State Sens. Holly Mitchell and Loni Hancock on Wednesday held a news conference on their bid to amend California’s constitution and undermine California’s Proposition 13.

SCA 5 would assess commercial and industrial properties at their market value, stripping away property tax protections under the state’s landmark law.

Under this split-roll, it appears residential property, such as rental housing, would retain the tax protections offered by the 1978 voter-approved proposition.

Getting Mitchell and Hancock’s measure before voters in 2016 would first take approval by a two-thirds majority in the state Legislature.

Support for splitting the tax roll in California, however, has dwindled over the past few years, according to this Los Angeles Times article.

And outside Wednesday’s press conference, David Kline of the California Taxpayers Association pointed out that state tax revenues are up.

“It boggles the mind that someone would suggest another $9 billion on top of that windfall,” said Kline, according to this Sacramento Bee article.

Despite the strange timing and shrinking public support, Wednesday’s announcement followed a similar campaign kickoff about one month ago. On May 7, a union-led coalition dubbed Make It Fair began campaigning for a ballot initiative to undercut the tax-relief law.

Needless to say, opposition is mounting against efforts to weaken Prop. 13. Like the California Apartment Association, the California Chamber of Commerce has come out against SB5, labeling it a “job killer” in this article and in the video below.

https://youtu.be/3xzCwH4nLwI