Is Prop 13 on the November 2026 Ballot?
Short answer: Proposition 13 is not on your November 3, 2026 ballot. It is not being repealed, amended, or touched. What is on the ballot are measures that sit on top of Prop 13, and one of them is worth about $240,000 to a Palisades owner selling a $6 million lot.
That gap between what people think is on the ballot and what actually is on the ballot is where the money moves. Here is the plain version.
What Prop 13 actually does
Prop 13 has done the same three things since 1978, and it still does exactly those three things today.
It sets the ad valorem property tax rate at 1% of assessed value.
It caps how fast your assessed value can grow each year at the lesser of 2% or CPI.
It locks your base year value in place until you sell or build something new, at which point the county reassesses to current market value (LA County Assessor).
That is it. No new rules this fall.
So why is your tax bill more than 1%?
Because the 1% is not really your rate. Prop 13 exempted voter-approved bonded debt from the cap. School bonds, direct assessments, and the rest ride on top, which is why a typical Westside bill lands closer to 1.1% or 1.25%.
Prop 13 governs the base. The ballot governs everything stacked above it. That is the whole reason measures that never say the words "Proposition 13" still end up on your bill.
The number that explains half of Westside inventory
The cap compounds, and compounding is what creates the strangest math in California real estate.
Take a Mar Vista house bought in 1996 for $300,000. Its factored base year value today is around $543,000, so the ad valorem portion of the bill runs roughly $5,400 a year.
Now take the buyer closing on that same house at $2.2 million this fall. They establish a new base and start near $22,000 a year.
Same house. Same lot. Same street. The only variable is the date on the deed. This is also why so many long-time Westside owners stay put. Selling does not just cost them commission and transfer tax, it costs them a tax basis they can never get back.
Prop 43: the measure everyone thinks is about Prop 13
Proposition 43 is the one people keep confusing with Prop 13.
If it passes, it would require a two-thirds vote for local special taxes starting January 1, 2027, including taxes placed on the ballot by citizen initiative, and it does not apply retroactively (California Budget & Policy Center). The Legislative Analyst's Office confirms it applies only to measures put before voters after that date (LAO analysis of Prop 43).
It exists because of a last-minute deal. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had qualified a measure that would have capped every local transfer tax in California at roughly one-twentieth of one percent, which would have effectively ended Measure ULA and Santa Monica's Measure GS. On June 25, hours before the withdrawal deadline, it was pulled in exchange for the narrower amendment now sitting on your ballot.
So Prop 43 is prospective and structural. It changes what can be enacted after 2027. It changes nothing you owe at close, and it leaves ULA and Measure GS fully intact. If you were waiting for the mansion tax to disappear in November, it is not going to.
The one measure that actually moves Westside money
The L.A. City Council voted 13-1 to put a Palisades exemption on the November ballot. If it passes, the sale of a home damaged or destroyed by the January 2025 fire would be exempt from Measure ULA through early 2030, a one-time five-year window the Housing Department estimates could reduce ULA revenue by as much as $32 million a year.
For an owner weighing a lot sale against a rebuild, that is a live variable, not a talking point.
ULA applies to the gross price, not the gain. For sales closing after June 30, 2026, it is 4% above $5.4 million and 5.5% above $10.9 million (LA Office of Finance).
On a $6 million lot sale, that exemption is worth about $240,000.
What quietly died in July
The reform most of the industry was watching is gone.
On July 1, the last day to place items on the November ballot, the Council shelved the ten-year ULA exemption for newly built multifamily and mixed-use projects on a 14-0 vote (LAist). What replaced it is an ordinance-level tax credit pilot that can drop the ULA rate to 1.5% for qualifying affordable projects built with prevailing wage, narrower, slower, and it never reaches voters.
If you are a developer who was underwriting a spec or multifamily exit around that exemption, take it out of the model.
What I would do with this
If you own in the burn area, build the November result into your timing instead of trying to time around it, because a five-year window is long enough to sell well rather than fast.
If you are 55 or older, Prop 19 still lets you carry your base year value to a replacement property up to three times, anywhere in the state, which remains the most underused provision in California property tax law.
And if you are rebuilding, SB 663 extended the misfortune-and-calamity filing window to 24 months and the rebuild window to eight years, so you can keep your pre-fire base while you go through the permitting slog (Senator Ben Allen).
None of that changes on November 3. The base year rules, the thresholds, and the transfer taxes all survive this ballot intact. What changes is how hard it becomes to add the next one.
FAQ
Is Proposition 13 on the November 2026 ballot? No. Prop 13 is not on the ballot and is not being amended. The 1% rate, the 2% annual cap, and the base year value rules all stay exactly as they are.
Does Proposition 43 change my property tax bill? No. Prop 43 sets the vote threshold for future local special taxes starting January 1, 2027. It does not touch your assessment, your rate, or any tax already in effect.
Why is my Westside property tax higher than 1%? Voter-approved bonds and direct assessments are layered on top of the 1% base rate. Most Westside bills land somewhere between 1.1% and 1.25%.
Is the mansion tax going away in November? No. Measure ULA and Santa Monica's Measure GS both survive this ballot. The statewide measure that would have gutted them was withdrawn in June.
What are the current Measure ULA thresholds? For sales closing after June 30, 2026, ULA is 4% on the gross price above $5.4 million and 5.5% above $10.9 million, inside City of Los Angeles limits only.
If my Palisades home burned, should I wait until after the election to sell? It depends on your price point. If your sale would clear $5.4 million, the exemption on the ballot could be worth 4% of the gross, so the November result belongs in your timing conversation.
Can I still transfer my Prop 13 base year value if I move? Yes, if you are 55 or older. Prop 19 allows up to three transfers to a replacement property anywhere in California.
General information, not tax or legal advice.
Talk to the Paul Salazar Group!
Paul Salazar runs the Paul Salazar Group at Compass, working with sellers and buyers across the Westside. If you want to know what any of this means for your specific property, the conversation is free. Call or text us at 310-853-3643 or email us at info@paulsalazargroup.com.
