Ballot initiative would exacerbate bad economy and make housing affordability worse
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 30, 2020—Results from a survey of NFIB-member, small-business owners released today showed a nearly 90% opposition to Proposition 21, the November ballot initiative that would expand local governments’ authority to enact rent control on residential property.
“Our members’ emphatic opposition to Prop 21 is not surprising: this measure would harm small-business owners and their workers, devastate California’s economy and make the housing affordability crisis worse,” said John Kabateck, state director for NFIB California. “The choice for voters is clear – Prop 21 will reduce our housing supply and drive up our cost of living. NFIB California stands ready to vocally oppose this flawed proposition.”
In a sampling of its 15,000 California members, NFIB found just six percent expressing support for Prop 21.
Particularly pernicious, according to Kabateck, is Prop 21’s giving unelected bureaucrats the power to add fees on rental housing without a vote of the people, making rental housing even more expensive and driving up the cost of living.
“What’s also worth noting is the number of varied organizations lined up in opposition to Prop. 21,” said Kabateck. “Civil rights groups, veterans’ organizations, labor unions, and advocates for seniors and affordable housing have joined with business associations such as ours to urgently call for this ballot initiative’s defeat.”
A partial list of opponents can be found in the arguments section of the state’s Official Voter Information Guide, Pages 54-55.
Keep up with the latest on California small-business at www.nfib.com/california or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA.
For more than 77 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
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