By Lookout Staff

September 8, 2026 --- The City Council on Tuesday is expected to take positions on five statewide measures on the November 3 ballot, with four having a financial impact on Santa Monica policies.

The fiscal policies include two bonds that raise funding for affordable housing and home purchases and one that extends an existing tax that permanently funds schools and health care.

The Council also will weigh in on a measures that curbs the ability of voters to approve taxes by a simple majority and require voters to present government-issued identification.

The item -- placed on the agenda by Mayor Caroline Torosis and Councilmembers Dan Hall and Barry Snell -- asks the Council to support the first three funding measures and oppose the other two.

The first bond measure, Proposition 1, "authorizes $11.25 billion in general obligation bonds for housing affordability programs, including $1.25 billion for the state veteran home loan program, $7.2 billion for affordable multifamily rental housing (and) $1.1 billion for homeownership assistance," according to the item.

It also authorizes $500 million "for infrastructure projects, such as water, sewage, parks, and transportation, and $200 million for local pilot programs that cities and counties may access directly to reduce housing costs."

The second bond measure, Proposition 37, authorizes up to $25 billion in revenue bonds to "create a loan program for middle-income buyers of qualified new homes."

The bonds fund "down payment assistance loans for first-time middle-income buyers of qualified newly constructed homes, covering up to 17 percent of an eligible home’s purchase price," according to the item.

Meanwhile, Proposition 3 extends existing tax rates on "high incomes" above $361,000 a year, which are scheduled to expire, that provide permanent funding for schools and health care.

The measure is estimated to generate between $5 billion and $15 billion a year, with 89 percent of revenue allocated to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges.

The item opposes Proposition 43, which "limits voters’ ability to raise revenues for local government services" by requiring a two-thirds vote to approve, increase or extended any local special tax placed on the ballot by voter initiative, instead of the current simple majority threshold.

The item notes that 2022's Measure GS, a local parcel tax hike on properties that sell for more than $8 million, was a citizens initiative special tax approved under the threshold that Proposition 43 would replace. The change "would narrow the Santa Monica community's remaining revenue options at a time of declared fiscal distress."

The item also opposes Proposition 39, which according to its sponsors "prohibits citizens from voting unless they present government-issued identification" and requires vote-by-mail voters "to supply the last four digits of the voter's selected government-issued identification number on the ballot return envelope."

The measure also requires state and local election officials "to make best efforts, using government data, to verify that registered voters are U.S. Citizens."