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UPDATE on Sept. 11, 2025: LA Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that she’s asked the bills’ authors to continue SB 423, which was gutted and amended on Tuesday to call for capping a so-called ‘mansion tax’ that funds affordable housing and tenant protection, reintroduce it in January.
Her full statement: “Whether working in Sacramento or here in Los Angeles, my goal is to build more housing and make it more affordable while fixing unintended consequences of policies impacting families trying to rebuild after January’s fires. We are working to safeguard local revenue for affordable housing and homelessness prevention and I look forward to collaborating with local and state partners to continue this momentum. I want to thank Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez and Assemblymember Tina McKinnor for their dedicated leadership. Due to a need for additional amendments and further technical changes, I’ve asked both leaders to continue SB 423 so that we can make further improvements this fall and reintroduce in January.”
A state bill that previously called for creating an inmate firefighter program in Los Angeles County was switched last night to an entirely different issue — one that would affect the city of Los Angeles’s so-called ‘mansion tax.’
Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA coalition, confirmed in a statement to The LA Reporter that the language for this bill would affect Measure ULA, a documentary transfer tax that Los Angeles city voters approved in 2022.
Donlin said the proposed language could cut annual revenue from the tax by 15 to 30%.
“Losing revenues on buildings younger than 15 years would be devastating to Measure ULA, cutting its annual revenue by an estimated 15 to 30%,” Donlin said in the statement.
The new language also includes provisions that say the proposed changes to the tax code would only be operative if three initiatives, submitted by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. are withdrawn or don’t make the ballot.
But Howard Jarvis’s president, Jon Coupal, told the LA Times that this was a “lame effort” to sabotage their group’s ballot measure, which aims to limit voters ability to raise revenues for government services.
Meanwhile, former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, who was recruited by LA Mayor Karen Bass to work out a deal, told the LA Times the intent of this proposed arrangement was to encourage business leaders and others from supporting the Howard Jarvis ballot measure, which would also nullify Measure ULA on top of limiting local tax hikes.
The measure has been frequently referred to as a “mansion tax,” and the proceeds from this measure is meant to go toward increasing affordable housing. Funds from the measure have been identified as a source of funding for programs to support tenants.
The city of LA’s website says the tax was established “to fund affordable housing projects and provide resources to tenants at risk of homelessness.
“The ULA Tax is imposed on all documents that convey real property within the City of Los Angeles when the consideration or value of the real property interest conveyed exceeds a threshold of five million dollars, or is ten million dollars or greater, respectively.”
Donlin also said in his statement that the funds from Measure ULA “are L.A.’s most significant local affordable housing and homelessness funds.”
Those funds “provide rent assistance and income support” as well as recovered 800 affordable housing units and “are underwriting our next round of affordable housing which is vastly larger than anything that ever came before.”
Calmatters’s page on Sept. 10, around 4 p.m., for SB 423 still reflected the Sept. 2 version of the bill, which had been authored by Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. That version would “authorize, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the fire chief of the County of Los Angeles Fire Department to establish the Local Handcrew Pilot Program for 5 years and would authorize the fire chief to enroll in the pilot program formerly incarcerated individuals who have successfully completed specified programs, training, programs or work.”
The bill’s new language related to the tax code is now attributed to lead author State Senator Lena Gonzalez and principal coauthor Assemblymember Tina McKinnor.
The LA Reporter is seeking comment from officials and others on the this bill, and will update when there are responses.
For now, information about the bill can be found here, including the language, and bill analysis related not to a transfer tax, but to the establishment of a pilot handcrew program.
The LA Reporter is reposting Section 2 and 4 (which are related to the Revenue and Taxation Code) below:
SEC. 2. Section 11914 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:
11914. (a) The City of Los Angeles shall not impose a documentary transfer tax greater than the rate of seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) for five hundred dollars ($500) in consideration or value of the interest or property, or fractional part thereof, conveyed on a deed, instrument, or writing that conveys real property that has been issued its first certificate of occupancy within the previous 15 years.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the City of Los Angeles may impose a documentary transfer tax greater than the rate of seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) for five hundred dollars ($500) in consideration or value of the interest or property, or fractional part thereof, conveyed on each deed, instrument, or writing that conveys real property for a building receiving its entitlement after the operative date of this section if both of the following conditions are met:
(1) The building is over 85 feet in height above grade.
(2) The construction of the building did not meet the labor standards of paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 65913.4 of the Government Code.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the City of Los Angeles may impose a documentary transfer tax greater than the rate of seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) for five hundred dollars ($500) in consideration or value of the interest or property, or fractional part thereof, conveyed on a deed, instrument, or writing, unless the real property is a single-family property and both of the following conditions are true:
(1) The dwelling unit on the single-family housing property was destroyed by a disaster that resulted in a declared local emergency.
(2) The single-family housing property was issued a certificate of occupancy on a date that is both of the following:
(A) Within the previous five years.
(B) After the declared local emergency described in paragraph (1).
(d) For purposes of this section, “single-family housing property” means a property containing a single dwelling unit that is not an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit, as those terms are defined in Section 66313 of the Government Code.
…
SEC. 4. (a) Section 2 of this act, adding Section 11914 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, shall become operative on the applicable of the following dates, but only if the relevant conditions are met:
(1) On January 1, 2026, if, as of that date, Initiative 25-0004A1, Initiative 25-0005A1, and Initiative 25-0006A1 have each been withdrawn by their respective proponents.
(2) On the 39th day, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, after February 25, 2026, if, as of that date, Initiative 25-0004A1, Initiative 25-0005A1, and Initiative 25-0006A1 have each failed to qualify to appear on the ballot for the November 3, 2026, statewide general election.
(b) If neither of the conditions described in subdivision (a) are satisfied, Section 2 of this act shall not become operative.