Union of over 100,000 members officially endorses measure that will make billionaires pay their fair share to keep local hospitals open and healthcare affordable for millions
SACRAMENTO, CA — On the heels of an endorsement from the California Democratic Party, Prop 40, the California Billionaire Tax, has picked up another major endorsement.
The California Nurses Association (CNA), one of California’s largest healthcare unions, is calling on billionaires to pay their fair share and encouraging its members to vote yes on Prop 40 in November. The union officially represents over 100,000 members, and adds to the growing list of healthcare unions taking a stand in favor of the billionaire tax.
“For generations, the wealthiest people and corporations in the United States have rigged our political system to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. This has led to the outrageous, obscene wealth inequality that exists today between billionaires and average working people who can’t even get basic medical care or enough to eat,” said Cathy Kennedy, RN, President of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and Vice-President of National Nurses United. “On top of this immoral tax structure, Republicans passed the H.R. 1 budget bill last year, which made the largest transfer of wealth from working people to the richest Americans in U.S. history by gutting $1 trillion in Medicaid, Medicare, and food assistance.”
Kennedy continued, “Nurses are deeply committed to winning systemic reforms to ensure that wealth created by workers is used to create a healthy society that meets all of our needs. We are proud to endorse Prop. 40 as an important step in this fight and are committed to making billionaires pay their fair share to help ensure Californians can get the healthcare they need.”
Meanwhile, the number of major supporters for the billionaire tax has far outpaced the groups opposing it. Prop 40 just scored a major victory with a “yes” vote endorsement from the California Democratic Party and the California Young Democrats. Hundreds of elected officials, labor unions, and community-based organizations have endorsed Prop 40, including U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Ro Khanna, Teamsters California, AFSCME California, SEIU-UHW, Committee of Interns and Residents / SEIU, UNITE HERE Local 11, UNITE HERE Local 30, AFT Local 1521, Disability Voices United, Our Revolution California, Oxfam America, Color of Change, and many more.
This surge in momentum for Prop 40 includes a new poll of likely 2026 California voters that found that the billionaire tax holds a strong double-digit, 19-point lead statewide, with voters supporting it by a 57% to 38% margin. Support rises dramatically among constituencies that form the backbone of the Democratic Party, with 80% of Democrats, 70% of union members, 63% of teachers, 63% of healthcare workers, and 56% of independent and no-party-preference voters supporting Prop 40.
Prop 40 qualified for the ballot after supporters submitted more than 1.6 million signatures from Californians across the state — nearly twice the number required to qualify — making it one of the strongest citizen-led ballot qualification efforts in California history.
“We are excited to be working together with the California Nurses Association to protect healthcare access for millions of California families and prevent hospitals and ERs from closing,” said Debru Carthan, Vice President of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, one of the lead sponsors of the California Billionaire Tax Act. “The healthcare cuts caused by Trump’s tax giveaway to billionaires must be stopped, and we will make sure voters have the information they need to vote YES in November.”
Trump’s “Big, Ugly Bill” slashed funding for healthcare in California to pay for more billionaire tax breaks, eliminating healthcare coverage for up to 3.4 million Californians and doubling health insurance premiums for millions more. Clinics across California are closing, hospitals are laying off workers, and life-saving services are being cut. Working families in California are already seeing their healthcare costs skyrocket, and it’s only getting worse.
As Trump’s massive federal healthcare cuts begin to rip healthcare away from millions of Californians, the 100,000-member California Nurses Association is joining a growing list of organizations and lawmakers supporting Prop 40, which makes more than 200 California billionaires pay a modest, one-time tax to keep local hospitals and ERs open and healthcare affordable for millions of Californians.
Billionaires already pay much lower tax rates than what working families pay out of every paycheck. They insist on paying less and sticking the middle class with the bill. Prop 40 will enact a tax paid ONLY by Californians worth more than $1 billion, a small group of people who together hold $2 trillion in wealth – most of which will never be taxed due to loopholes that favor the ultra-wealthy.
By voting YES on Prop 40, California voters can raise about $100 billion to replace the healthcare funding Trump and his billionaire donors took from working people to hoard even more wealth. The funds will go to life-saving medical care for seniors, veterans, and families. It will allow millions of Californians to keep their health insurance and not see their premiums skyrocket. It will also help prevent teacher layoffs in our public schools and keep children fed through food assistance programs.
More than 400 hospitals statewide have already laid off more than 3,400 healthcare workers, and a second wave of layoffs is expected as funding cuts from Trump’s “Big, Ugly Bill” hit healthcare providers. Statewide, projections show the cuts could result in the loss of up to 145,000 healthcare jobs, impacting hospitals, clinics, and home care providers. California has already been grappling with a longstanding shortage of healthcare workers, leaving hospitals and clinics stretched thin even before Trump’s cuts.
Without revenue from Prop 40, these federal healthcare cuts are expected to put an estimated 83 California hospitals and clinics at risk of closure. Cuts and closures have already started, impacting communities from Los Angeles to Oakland to Glenn County.
Founded in 1903, the California Nurses Association is a premiere organization of registered nurses and one of the nation’s fastest growing labor and professional organizations in the U.S. with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California.
About Prop 40, the California Billionaire Tax Act
Trump’s “Big, Ugly Bill” slashed funding for healthcare in California to pay for more billionaire tax breaks. These cuts eliminate healthcare coverage for up to 3.4 million Californians and double health insurance premiums for millions more. Prop 40, the California Billionaire Tax Act, will make billionaires finally pay their fair share in taxes to keep local hospitals and ERs open and healthcare affordable for millions of Californians.
Vote YES on Prop 40 to save lives, tax billionaires.
| Paid for by Yes on 40 – Billionaire Tax Now, Sponsored by Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West. Committee’s Top Funder Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West |
###