Only four measures to decide on for June! I'm sure we'll be punished for this in November. Here goes:
Measure A, Earthquake Safety and Emergency Bond Measure
Measure A asks San Francisco for $535 million in general obligation bonds to seismically retrofit fire stations, harden police facilities, replace the 110-year-old Potrero Bus Yard, and finally extend the Emergency Firefighting Water System into the Sunset and Richmond, which apparently the previous three earthquake bonds since 2010 forgot about. The USGS puts the odds of a 6.7+ Bay Area earthquake in the next thirty years at 72%. Repayment runs about $933 million over 25 years and doesn't raise property tax rates above the existing cap.
Yes. Working fire infrastructure after an earthquake is a good use of funds. This also upgrades police stations and will be used for the Potrero Yard MUNI project. The MUNI part was previously defeated as a ballot measure in June 2022 (I voted for it then, and happy to do so again this year).
Measure B, Term Limits for Mayor and Board of Supervisors Charter Amendment
Measure B caps service as mayor or supervisor at two four-year terms over an entire human lifetime. Current law already limits supervisors to two consecutive terms with a four-year cooling-off period; this closes the loophole that lets a former officeholder return after sitting out. In the twenty-five years since district elections came back in 2000, exactly one person has used that loophole. Prop B amends the city charter to prevent it from happening again.
Yes. After two terms, find something else to do. More specifically this amendment means you can't take four years off and then run again, and I'm fine with this change.
Measure C, Gross Receipts Tax Exemption and Top Executive Pay Tax Increase Initiative
Measure C, sponsored by the SF Chamber of Commerce, accelerates a planned business tax cut by a year and raises the small-business gross-receipts exemption from $5 million to $7.5 million, helping about 800 businesses. The controller estimates it costs the city $30-40 million a year, in a year already $169 million in the hole. It also exists primarily to neutralize Prop D - if both pass, whichever gets more votes wins.
No. This is designed to kill measure D, which I also oppose, but it also costs $30-$40 million a year in more generous small business exemptions.
Measure D, Changes to Top Executive Pay Tax Initiative
Measure D, sponsored by SEIU and IFPTE Local 21, raises the Top Executive Pay Tax by 800-900% on companies with more than 1,000 employees and $1 billion in revenue whose top executive earns more than 100x the median worker, and redefines "median worker" from the median San Francisco employee to the median global one - which sweeps in basically every large retailer, bank, and tech firm with an SF office. Estimated revenue: $250-300 million a year. Several grocery chains and pharmacies have publicly threatened to leave if it passes.
No. This is a ridiculous tax and I want no part of it. I voted against this in 2020. If we want a tax to signal disapproval of large companies, perhaps it should be based on the percentage of stock that is locked up so you need to ring a bell to get it, but the employee with the key is on a break or otherwise busy. But I don't even think we should do that.
