LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal to place a half-cent sales tax increase on the June primary ballot, which officials say will support health care services amid reductions in state and federal funding.
The five-member board will decide whether to approve or reject a proposal introduced by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis in January. The proposed measure — called the Essential Services Restoration Act — would ask voters whether to enact a half-cent general sales tax increase for five years through Oct. 1, 2031.
An estimated $1 billion would be generated from the measure, according to the county.
The county sales tax currently stands at 9.75%. The latest proposed hike would increase it to 10.25%.
The county sales tax already increased in April 2025 after 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.
Supervisor Mitchell, who represents the Second Supervisorial District encompassing south L.A. County cities and unincorporated areas, worked with a coalition of health care organizations and workers, called Restore Healthcare for Angelenos, on the proposal.
Coalition members have said if the Supervisors do not approve the proposal, they plan to launch a signature-gathering campaign to place the measure on the November ballot.
“The ballot measure that we are proposing is an urgent and necessary step to stop the damage, to protect access to life-saving care,” Louise McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, one of the organizations in the coalition, told LAist. “The stakes right now could not be higher.”
In their motion, Mitchell and Solis say 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 health care funding. 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 health care 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.
A similar sales tax hike was approved in November by voters in Santa Clara County to address reductions in federal funding on health care, and some labor unions are pushing for a proposed statewide billionaires tax to support the health care system.
If approved by county voters, the proposed measure would further 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.
Money raised by the tax measure would be expended as followed:
— Up to 47% would support the county Department of Health Services;
— About 5% 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 5% 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 non-profit hospitals in the county, and provided 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 Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has 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.
The organization is working to qualify an initiative constitutional amendment to rescind recently approved special taxes and ensure a two-third vote requirement for all local special taxes.
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