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Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report.

Every member of the California Teachers Association contributes $36 annually to the union’s ballot initiative fund. Unspent money rolls over and today the fund holds in excess of $23 million.

This month CTA’s State Council, comprised of almost 800 union representatives from across California, approved the expenditure of up to $10 million to fund the union’s position on five statewide ballot initiatives headed for the November 2018 ballot. (For any others, CTA holds no position and has authorized no funding, though this may change when the Council meets again in the fall.)

How much financial support each of the campaigns will receive has yet to be determined. The five initiatives are:

● CTA will support the Children’s Hospital Bond Act, which would issue $1.5 billion in bonds for infrastructure, facilities and technology at children’s hospitals. The initiative is currently awaiting signature verification by the secretary of state’s office.

● CTA will support the Affordable Housing Act, which would repeal rent control limits and allow local jurisdictions to apply stricter rent control regulations. The initiative qualified for the November 2018 ballot.

● CTA will oppose the People’s Initiative to Protect Proposition 13 Savings, which would allow homebuyers aged 55 or older or severely disabled to transfer their current tax assessments to a new home, regardless of the new home’s market value or location. Since this would tend to reduce property tax revenue to the state and thus revenue to public schools, CTA opposes it. The initiative qualified for the November 2018 ballot.

● CTA will oppose the Emergency Ambulance Employee Safety and Preparedness Act, which would allow ambulance providers to require workers to remain on-call (reachable by a portable communications device) during meal and rest breaks. The initiative qualified for the November 2018 ballot.

● CTA will oppose the Tax Fairness, Transparency and Accountability Act, which would require a two-thirds vote of the legislature at the state level, and a two-thirds vote of voters at the local level to increase taxes or fees, “no matter how they are labeled.” The initiative is currently awaiting signature verification by the secretary of state’s office.