Mayor Bass Backtracking On Measure ULA Pause

As quickly as the specter of a reprieve from Measure ULA arose, it has receded.

Sources tell Bisnow that Mayor Karen Bass has, in private conversations and at private events, said that she has abandoned efforts to find a way to pause Measure ULA as part of the rebuilding effort following January’s historic fires.

Bass said at a March 11 press conference, in response to a question about fires, rebuilding and Measure ULA, that she was looking into pausing the real estate transfer tax. Bass briefly sketched out a possible path of action involving collaboration between the city council and her office.

She told reporters and attendees at the press conference that she was “having that investigated through our attorneys right now.” 

But in the weeks since, the mayor has sought to walk back her remarks, having determined that she can’t press pause on ULA without a whole new ballot measure and vote. 

The mayor’s office didn’t respond to requests to comment specifically on pausing Measure ULA — or abandoning efforts to do so — as part of the recovery process. 

“We are going to look at every possible option to support fire survivors and accelerate recovery while also confronting the humanitarian crisis of homelessness,” Deputy Mayor of Communications Zach Seidl said in a Friday email to Bisnow. 

The fires that raged through the Los Angeles area beginning in early January tore through thousands of properties with unprecedented ferocity. Estimates released in late February indicate up to $54B worth of property damage occurred.

It wasn’t immediately clear how pausing Measure ULA would speed up the recovery process. Most of the lots that have come on the market following the fires have sold for below the $5M threshold at which Measure ULA kicks in, even at their highest prices.

Measure ULA has come under fire from opponents for failing to raise the funds it was initially projected to generate and for stifling deal flow as the city attempts to recover from the pandemic.

Since it went into effect in April 2023, ULA has raised about $599.7M, according to data from the city’s Housing Department. Boosters had said it could bring in $672M a year.

Real estate and tax attorneys who spoke with Bisnow gave a wide range of responses as to the ability of the mayor, working alone or with the city council, to temporarily pause a voter-approved ballot measure, even in an emergency. 

Although mayoral powers during another emergency like the pandemic allowed for dramatic actions, including extensive eviction protections for renters, no lawyers who spoke with Bisnow could point to an instance in which the mayor’s actions paused or suspended something akin to Measure ULA. However, some said there was an argument to be made for trying.

“I don't know whether she has the power to do it or not, and I don't think anybody does,” said Tony Natsis, the chair of Allen Matkins' global real estate group. “I think you’ve just got to go for it, just the way they went for ULA.” 

But Bass’ conclusion that such action wouldn't be within her power as mayor wasn’t a surprise to allies of Measure ULA.

“I don’t see any grounds for why the mayor — even in an emergency — would have any sort of unilateral power to suspend or repeal the measure without voter approval,” said Greg Bonett, senior policy counsel at nonprofit public interest law firm Public Counsel.

The law firm has represented Measure ULA against legal challenges including one brought by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles about three years ago. 

“ULA is already part of the city’s response to the wildfires, helping people who have lost their entire incomes stay housed,” Joe Donlin, director of United to House LA, told Bisnow in a statement, referring to the programs that Measure ULA revenues fund, including an income support program and an eviction defense and prevention program.

UHLA is the group that got Measure ULA on the ballot. 

“It wouldn’t be legal or practical to try to take funds away from that to put it in the pockets of people developing the most expensive housing in the country in a burn area,” Donlin said.