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Committee advances bill letting Santa Cruz County ask voters to raise local tax cap amid debate over local taxing power

Senate Committee on Local Government (California State Senate) · March 18, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

SB 1078, authored by Senator Laird, would let Santa Cruz County voters decide whether to increase the county's combined local tax limit by a half-cent to fund safety-net services. Santa Cruz officials described $25 million in federal impacts; some senators said the bill effectively authorizes a tax increase and raised fairness concerns. The committee referred the bill to Revenue and Taxation (reported 5–2).

Senators sent SB 1078 to the Committee on Revenue and Taxation after a debate that centered on whether the measure merely authorizes a local voter decision or effectively authorizes additional local taxing power.

"I am Nicole Coburn, the County Executive Officer of the County of Santa Cruz," Coburn said in support. She asked senators to back SB 1078 so the county "can approve placing a measure before the voters this…

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