The California secretary of state certifies the California Billionaire Tax Act for the November ballot after petitioners submitted more than double the required signatures.The measure would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on residents with net worth above $1 billion as of the start of this year to fund Medi-Cal, hospitals, education and food assistance; the sponsor is the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.Governor Gavin Newsom engaged in last-minute talks and rejected a union offer to scale the levy to 2 percent, and more than 200 billionaires could be affected, some of whom already live outside California.Opponents including
Sergey Brin,
Peter Thiel,
Larry Page,
Jeff Bezos,
Larry Ellison and
Chris Larsen have backed competing measures and spent tens of millions through
Super PACs, promising a costly campaign season that could reshape the state fiscal picture.