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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16-FEBRUARY 22, 2026
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VOL. 15,
NO. 263
LA County board puts sales tax hike for health care on June ballot
AG opens civil rights probe into Eaton Fire response in West Altadena
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
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he Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-1 to place a voter initiative on the June ballot seeking a half-cent increase in sales tax to fill funding gaps amid cutbacks from the state and federal governments. The proposed temporary tax hike, introduced last month by Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis, is a half-cent general sales tax increase through Oct. 1, 2031. An estimated $1 billion would be generated from the Essential Services Restoration Act, county officials reported. The current sales tax of 9.75% would rise to 10.25% and take effect “the first day of the first calendar quarter commencing more than 110 days after” voter approval in the June 2 election, according to Mitchell and Solis’ motion for the proposed tax hike. “The federal budget bill, (House Resolution 1), also known as the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act,’ proposed and signed into law by President Donald Trump, includes massive funding cuts,” the motion reports. “In Los Angeles County, these cuts most severely impact the County’s health care system. HR 1 cuts billions in federal Medicaid funding to California and imposes new eligibility requirements and copays, resulting in reduced care for patients.” LA County has 3.3 million people who rely on Medi-Cal assistance, or 1 in 3 residents, including nearly a million children, according to the motion. “In order to meet the urgent health care needs of the County’s residents and combat the looming potential closure of hospitals, clinics and the emergency room overcrowding crisis caused by
One of the thousands of homes in Altadena destroyed in the Eaton Fire in January 2025. | Photo courtesy of Facsenator/ Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
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| Photo by MargJohnsonVA/Envato
HR 1, this Board must place a temporary 0.5% sales tax on the ballot at the next available election,” Mitchell and Solis wrote. District 5 Supervisor Kathryn Barger cast the dissenting vote after a hearing of more than four hours involving board members and the public. “Backfilling federal funding cuts on the backs of county taxpayers is not acceptable,” Barger said in a statement following the board’s decision. “Los Angeles County residents are already stretched thin. Last year, Bloomberg News reported that Los Angeles now has the highest sales tax rates of any major metropolitan region in the nation. This proposed half-cent increase would push us even higher, making our county less affordable for families and less appealing for consumers to shop and businesses to operate. We are risking imposing higher everyday costs and small businesses and employers
choosing to leave Los Angeles County altogether.” Mitchell, who represents District 2, argued during the meeting that health care services in the county will face significant shortfalls without an infusion of funding. “HR 1 pulled the rug out from under all of us. ... That’s how we got here,” Mitchell said, also noting that the bill included “the largest federal funding cut to Medicaid in our nation’s history.” District 1 Supervisor Solis said, “Let us not forget ... and underscore how we got here — the Trump administration and congressional Republicans passed HR 1 that put the safety net, which we as board members are obligated to strengthen and make sure that it’s adaptable and flexible when we incur ... budget hits and crisis.” Voters raised the county’s sales tax 0.5% in April after See Health tax Page 23
voters approved Measure A to replace Measure H’s quartercent levy. The tax finances efforts to prevent and address homelessness. Barger called for “stronger commitments” from state legislators and questioned the proposed ordinance’s accountability measures. “Making things more expensive — especially for those who can least afford it — without real guarantees or accountability is not the answer,” she said following Tuesday’s vote. “Placing a burden on taxpayers, with no certainty that the dollars will be spent as intended, is not responsible fiscal policy. “If the County is going to ask voters to approve a tax, it should be a special tax that provides clear purpose, enforceable accountability, and real transparency — not a general tax which can be used for other County needs,” Barger said.
he state Attorney General’s Office Thursday announced a civil rights investigation into the response to the January 2025 Eaton Fire, questioning whether race, age or disability discrimination contributed to delays in emergency notifications and evacuations in the historically black West Altadena area. Attorney General Rob Bonta noted that the 14,000acre fire killed 19 people, all but one of whom lived in the West Altadena area, and the average age of the fire victims was 77 years old. “The investigation we’ve launched is driven by one over-arching question — did the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s delay in notifying and evacuating the historically Black West Altadena community during the Eaton Fire violate state anti-discrimination and disability rights laws?” Bonta said at a Los Angeles news conference announcing the investigation. “Meaning, did unlawful race-, disability- or See Eaton Fire Page 24
age-based discrimination in the emergency response result in a delayed evacuation notification that disproportionately impacted West Altadena residents? “That’s the question. We don’t know the answer. We don’t know what this investigation will turn up, which is the whole point — to pursue the facts, uncover, reveal the facts and follow the facts. “We’re also not starting from a blank slate here. There are concerning circumstances surrounding the Eaton Fire that have raised questions, making this investigation necessary. The biggest of which is that there was indisputably a delayed emergency notification and evacuation of West Altadena. We’re here to ask why.” Questions about the emergency response to the fire were raised shortly after the deadly blaze, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that evacuation alerts were issued in West Altadena only well after the fire was raging in the community, and fewer