In conjunction with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), CBPA, BOMA California, and the California Business Roundtable filed suit in August in the Superior Court in San Francisco challenging the city’s special tax on commercial property (Proposition C – passed in June 2018), which is an illegal and punitive gross receipts levy which will reduce commercial property values in the city by up to 12%. Our lawsuit asserts that because the tax is expressly for a special purpose, it required ...

After a weekend of parties and a high profile concert on Sunday featuring national level rappers and hip-hop starts and a family-friendly event taking over Old Sacramento on Sunday featuring kid DJ’s, Gavin Newsom will be sworn in as the 40th Governor of California on Monday at 11:15 a.m. and will give his first inaugural address at Noon. The event is free and will be available online.  Read More →

After a 19 point victory on Tuesday, Governor-Elect Newsom wasted no time getting his team together.  Announcing Ann O’Leary, a long-time policy advisor to Hillary Clinton to serve as his chief of staff.  He also named Ana Matasantos, who served as Budget Director for both Governor Brown and Governor Schwarzenegger, as his Cabinet Secretary. We congratulate Governor-Elect Newsom and look forward to working with him!  Read More →

It was no surprise that Mr. Newsom won the Governorship as all the polls indicated his success, however the fact that he won by almost  20 points was surprising, and that wide margin has proven to produce some surprises in legislative races too. Normally in the off-year elections Republicans expect to do better than during Presidential elections, however Tuesday saw the GOP lose control of the House of Representatives and apparently cede a 2/3s vote majority in both houses of the Legislature.  ...

In some very positive news for our industry was a bright spot in the election is that our only endorsed statewide candidate Eleni Kounalakis was successful in her bid for Lt. Governor with almost an 11 point win.  Eleni spoke with our Board over a year ago and received a rare endorsement.  Her past experience as a commercial real estate professional and knowledge of our industry was key in our endorsement. We congratulate Lt. Governor Elect Kounalakis and look forward to working with her!  Read More →

Even as the votes continue to be counted in some close races, it appears that both houses of the state Legislature will see a 2/3 vote Democrat majority, while setting the highest mark for one party in the Assembly in over 40 years. In the Senate going in to the elections, Democrats controlled 26 of the 40 seats and needed one more to get to the supermajority of 27. All Democrat incumbents appear to have successfully defended their seats and it appears they may flip the one needed seat, Senate District ...

In a very bright spot for this election, our industry was part of the successful effort to defeat Proposition 10, the rent control measure.  In total over $48M was raised to defeat this measure and almost half of that came from our efforts as leaders of the Prop 10 Flaws effort. Defeating rent control, you can see what happens when we are able to access capital to properly fund a campaign – this populist measure couldn’t even get to 39% support. Rex Hime played a key role in organizing our industry’s ...

On Tuesday millions of Californians will go to the polls to vote for new representation and weigh-in on important policy questions up and down the ballot. Our association makes recommendations on those issues that have a statewide direct and/or disproportionate impact on the commercial, industrial, and retail real estate industry. For recommendations on local candidates and issues please connect with your local staff. Please vote!  Read More →

Proposition 3 authorizes $8.9 billion in state general obligation bonds for various infrastructure projects related to water projects. Please vote YES on Proposition 3.  Read More →

Proposition 5 would allow homebuyers who are age 55 or older or severely disabled to transfer their tax assessments from their prior home to their new home. Please vote YES on Proposition 5.  Read More →