Ballot Breakdown: Measure B

S1: Hey there , San Diego. It's Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hindman. In our latest midterm ballot breakdown , we hear more about San Diego County Measure B. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Today in our ballot breakdown , we're turning to San Diego County. Measure B , the sales tax increase would generate funding for everything from health care to addressing the Tijuana River sewage crisis , which we were just talking about. Joining me to talk more is KPBS environment reporter Tami Murga. Hey , Tami. Great to see you again. Hi , Andrew. So let's , you know , walk us through how measure B would work. Where would this funding go?

S2: Exactly , yes. So it's a citizen led proposal. and if voters approved the , the county would impose a half cent sales tax increase. And that really means that the county sales tax would jump from 7.75% to 8.25% , and it would really only need a simple majority to pass. Um , and as you mentioned a little bit earlier , right , the funds would that would be generated would go toward health care , childcare , food security , public safety issues and local solutions to the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis.

S1: And any sense of like how that funding would actually break down. Yeah.

S2: Yeah. So it's estimated that the , the , the sales tax would generate about up to $450 million a year , and 60% of that would go toward health care , childcare , food security and other services. For families , 22.5% would go toward fixes for the sewage crisis and about 17.5% for public safety , like wildfire prevention and other emergency responses.

S1: Got it. So you paid a visit to the county registrar of voters earlier this year , when labor unions and advocates unloaded a truckload of boxes of signatures supporting this measure. What was that scene like? Take us back to that moment.

S2: Yeah , that was back in May. And as you mentioned , there was a truckload of boxes literally just put , you know , bringing them out and delivering them to the county that day. And Krystal Irving , she's the president of the SEIU local 221. And she said they had enough signatures that day. That's what we saw. And so organizers submitted more than 160,000 signatures that day , which is more than the required 103,000 signatures to make it on the ballot. And here's what she said that day.

S3: People stepped up to sign their names and said , clearly , we are not going to wait for Washington or Sacramento to protect us. San Diego is going to protect San Diego.

S1: So that was what helped get it on the ballot that we now have coming to our mailboxes this week. What , um , what types of solutions could this measure support for the sewage crisis? Yeah.

S2: Yeah. You know , that's something that a lot of us were asking early on. The language in the filing document isn't super specific. It's pretty broad , actually. It mentions that most of the 22.5% , or about 360 million , would go toward infrastructure and engineering projects to stop the sewage flows and the rest toward addressing emergency health impacts. So that's , you know , pretty general. But , you know , over time , we've really seen that the most direct ways that a lot of people are talking about now would be used as a water , say , to fund a county run treatment plant. That's something that the Board of Supervisors approved looking into a recently. And so supporters say that , you know , they're tired of waiting for Mexico and the federal government to end the crisis , and that these funds would give the county control over the problem directly.

S1: And that's something that I think county leaders have kind of recently started putting forth , like that idea of like , hey , it's not just up to the federal government. We can't wait for them. Or like , as you mentioned , the Mexican government , um , we're going to take care , you know , take charge here at the county level. Right? Right. Um , so , you know , I don't know. Is there is there any concern that funds collected from this measure might not go exactly where they're supposed to go? Yeah.

S2: Yeah. You know , the San Diego County Taxpayer Association is concerned. They've raised concerns about that , specifically that there's no , uh , flexibility on how the money would get spent because the it would really only be specific to what's addressed in the ballot. Right. And the measure and that there's no yearly performance targets to really track its outcomes. But the measure does say that the the language that it proposes creating an 11 member citizen oversight committee to ensure that the tax revenue is spent accordingly. So we would really have to see how that plays out if , if it's approved. Mhm.

S1: Mhm. So at this point proponents have fundraised a lot more than opponents for this measure. But that does that mean necessarily you know voters are more likely to support it.

S2: Not necessarily. I mean this question of whether you know , to to to tax residents more , you know , it's coming at a time when the cost of living is already really high in San Diego County. You know , just to give you an example , the city of San Diego is just 47% higher than the national average. That's according to PayScale. So , you know , we've yet to see. But , you know , there is a poll that shows that it is favorable. Um , ABC ten news in the Union Tribune , they did a poll recently , and they found that 49% of likely voters are saying yes to measure B , and 35 are saying no. About 17 is unsure. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. And this is a like it needs to get 50% or 50 point. Correct.

S2: Correct.

S1: Yeah a majority yeah. Majority a simple majority there. Right. Um , so , you know , we're having this conversation on California Clean Air Day. We've been talking about Climate Week. This is a story you covered last week. Is that is that got kicked off? You know. Can you talk about how big of a role is the Tijuana sewage crisis playing into this particular measure , which as you already kind of outlined , it covers a range of things. But that's one major thing that kind of sticks out to me. And I'm just wondering , like , how big of a role are you hearing from voters or , you know , when looking at this measure?

S2: Yeah , absolutely. It is a central issue. I mean , it takes up a good amount of the funds that would be generated. Um , and it is top of mind for many as we talked earlier. Right. It's mentioned repeatedly as the vehicle to help the county pay for what would be a sewage treatment plant for the Tijuana River. That's something that Supervisor Paloma Aguirre has been pushing up there as a to keep it top of mind for the county. And , you know , not everyone fully agrees. Her colleague Jim Desman , supported the idea of having the county look into building a treatment plant here. But he has repeatedly said that , you know , this is ultimately a federal government and Mexico issue , and they're the ones that should be paying for this. But , you know , still , we're seeing that there's this consensus building that the county there is more the county can do for their residents here. You know , if we were just listening a little bit earlier , right , that residents continue to be exposed to pollution in the river , in the ocean , they're getting sick. And as you know , we continue to see , you know , deadlines being extended , uh , you know , with rain coming in and how all of these sewage spills continue to happen even as construction work is happening. Um , there is more that the county can do. And it may be with this.

S1: Well , I mean , as we've talked several times on roundtable on midday , you've covered this issue for so many years. And it's , you know , it's not an easy fix. And as you said , there's all these different Elements. And this is an interesting piece to it. So thank you so much for breaking down this part of , of uh , you know , measure B on our ballots. I've been speaking with Tammy Murga. She's environment reporter here at KPBS. And you can find more voting resources at our voter hub. Just head to KPBS. Tammy , thanks again.

S2: Thanks for having me.

S4: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.