Measure Would Abolish Rent Control,
Stop Water Projects,
and Destroy Land-Use Planning
Wealthy apartment and mobile home park owners are spending millions on a deceptive campaign to pass Prop. 98 for their own financial gain.
These landlords want voters to believe that Prop. 98 - dubbed the Hidden Agendas Scheme - is about eminent domain.
But their hidden agenda is to eliminate rent control so they can make hundreds of millions of dollars by raising rents on seniors and working families.
To make matters worse, the measure also contains poorly drafted provisions that could stop future water projects, destroy local land-use planning and erode environmental protections.
If passed, Proposition 98 would:
-- Eliminate rent control and other renter protection laws. The true purpose of Prop. 98 is to abolish rent control in California - making it extremely difficult for thousands of seniors and widows on fixed incomes, single mothers and working families to find adequate housing they can afford. The measure would also gut renter protection laws, such as laws requiring the fair return of rental deposits and laws requiring 60-day notice before forcing tenants out of their housing.
-- Threaten water quality and supply. Drafting errors in Proposition 98 would be locked into the Constitution and could prohibit the acquisition of land and water through eminent domain to develop public water projects - threatening many future water projects intended to preserve clean drinking water, protect existing water resources, and secure additional water supply. The Association of California Water Agencies says Prop. 98 "could derail needed groundwater and surface water storage projects around the state" and calls this flaw in the measure "cause for alarm."
--Hurt the environment and stop regulations that protect our neighborhoods. In the definitions section is a clause that would prohibit laws and regulations that "transfer economic benefit to one or more private persons at the expense of the private owner." Because the courts have ruled that virtually all land-use decisions and environmental laws transfer economic benefit from one party to another, Prop. 98 would prohibit countless laws that protect our land, air, water and laws that protect our neighborhoods and home values.