California lawmakers are sending to Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill that would allow about a dozen counties and cities to seek higher-than-usual sales tax increases — and critics aren’t happy about two Republican leaders’ roles in the potential tax hikes.
Cities and counties can ask the Legislature for special exceptions to charge sales taxes higher than a 2% cap written into state law. Republicans in the state legislature typically have opposed such bills, arguing that counties and cities need to be more fiscally conservative in their spending.
But last week in a final vote, the two Republicans leading the California Assembly GOP caucus — Health Flora (R-Ripon) and Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) — curiously voted to support the bill to greenlight higher sales taxes, even as every other Republican voted “no” or abstained from voting.
A source with knowledge of the situation said the vote by Flora — who had the lowest level of voter support of any incumbent legislator in the June primary — has caused serious “frustration” amongst members and GOP donors.
“We have been consistently opposed to the many bills introduced to increase local taxes. We are hopeful that legislators will start opposing these bills because they are dramatically increasing the cost of living in California,” added David Kline of the California Taxpayers Association.
“Every session there seems to be more and more bills to waive the 2% cap. We think that cap should be preserved, not abandoned.”
This year, Santa Barbara County and cities like Palo Alto and Santa Cruz want an exception to the cap so they can ask voters to raise taxes. Democrats argue that localities need more funding to offset federal health and human services cuts.
The bill, Senate Bill 762, now needs one more procedural vote from the California Senate before heading to Newsom.
Notably, Flora’s and Alanis’ two votes helped the bill clinch exactly the necessary two-thirds majority vote it needed to pass, given even some Democrats in the Democrat-controlled legislature refrained from voting on the measure.
“Now is not the time to raise taxes. Now is the time to do what every struggling family, every struggling small business has had to do, tighten the belt,” said Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) at a hearing last month.
The California Post reached out to the Assembly GOP caucus for an explanation on why Minority Leader Flora and Caucus Chair Alanis voted “yes.”
Flora was elected Assembly minority leader in the summer of 2025, but has received criticism for not pushing back hard enough on the Democratic agenda and being too cozy with lobbyists. He cast a pivotal vote in 2017 to extend the controversial cap-and-trade program, and he recorded no vote last fall when it was extended again.
Last October, Flora was found to have had an extra-marital affair with a lobbyist while concerns were raised about whether he resides in his district. As a result of complaints about being unresponsive to his constituents, committees for the Republican Party in both San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties refused to endorse Flora’s efforts this year to receive a final two-year term in office.
“We’re disappointed by our state assemblyman and hearing from constituents,” said Joel Campos, chair of the Stanislaus County Republican Party.
He cited a lack of response from Flora’s office, a lack of presence in the district and, overall, “a lack of support for Republicans.”
Flora advanced to the November runoff but secured just 30.6% of the vote, the lowest percentage of any incumbent legislator this past election cycle.
Requests to blow past the 2% tax limit are becoming more common, said Kline with the California Taxpayers Association. One past request came from Los Angeles County, which just voted to go past the 2% limit.
California counties have some of the highest sales taxes in the country, with some areas like Lancaster and Palmdale charging total sales tax rates close to 12%.
“They’re getting a ton of bills to go past the cap. It used to be a solid cap, but in the last few years there have been many, many exemptions,” Kline told The Post. “The cap isn’t doing the job it was intended to do.”
