By Jorge Casuso

December 23, 2025 -- A Los Angeles parcel transfer tax similar to the one approved in Santa Monica three years ago was upheld last week by the California Court of Appeals, handing another victory to voter-initiated taxes.

Monday's ruling found that the passage of Measure ULA to fund affordable housing and prevent homelessness "was a valid exercise of the people’s initiative power" under the State constitution.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association challenged the measure, arguing that although the city charter allows voters to adopt any ordinance the City Council can adopt, Proposition 13, approved by California voters in 1978, barred the Council from doing so.

The Appeals Court, however, affirmed a Superior Court ruling to dismiss the case. While Proposition 13, "restricts a local government’s ability to impose a special transaction tax, it does not limit the ability of voters to do so via initiative,” the Court wrote.

Former Mayor Sue Himmelrich, who sponsored Measure GS in Santa Monica, said the ruling underscores that "transfer taxes keep getting upheld and are legal."

"Business folks are not getting their way and are trying to put a square peg in a round hole," Himmmelrich said. "When you do a targeted tax, people want that, and this is the way government works."

Efforts to fight GS in court and at the ballot box have failed to overturn the measure approved by 53.49 percent of Santa Monica voters in November 2022 to fund education and affordable housing programs.

Two months after its passage, the California Business Roundtable filed a lawsuit against the City claiming GS "is invalid" because under the California Constitution "[a]n initiative measure embracing more than one subject may not be submitted to the electors or have any effect."

After a Superior Court ruling in favor of the City, opponents of the measure took initial steps to amend GS at the ballot box by exempting multi-family buildings.

The City Attorney, however, determined the measure "must meet a higher signature threshold" than the 4,156 signatures submitted to the City Clerk and the measure never made the 2024 ballot.

Measure GS amended the City Charter to establish a third-tier transfer tax of $56 per $1,000 of value for property selling for $8 million or more. The measure is estimated to generate $50 million a year until voters decide to terminate it.

Himmelrich donated $50,000 to support her measure, while her husband, Michael Soloff, who chairs the Measure GS Resident Oversight Committee, donated $335,000. Opponents of the measure spent more than $400,000.

The battle over GS could resume with another ballot measure next November.