Prop 40 wins endorsement from California Working Families Party

Full original release

Coalition of 30 grassroots organizations and labor unions with more than 100,000 members across California endorses measure to make billionaires pay their fair share, keep hospitals open, make healthcare affordable for millions

LOS ANGELES, CA – Trump’s “Big, Ugly Bill” gutted funding for healthcare in California last year to pay for more billionaire tax breaks. Deep cuts from the bill are expected to eliminate healthcare coverage for up to 3.4 million Californians and will drive health insurance premiums through the roof for millions more. 

Clinics across California are already beginning to close and hospitals are laying off workers while cutting life-saving services. Working families in all regions of the state are seeing their healthcare costs skyrocket – and all that before the worst of the cuts take full effect.

Now, the California Working Families Party has officially taken a stand in favor of saving the state from these dire consequences – by endorsing Prop 40, the California Billionaire Tax, which will make California’s approximately 200 billionaires finally pay their fair share.

“With our endorsement, the Working Families Party is declaring unequivocally that working Californians need healthcare, not more tax breaks for billionaires,” said Christina Livingston, Chair of the California Working Families Party. “Our members are proud to join the ranks of labor unions and other organizations from around the state in endorsing Prop 40. It’s time we stop the tax breaks for billionaires and save California’s ERs and hospitals.”

The California Working Families Party represents a coalition of more than 30 grassroots organizations and labor unions, with nearly 100,000 members across every region of California. Free from financial entanglement with corporate interests, the California Working Families Party prides itself on its advocacy for everyday consumers and community members, not corporations or billionaires.

The endorsement adds further momentum for Prop 40. Among other benefits, it means that electioneering materials distributed by the California Working Families Party between now and Election Day will include the official endorsement of the measure. 

Hundreds of elected officials, labor unions, and community-based organizations have already endorsed Prop 40 as an urgent and necessary solution to keep hospitals open and healthcare costs from skyrocketing. 

Just last month, the California State Democratic Party, the California Nurses Association, and the state’s largest labor group, the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, all voted to endorse the Billionaire Tax, showing that Democrats and working families are united behind Prop 40. 

The number of major supporters of the Billionaire Tax has far outpaced the number of groups opposing. Supporters include 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, the California Young Democrats, the Green Party, and many, many more. 

Voters consistently support the California Billionaire Tax by large, double-digit margins. A new poll of likely 2026 California voters 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 and 70% of union members 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.

“Like all of us who support Prop 40, the California Working Families Party refuses to tolerate a status quo where billionaires get even more tax breaks at the expense of ordinary Californians. We’re proud to stand with the WFP in fighting to save our state’s hospitals, clinics, and ERs and preserve affordable access to healthcare. Together, we will work to reverse the billionaire tax cuts and ensure that the richest people in our state finally pay their fair share to save our healthcare for millions of Californians,” said Debru Carthan, Executive Vice President of SEIU-UHW.

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. 

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. 

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