Vote No on Proposition 40
The Central Valley has spent generations helping California prosper while struggling to secure the same quality of life enjoyed in other parts of the state.
We grow the food, produce the energy, move the goods and provide the labor that keeps California’s economy running. Yet too many families in Bakersfield and throughout Kern County are still waiting for the investments necessary to improve their lives.
We have learned to make do with less. But making do should never become California’s permanent plan for the Valley.
Consider our health outcomes. Kern County’s 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment documents serious challenges involving chronic illness, access to medical providers, poverty, housing instability and mental health services. It identifies shortages of primary care and dental providers, along with troubling maternal and infant health indicators.
These conditions do not exist in isolation. A family managing diabetes may also be dealing with inadequate transportation, unstable housing or difficulty finding a doctor. A senior in a rural community may face real obstacles simply getting to an appointment.
And health care is only part of the picture. Our schools need resources. Families need affordable housing. Young people need pathways to good-paying careers. Communities need infrastructure, reliable public safety and economic opportunity that allows the next generation to build a future here.
Against this backdrop, Proposition 40 asks voters to approve a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California billionaires, with most of the money directed to health care. This editorial board recommends a No vote.
Our reason is simple: Proposition 40 pairs temporary money with permanent needs.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the tax would raise tens of billions of dollars spread over several years. But the same analysis warns of a possible ongoing loss in state income tax revenue if some wealthy taxpayers change their behavior or leave California. The state could receive a one-time infusion while giving up recurring dollars year after year.
Health care does not operate on a one-time schedule. Hospitals must remain open, clinics must retain physicians and patients require treatment long after an initial funding boost has been spent. The same is true of education, transportation and every other service that determines whether communities thrive.
Valley families know what happens when temporary programs run out. Clinics that expanded on short-term funding cut hours. Services families relied on disappear. We cannot afford to build health care capacity on a foundation designed to expire.
There is also the question of who bears the risk if revenue falls short. When the state budget tightens, regions with the least political leverage are too often the first to feel the cuts. That has frequently meant the Central Valley.
Supporters argue that Proposition 40 would help protect health care from serious funding pressures. Those pressures are real, particularly in underserved communities like ours. We share the goal. But a measure that could weaken the state’s long-term tax base is the wrong tool for problems that demand stable, predictable funding.
California needs a comprehensive strategy that addresses health care financing, economic growth, revenue stability and the disparities that have left regions like Kern County behind. That requires bringing health care providers, employers, labor organizations, fiscal experts, local officials and community representatives together to develop solutions that can endure.
And this time, the Central Valley needs a seat at the table. Not after the agreements have been reached. Not when the remaining dollars are being divided. From the beginning.
Bakersfield families deserve more than another temporary response to problems that have persisted for decades. They deserve dependable investments that survive changing administrations, economic downturns and political disagreements.
Vote No on Proposition 40, and let’s start the conversation about a financial foundation that will serve California not just next year, but for the next generation.