California unions, hospitals strike deal -- but billionaire tax heads to ballot
California hospitals and the state’s largest health workers union reached an agreement Thursday to pull two competing initiatives from the November ballot hours before a state deadline. But a separate measure to impose a one-time tax on billionaires remains headed toward voters, potentially reshaping how California funds healthcare.
That measure would levy a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires if approved by voters. Supporters estimate the tax would bring in $100 billion to replace recent state and federal healthcare cuts. The union accused Gov. Gavin Newsom, who tried to strike a last-minute deal to kill the ballot measure, of having “no plan” to prevent cuts projected to lose jobs and leave millions of Californians uninsured, according to recent projections.
“We thought it was important to do everything we could to try to solve that problem,” said Dave Regan, president of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.
In addition to the wealth tax, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West had qualified an initiative to limit how much hospital executives are paid; while the California Hospital Association hit back with a proposal to limit the union’s political spending without member approval. Those two measures will no longer appear on the ballot under a deal brokered by the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO.
https://calmatters.org/health/2026/06/health-ballot-measures-deal-billionaires/