Latest News

This update includes the following topics:

• HAPPY NEW YEAR!
• REAL ESTATE CHAMPION REX HIME RUNNING FOR SENATE
• THE “BLUE WAVE” WAS ACTUALLY A “BLUE TSUNAMI” IN CALIFORNIA
• PROPOSITION 10 DEFEATED SOUNDLY – ON TO SPLIT ROLL BATTLE
• COMMERCIAL TAX LAWSUIT IN SF HAS STATEWIDE IMPLICATIONS
• 40th GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA INAUGURATED ON MONDAY
• CBPA 2019 CALENDAR

 
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
 
Welcome back and Happy New Year! We look forward to serving the commercial, industrial, and retail real estate association in 2019 and beyond.
 
Our industry has some very big challenges ahead including an extremely lopsided partisan divide in the Legislature, an incoming Governor with a huge mandate to steer the ship of state even further to the Left, and a split roll property tax initiative on the ballot next year.
 
We wish the political and policy road didn’t appear so bumpy, but we are prepared to do battle on your behalf and look forward to working with all of our members to smooth it out as much as possible!
 
 
REAL ESTATE CHAMPION REX HIME RUNNING FOR SENATE
 
Rex S. Hime, President and CEO of California Business Properties Association has been the primary force in California advocating for Commercial Real Estate in the State Capitol for almost 35 years, is answering the call of public service and will be running in a special election to fill the Senate seat that he lives in. 
 
The Seat will be vacated due to current Senator Ted Gaines winning a seat on the Board of Equalization. We expect the special election to take place in March of this year -- just a few short months away. 
 
Rex has long talked about the importance of people from within the commercial real estate industry stepping-up and getting involved in elective politics. He is putting those words into action.   
 
Former-Governor Pete Wilson, and the Founder and President of the National Tax Limitation Committee Lew Uhler, are serving as Rex’s Campaign Chairs. Rex has also quickly garnered many endorsements including two former Senators who previously held the seat, Senator Tim Leslie (ret.) and current Congressmember John Doolittle (ret.).
 
Senate District 1 is a massive district stretching all the way from the Eastern part of Sacramento County, to Lake Tahoe, then all the way up to the Oregon border stretching to the middle of the State and back down.  The district is known as one of the most conservative areas of the state.   
 
For more information about Rex’s run for California Senate District 1 click here.
 
GO REX GO!
 
 
THE “BLUE WAVE” WAS ACTUALLY A “BLUE TSUNAMI” IN CALIFORNIA
 
It took almost two full months to assess exactly where the November Elections put the partisan divide in California and the news is that it was the largest win for Democrats at all levels of government ever in our state. Every close race – and even a couple that were not close on Election night, moved into the win column for Dems.
 
At the Congressional level seven (7) seats switched from Republican to Democrat and played a large role in changing who holds the gavel in the U.S. House of Representatives back to Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). The California Delegation is now 44-7 in the house and both U.S. Senators remain Democrats
 
In the State Legislature the Democrats gained so much ground they not only reached the coveted “supermajority” status in both chambers, they have reached what some are referring to as “gigamajority” status. Dems hold a 60-20 advantage in the 80 member Assembly; and a 29-11 majority in the 40 member Senate.
 
As for executive elected offices, Democrats now hold ever single statewide elective office.   And just as an example of how lopsided the numbers were in the election Governor-elect Gavin Newsom won his race by an incredible 21.6% margin.

Statewide the Democrats hold a 3.7 million voter advantage in registrations.
 
The Blue Wave that many had predicted turned out to be a Blue Tsunami.
 
 
PROPOSITION 10 DEFEATED SOUNDLY – ON TO SPLIT ROLL BATTLE
 
In one very bright spot for this election, our industry was part of the successful effort to defeat Proposition 10, the rent control measure.  In total over $48M was raised to defeat this measure and almost half of that came from our efforts as leaders of the Prop 10 Flaws effort.
 
Defeating rent control, you can see what happens when we are able to access capital to properly fund a campaign – this populist measure couldn’t even get to 39% support.
 
Rex Hime played a key role in organizing our industry’s distinct efforts in this fight, that paralleled the more broad-based No On 10 campaign, but emphasized some issues of specific importance to our members/industry.
 
We should take a moment to enjoy this victory. But our next task – defeating Split Roll Property Tax, on the ballot in Nov. 2020 – is already upon us. As there is no rest for the weary, we already have a meeting set up with other allied leaders dedicated to defeating split roll, next week.
 
Defeating this rent control measure by such a large margin shows that we can be successful at the statewide level when we are focused and funded.  However, it is not a given.  November 2020 is a Presidential Election Year and turnout amongst the Democrat base will be much higher.
 
Click here for a final result rundown of all the November 2018 propositions.
 
 
COMMERCIAL TAX LAWSUIT IN SF HAS STATEWIDE IMPLICATIONS
 
In conjunction with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), CBPA, BOMA California, and the California Business Roundtable filed suit in August in the Superior Court in San Francisco challenging the city's special tax on commercial property (Proposition C – passed in June 2018), which is an illegal and punitive gross receipts levy which will reduce commercial property values in the city by up to 12%.
 
Our lawsuit asserts that because the tax is expressly for a special purpose, it required a 2/3 vote of the city's electorate under Propositions 13 and 218. But it did not pass by that margin. Rather, the tax proposal, designated as Measure C, received a scant 50.87% vote.
 
The basis for the lawsuit is that the California Constitution clearly holds that special taxes at the local level have required a two-thirds vote of the electorate as mandated by Propositions 13 and 218.
 
Click here for a newspaper story on the lawsuit.
 
 
40th GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA INAUGURATED ON MONDAY
 
After a weekend of parties and a high profile concert on Sunday featuring national level rappers and hip-hop starts and a family-friendly event taking over Old Sacramento on Sunday featuring kid DJ’s, Gavin Newsom will be sworn in as the 40th Governor of California on Monday at 11:15 a.m. and will give his first inaugural address at Noon. The event is free and will be available online.
 
 
CBPA 2019 CALENDAR
 
TBD
CBPA Winter Board Meeting
CalChamber, Sacramento
 
March 28, 2019
CBPA Industrywide Leg Meeting
 
June 11 – 12, 2019
California Commercial Real Estate Summit
Sacramento
 
December 5 – 6, 2019
Strategic Issues Conference
Napa Valley
 
Please feel free to contact Melissa Stevens at mstevens@cbpa.com should you have any questions or require additional information about our events.