An effort to collect signatures to place a measure on the November 2022 ballot that could have generated millions for the city’s general fund will not move forward, with organizers citing timing and a conflict with a recently passed state law.
The Long Beach Environmental Protection General Purpose Oil Production Tax Increase Measure was submitted to the City Clerk’s office in January and proposed a $3 increase on the city’s oil barrel tax, a figure that could have increased city oil revenue by $20 million or more, according to the notice filed with the clerk.
It was submitted by Elliot Lewis, a local cannabis retail operator who has been critical of both the high taxes that cannabis operators pay in the city, but also the relatively low taxes oil producers pay given their industry’s impact on climate change. On Monday, Lewis said he wouldn’t pursue the oil tax this year.
“Even if we went out and got all the signatures, and got it on the ballot, it would only lead to litigation,” Lewis said.
The oil lobby, Lewis said, did a good job closing the door after Measure US, which was put on the ballot by the City Council in 2020 and approved by voters during that year’s general election.
It put a 30-cent per barrel tax on oil production in the city, with the projected $1.6 million in revenue being earmarked for investments in community and youth programming in underserved parts of the city and those most affected by climate change.
In September 2021, the state Legislature approved a trailer bill to the state’s annual budget that barred any future taxes being levied against the state’s share of oil revenue after October 2021.
Lewis said that, combined with the historically high oil prices in the global market, would likely mean higher gas prices for everyone if his measure passed, which led to the decision to not go after the roughly 28,000 signatures organizers would have to get to qualify the issue for the ballot.
“We could get into a legal battle but it’s going to be a major fight,” Lewis said.
There are currently no resident-led proposed ballot measures filed with the City Clerk for the 2022 election. However, the City Council has signaled that it will likely place a charter reform on the ballot this November that could overhaul the way the city’s Citizens Police Complaint Commission is structured and what authority it will have in the future.
Ballot initiative to increase tax on oil producers could be at odds with state law
Charter reform aimed at overhauling police complaint commission could come in next few months