The Private Property Rights Voter Guide: How Ventura County Owners Should Vote on November 3, 2026

Why I'm Doing This

I've worked in Ventura County real estate since 1976 and have held my broker's license since 1995. In that time I've watched owners — families who saved for one rental, retirees whose house is their nest egg — absorb rule after rule written by people who have never owned what they're regulating.

This year is different. An organized movement is running candidates whose stated goal isn't to regulate private housing but to replace it. They put that in writing. Most voters don't know it, because those candidates run as ordinary Democrats.

I'm not telling you which party to join. I'm telling you what's on your ballot, what it costs you, and who wants what. Then you decide.

What We Believe — and What DSA Believes

"Private Property Rights Party" isn't a registered party. It's shorthand for a set of beliefs, set against the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform in their own words.

1. What you own stays yours. DSA's California chapters call for expanding "social housing" partly by bringing existing market housing under social control.

2. Homeownership builds family wealth. DSA's Los Angeles chapter (DSA-LA) rejects treating housing as a commodity and says the only solutions lie outside the private housing market.

3. Rent is set by agreement, not by a board. DSA calls universal rent control a transitional goal, with social housing for all as the end goal.

4. Protect Prop. 13. DSA-recommended candidates this year are running to reform Prop. 13, and DSA opposes Prop. 43, which restores Prop. 13's two-thirds vote for local special taxes.

5. No tax on simply owning things. California DSA endorsed Prop. 40, a one-time 5% wealth tax on assets — the first of its kind on a California ballot.

6. More housing, not less ownership. Scarcity drives prices. The answer is building more, faster — not public takeover of what's already built.

7. Owners deserve a voice. DSA-LA candidates must pledge to refuse real estate donations. The people who own and maintain housing are formally shut out.

If You Own Property, Vote This Way

Statewide

• Prop. 1 — NO
• Prop. 2 — NO
• Prop. 3 — NO
• Prop. 37 — Your call
• Prop. 40 — NO
• Prop. 41 — YES
• Prop. 42 — YES
• Prop. 43 — YES ← the most important one
• Prop. 45 — YES

Ventura County

• Measure A (Simi Valley hotel tax) — NO
• Measure B (Rio School District bond) — NO
• Measure C (Santa Paula Unified bond) — NO
• Measure D (United Water bond) — YES
• Measure E (Oxnard sales tax renewal) — Your call
• Measure H (Allan Hancock College bond) — NO
• Measure LV (Las Virgenes parcel tax renewal) — Your call

Court of Appeal, 2nd District

• Justice Armen Tamzarian — NO on retention
• Justice Audra Mori — NO on retention

This guide covers only measures that touch property, taxes, or housing. Props. 4, 5, 38, 39, and 44 are outside its scope.

Why Each Vote

Statewide Propositions

YES on Prop. 43 — Two-Thirds Vote for Local Initiative Taxes. The most important measure on the ballot for property owners. Today, a special tax placed on the ballot by signature petition can pass with a simple majority — the loophole behind Los Angeles's "mansion tax." Prop. 43 restores the two-thirds requirement for any new, increased, or extended local special tax proposed by initiative.

NO on Prop. 40 — Billionaire Tax. It reaches only a few hundred people today, but the measure lets the Legislature later rewrite the thresholds, covered assets, rate, and how often it's levied. A brand-new tax on owning things is the precedent that matters, not who pays first.

YES on Prop. 42 — No New Taxes on Personal Property. Bans new state taxes on owning stocks, business interests, retirement accounts, and other assets, and limits retroactive taxes. It's the firewall against a wealth tax creeping toward everyone else.

YES on Prop. 41 — Audits Before New Taxes. Requires pre-election audits of programs that new statewide special taxes would fund. Know where existing money goes before voters are asked for more. Note: if Prop. 41 or 42 gets more votes than Prop. 40, courts could find they conflict and block the billionaire tax.

NO on Prop. 3 — Permanent High-Income Tax Rates. Makes the "temporary" rates from 2012 permanent: 1% extra on income over about $370,000, up to 3% over $740,000. Sell a rental with a large gain and that sale can put you in this bracket for the year.

YES on Prop. 45 — Environmental Review Fast-Track. Speeds California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review for housing and other "essential" projects. CEQA slows building, which limits supply and raises costs. Not perfect — it covers only certain projects and locks in labor agreements — but a real first step.

NO on Prop. 1 — $11.25 Billion Housing Bond. With interest, general obligation bonds cost roughly double the advertised amount, and these fund ongoing programs, not just buildings. It also funds acquisition of existing housing — the mild version of the social-housing model.

Your call on Prop. 37 — Down Payment Second Mortgages. A $25 billion bond program giving middle-income buyers second mortgages of up to 17% of a newly built home's price. It's repaid by borrowers, not the state budget, and it brings more buyers to new construction. The risk: stretched buyers in a downturn face foreclosure, and loan terms won't be set until after the election. The California Association of Realtors funds the Yes campaign; the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposes it.

NO on Prop. 2 — Rainy-Day Fund Changes. Reasonable on budget swings, but it also takes reserve deposits out of the Gann Limit — the voter-approved 1979 cap on state spending. California needs more spending discipline, not a looser cap.

Ventura County Measures

Every bond below is a new line on your property tax bill for as long as the bonds are outstanding. Multiply the rate by your assessed value, not market value.

NO on Measure A — Simi Valley Hotel Tax. Raises the hotel tax from 10% to 12%. It's paid by guests, including short-term rental guests — a direct hit to Simi Valley short-term rental owners' pricing.

NO on Measure B — Rio Elementary School District, $78 million. About $28.21 per $100,000 of assessed value.

NO on Measure C — Santa Paula Unified School District, $48.6 million. About $27.98 per $100,000 of assessed value.

YES on Measure D — United Water Conservation District, $350 million. $24 per $100,000 of assessed value. The exception to this guide's rule: water supply is property value, and the Ventura County Taxpayers Association supports it.

Your call on Measure E — Oxnard Sales Tax Renewal. Renews the existing half-cent sales tax with no rate increase, about $20 million a year. Not a property tax. Oxnard's own City Treasurer, Phillip Molina, opposes it.

NO on Measure H — Allan Hancock Joint Community College District, $290 million. $19 per $100,000 of assessed value. Mostly a Santa Barbara County district; few Ventura County voters will see it.

Your call on Measure LV — Las Virgenes Unified Parcel Tax Renewal. Renews the existing $98 parcel tax for 12 years, no increase, with senior exemptions.

The Judges on the Back of Your Ballot

NO on retaining Justices Armen Tamzarian and Audra Mori, 2nd District Court of Appeal. Their December 2025 ruling upheld Los Angeles's "mansion tax," holding that voters didn't intend Prop. 13 to limit their own power to raise taxes by initiative. They're on every Ventura County ballot.

The DSA List

DSA candidates run as Democrats, so the label won't be on your ballot. 🚫 = vote against if you own property.

On every Ventura County ballot (recommended by California DSA)

• 🚫 Jane Kim — Insurance Commissioner
• 🚫 Sally Lieber — Board of Equalization, District 2

DSA-endorsed (full endorsement)

• 🚫 Angela Gonzales-Torres — Congress, California's 34th District
• 🚫 Nithya Raman — Los Angeles Mayor
• 🚫 Hugo Soto-Martínez — Los Angeles City Council
• 🚫 Eunisses Hernandez — Los Angeles City Council
• 🚫 Faizah Malik — Los Angeles City Council
• 🚫 Estuardo Mazariegos — Los Angeles City Council
• 🚫 Marissa Roy — Los Angeles City Attorney
• 🚫 Mai Vang — Congress, California's 7th District

Property-owner red flags (recommended by California DSA)

• 🚫 Sarah Rascón — State Senate District 26 (repeal Costa-Hawkins and the Ellis Act, reform Prop. 13)
• 🚫 Sam Sukaton — Board of Equalization, District 3 ("fix Prop. 13")

Other California DSA recommendations

• 🚫 Congress: Randy Villegas (22nd District), Tessa Lynn Hodge (23rd), Angelica Dueñas (29th), Samantha Mota (37th), Sara Jacobs (51st), Lateefah Simon (12th), Aisha Wahab (14th), Ro Khanna (17th), Zoe Lofgren (18th)
• 🚫 State Senate: John Erickson (District 24), Caroline Menjivar (District 20), Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (District 28), Tiffanie Tate (District 32)

"Recommended" candidates are backed in the California DSA voter guide but aren't necessarily DSA members.

Before You Vote

Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Check your county sample ballot for city and district measures this guide doesn't cover.

Sources

• California DSA, 2026 General Election Voter Guide — https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide
• East Bay DSA, Social Housing Statement — https://www.eastbaydsa.org/resources/minutes/steering-committee-2018-11-28
• DSA-LA Housing & Homelessness Committee — https://dsa-la.org/housing-homelessness-committee-platform/
• Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, 2026 Voting Guide — https://www.hjta.org/2026votingguide/
• League of Women Voters of California, Ballot Recommendations — https://lwvc.org/ballot-recs
• Ventura County Clerk-Recorder, 2026 Measures — https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/2026-measures/
• VC Reporter, Ventura County ballot measures — https://www.vcreporter.com/news/vc-election-2026-water-infrastructure-school-funding-and-taxes-focus-of-bond-measures-on-the/article_843b7ce7-42aa-4525-999b-d6a069ecdd34.html