LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A proposed temporary countywide half-cent sales tax to fund healthcare services was trailing Wednesday, with voters appearing to reject the measure that was billed as an effort to offset reductions in state and federal funding.
Measure ER, which was introduced by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis in January, was called the Essential Services Restoration Act and asked voters to enact the half-cent general sales tax increase for five years, through Oct. 1, 2031.
County officials said the measure would generate about $1 billion annually.
With ballots still being counted, Measure ER had support from 489,856 voters, or 47.16%, while 548,941 voters, or 52.84%, opposed the proposal.
The county sales tax currently stands at 9.75%. The proposed hike would increase it to 10.25%.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in February, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger dissenting, to place the proposal on the June ballot.
“Backfilling federal funding cuts on the backs of county taxpayers is not acceptable,” Barger said in a statement after the vote. “Los Angeles County residents are already stretched thin. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that Los Angeles now has the highest sales tax rates of any major metropolitan region in the nation. This proposed half-cent increase would push us even higher, making our county less affordable for families and less appealing for consumers to shop and businesses to operate. We are risking imposing higher everyday costs and small businesses and employers choosing to leave Los Angeles County altogether.”
Mitchell argued, however, that healthcare services in the county will face dire losses if no action is taken to restore funding that she said was slashed under the federal budget bill passed earlier this year.
Mitchell said the bill included “the largest federal funding cut to Medicaid in our nation’s history.”
“HR 1 pulled the rug out from under all of us,” she said. “… That’s how we got here.”
The county sales tax already increased in April 2025 when voters approved Measure A, a half-cent sales hike that replaced Measure H, a quarter- cent sales tax. The funding from the tax supports homeless prevention initiatives.
Mitchell, who represents the Second District, encompassing south L.A. County cities and unincorporated areas, worked with a coalition of healthcare organizations and workers, called Restore Healthcare for Angelenos, on the proposal.
In their motion, Mitchell and Solis said the tax measure would address the immediate need to provide financial support to the county’s health care system amid reductions in state and federal funding.
“Unfortunately, after exhausting every existing alternative, this temporary emergency measure is the only option that can be implemented quickly enough to prevent hospital closures and the loss of health care access for at least hundreds of thousands of residents,” the motion reads.
Last year’s federal budget bill, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which was approved and signed by Congress and President Donald Trump, detailed billions of dollars of reductions in healthcare funding, according to the motion. Those reductions to Medi-Cal, coupled with eligibility changes, will impact county residents, who could face loss of coverage and reduced access to care.
“The county’s most impacted departments face projected losses totaling $2.4 billion over the next three years,” the supervisors’ motion reads. “Due to funding losses, county officials have already initiated hiring freezes and are contemplating service consolidations, potential layoffs of 5,000 staff, and facility closures in the coming years.”
State funding reductions in healthcare are exacerbating the issue. Due to budget constraints, California rolled back health care coverage for undocumented immigrants and reduced funding for other initiatives.
In January, the California Department of Health Care Services stopped enrolling new adult patients without legal status in its state-funded health care program, Medi-Cal. The state is expected to cut non-emergency dental care for immigrants here illegally who are already enrolled in the program.
State officials agreed to enact a $30 monthly premium starting in July 2027 for immigrants who remain on the program, including those with legal status.
Federal dollars do not support these initiatives, as using federal funding for those here illegally is against the law.
Money raised by Measure ER would be spent as follows:
— up to 45% would support the county Department of Health Services;
— 5% would be allocated based on patient visits to nonprofit health agencies serving low-income and underserved populations;
— about 4% would benefit school-based health needs and programs as determined by the governing board of L.A. Care Health Plan;
— another 10% would support the county Department of Public Health and its core public health functions;
— about 3% would be allocated to the county Department of Public Social Services to support Medicaid outreach and enrollment activities, and volunteer programs;
— another 2.5% would go toward the Correctional Health Services;
— some 22% would fund DHS to safeguard public hospitals and clinic services;
— about 5% would be allocated to support nonprofit hospitals in the county, and provide funding to entities that meet certain criteria;
— another 2.5% would support in-home supportive services for seniors and people with disabilities;
— about 1% would support the cities of Pasadena and Long Beach, which have separate Public Health Departments from the county; and
— any remaining funds would be disbursed in a need-based manner focused on emergency department volume.
The proposed measure would also establish a nine-member citizens’ oversight committee to ensure fiscal accountability for any revenue raised, which involves annual independent audits and making recommendations on how to allocate the funding.
Committee members would serve three-year terms and they would be eligible for reappointment by the Board of Supervisors.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association criticized the proposed sales- tax measure.
“The sales tax is already too high in Los Angeles County, so high that the most recent half-percent increase for homelessness services required special legislation from the state to allow it to exceed the cap on local sales taxes that is in state law. Raising the sales tax again is unreasonable and unfairly harsh on those who are least able to afford it,” the association said in a statement.
Copyright 2026, City News Service, Inc.
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