California Billionaire Tax Ballot Measure

Good morning. The first major housing law in decades finally passes When you put more housing supply on the market, more people have a chance to become a first time home buuyer. I don't say this a lot, but today, I'm proud to be a member of the United States Senate This week, the Supreme Court grapples with some of Trump's most notable second term priorities. The Wall Street Journal explains the ones to watch And the billionaire tax proposal pitting Gavin Newsom against some in his own party. It's Wednesday june twenty fourth. I'm Gideian Reesnik in Fhita Bastu. This is Apple News today On Tuesday, a truly rare piece of legislation was sent to the president's desk Rre because it's the first significant housing bill to pass in decades and because it carried overwhelming support from both Democrats and Republicans Republican Senator Tim Scott introduced the bill with his Democratic colleague, Elizabeth Warren, and he explained why the current challenges facing young people had motivated him to act. They're delaying marriage. They're delaying having kids. They're delaying putting down roots Madam President, not because they lack ambition But because housing prices are too darn high and housing supply too low Experts widely agree that Americans need millions more houses than the US currently has. This bill aims to boost the housing supply by rolling back some permitting regulations and reducing environmental reviews. It also sets aside grant money for people rehabbing old homes, for communities rebuilding after disasters, and for developing vacant lots into housing. And the bill would allow a grant program to incentivize local communities to improve the amount of available housing and to ease their zoning laws Helen Heiskis, a reporter with The Hill told us how it works it would encourage housing construction by boosting the communities funding from that grant program when they improve their track record on housing and then adjusting it when they don't. So it allows communities to take action and improve the amount of housing that they're building and reward that success The bill also includes one of President Trump's priorities, restricting large investors from buying up single family homes Senator Warren highlighted that aspect on Monday Congress has never before Private equity accountable for anything And today That changes No longer will private equity firms come in with an all cash offer to snap up a house while a family loses out on their dreams The parties differed on language as the bill progressed, but Hkis says that both Republicans and Democrats were motivated to work together on this legislation. That's because affordability is top of mind for so many voters heading into the midterms. There's a lot of data that the average age of a home buyer is over forty. It's much older than it used to be. At the same time the last few years, the political conversation has returned to the affordability of housing. Home prices are up fifty percent since the start of the pandemic New data from realaltor. com released last week shows that more Americans are being shut out of homeownership With a record number of adults under the age of thirty five, still living with their parents A New York Times Sienna polling shows that housing is a top concern for many voters heading into November Now it could take years before any of the changes in this bill are felt in a meaningful way Economists don't expect to reduce prices in the short term And a lot of the major restrictions to home buildilding come at the state and local level But Hks told us, it's a promising sign that lawmakers might continue to work together They hope this is just the beginning of getting legislation like this across the finish line on a bipartisan basis, Th that are focused on real solutions that have a chance at actually driving down costs. As soon as tomorrow, the Supreme Court may issue rulings on about a dozen cases that they're hoping to wrap up before the july fourth holiday They span topics including the rights of transgender athletes, campaign finance, male and voting, and more There are also some that will specifically address a key theme of President Trump's second term in office The extent of his executive authority. Overall, Trump in his second term has had quite a favorable record at the Supreme Court James Romoser is the Wall Street Journal Supremeourt reporter The Supreme Court has ruled on an array of different Trump related policy moves, mostly on the Supreme Court's emergency docket. And in a series of short form emergency rulings, the court has largely allowed most of Trump's policy agenda to take effect evenven after lower courts attempted to block many of those policies That may soon change as the justicesices weigh whether the administration can alter the long held definition of birthrights citizenship Fire a federal Reserve governor and rescind temporary protected status for migrants Rumoser said that experts he spoke with believe that Trump is headed for mixed results on these cases Most experts believe that even though the current Supreme Court is quite conservative and has often been aligned with Trump, The argument about birthright citizenship to try to redefine that concept as it exists in the Constitution may just be a bridge too far, even for most of the conservative justices The same goes for the presresident's attempts to dismiss Lisa Cook at the Fed But there might be more openness to allowing Trump to remove the heads of agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, which have typically been kept at a distance from prior presidents The court insinuated that there was a special historical tradition associated with the Fed and that the Fed might be entitled to more independence than these other regulatory agencies that we were talking about Despite the administration's successes at the court, tensions between the justices and the White House have been high They were exacerbated by a ruling earlier this year that struck down a core Trump policy After the court ruled against Trump in the tariff case, really started denigrating the core Frankly using language that no modern president has ever used to talk about to the Supreme Court. I'm ashamed of certain members of the court abbsolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country He's called them dumb. he's called them subject to foreign influence C course there's no evidence of that As a result of that rhetoric, tensions have been running really high Ramoser said the justices are keenly aware of these external pressures and tensions, even as they maintain that their decision making is insulated from them But should they rule against the president on some more of these key cases, Remoser predicts the rhetoric from the White House could get even worse. California Gveror Gavan Newsom is scrambling to kill off a possible billionaire's tax that could pit him against parts of his own party, just as he considers a presidential run This ballot measure would impose a one time five percent tax on the wealth billionaires Jeremy B. White is a senior reporter covering California for Politico Keep in mind when I say wealth, I don't just mean their income. It's designed to get all their assets, yachts, artwork, houses, what have you. And the idea is that this would be used to offset some of the federal cuts to healthcare spending in particular. Newsam has been working behind the scenes, recruiting allies to his cause, and has until tomorrow to get a healthcare union sponsoring the measure to pull it Otherwise, it'll go to voters come November And leave Newsom arguing against a policy that most California Democrats in a poll from earlier this year say that they support. The state already asks the top earners to pay a great deal of the state's tax revenue. His objection to this is that it will drive a lot of those earners out of state depriving California of that revenue long term, make the state less economically competitive. And we've also heard a lot of arguments from other critics in addition to the governor that this thing is Essentially unworkable, it'll be tied up in court and will cause more harm than good In a last ditch effort, Newsom has recruited an unlikely alliance of left leaning unions to come out against the measure. ents of it a health care union, ICIU UHW has framed this really as sort of a fight against the billionaires, working people versus the ultra rich. That argument becomes harder to make if you're also fighting against Unionized teachers, police officers, Gavin Newsom Planned Parenthood, the California Medical Association, what have you. Some of the state's wealthiest already appear to have voted with their feet, in part because the measure would retroactively target anyone with California residency this year Google coounder Sergey Bryinn has reportedly moved himself to Nevada and several business entities he owns out of California Stehven Spielberg estlished permanent residency in New York on New Year's Day, citing family reasons And Uber founder Travis Kallanick swapped his home to Austin in late December Analysis by the California Legislative Analysts Office suggested the measure would probably increase state tax revenues in the short term but risk longer term income tax revenue with these kinds of departures from the state And that's part of the case that Newsom made against it in an interview earlier this year You would have a windfall one time. And then Over the years, you would see a significant reduction in taxes because taxpayers will move And that is what I fear at a state level The president of the Union pushing the bill is Dave Reagan White told us he's a polarizing but effective figure in California labor and isn't backing down And their argument is we need to do something and the scale of these cuts is so deep that we need something big. But the history here is that again, the union leader pushing this has a long history of using ballot initiatives to try to extract deals and to sort of push for political outcomes and often has a sort of Go it alone. that tends to rub even other folks in labor the wrong way. If no deal can be reached, Californians will deliver their verdict in November And so then we're switching into campaign mode and I think this will be an all out brawl. It could well be the most expensive ballot initiative in California history, most of that coming from the opponents. And I would want to see how prominent of a role Gavin Dewsom would take in that campaign. He has been an early and vocal opponent of this thing, also likely twenty twenty eight presidential contender. And so I suspect As part of that, we would maybe get a preview of some of the economic arguments we're going to be hearing from the governor down the road. Here are a few other stories we're following today For the first time since the war in Iran began, both chambers of Congress have now passed a resolution, essentially directing President Trump to fully end the conflict or seek congressional authorization to continue it Four Republican senators joined their Democratic colleagues to get the measure over the line in a fifty to forty eight vote yesterday Two Republicans miss the vote helping it narrowly pass. And the measure had already gone through the house Experts seem to believe that the resolution is unlikely to legally bind the administration. which recently struck a deal to end the war in Iran But it's being seen as a significant bipartisan rebuke In Texas, eight people were sentenced on Tuesday to decades in prison over a shooting last year during a demonstration at a Texas immigration detention center One man, Benjamin Song, who was convicted earlier this year of attempted murder for shooting a police officer during the event, received a sentence of one hundred years The others face sentences of thirty to seventy years in what the Trump administration has heralded as a successful prosecution of so called AntifFA members. It followed the signing of an executive order by President Trump last year, designating AntIifA as a domestic terrorist organization The case drew attention outside of Texas, as critics warned that it could have impacts on First Amendment rights And some legal experts express shock at the severity of the sentences. while some defendants said they would appeal And finally, last night was the NBA draft With the first pick in the twenty twenty six NBA draft The Washington Wizard select Annise D Banza junior from Brigham Young University The Utah Jazz followed with Darren Peterson out of Kansas and the Memphis Grizzies selected Cameron Boozer from Duke at number three The NBA world was shaken up before the draft was the late night trade of multi NVP Janis Antidecumpo He was moved from the Milwaukee Bucks after thirteen seasons to the Miami Heat According to USPN, the heat beat out the Boston Celtics for the Greek Mgastar, who joins LeBron James, Shaquila O Neil, and Jimmy Butler as major acquisitions that were brought to South Beach under the tenure of Heat President Pat Rileilly There have been eight different NBA title winners over the last eight seasons. Next year, the Heat will hope to become the ninth You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News apppp. And if you're already listening in the newews app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Women's health reports on how alternative healthcare treatments are becoming more mainstream, thanks to the internet And why is leading an increasing number of women to take a DIY approach to their own care. If you're listen to the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus narrative to find that story, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow