City of LA Measure TE — "Mansion tax" exemption for Palisades Fire properties
Current as of · voting-clarity.org
November 3, 2026 City of Los Angeles ballot. AI-generated analysis. Your sample ballot and official voter guide are the official documents; the links below let you check each claim. This page explains what is on the ballot; it is not legal advice.
Voting Clarity's research is done by Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. Anthropic gave no money to either side of this measure [25].
Summary
Measure TE (the ballot label calls it "Proposition TE") adds a temporary exemption to Measure ULA (United to House LA). ULA is the city's extra tax on property sales, often called the "mansion tax." It charges 4% on sales above $5.4 million. It charges 5.5% on sales of $10.9 million or more. These are the 2026 price levels, which rise with inflation.[1]
Under TE, some sales of residential property damaged or destroyed in the Palisades Fire would owe no ULA tax. The sale must meet all of these conditions:
The sale happens between January 7, 2025 and January 6, 2030.
The seller owned the property on January 7, 2025.
The Department of Building and Safety verifies the damage.
The property has not used the exemption before.
[2] (details below)
TE also applies to past sales. Owners who already paid ULA tax on a qualifying sale can claim a refund. The deadline to claim does not start until TE takes effect.[2] (details below) The City Administrative Officer estimates ULA revenue would drop by $35 million to $66 million through January 2030. That money would otherwise go to affordable housing and homelessness-prevention programs. The city's General Fund, its main budget, is not affected.[3]
What it's trying to accomplish: Supporters say fire survivors who must sell "should not be further penalized by the ULA tax."[4] No argument against was submitted.[5] Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez was the only council member to vote no. She objected that the exemption is not limited to people whose main home burned. She said it should not cover "LLCs, investors or people with a portfolio of properties."[6]
Your Vote:
YES — Qualifying Palisades Fire properties pay no ULA tax if sold by January 6, 2030 by the people who owned them on January 7, 2025. Owners who already paid can seek refunds.
NO — These sales keep owing ULA tax, as they do today.
There is no double negative. TE is a city law (an ordinance) that the City Council placed on the ballot. The council voted 13–1 on July 1, 2026, and again on August 4, 2026.[7] It passes if more than half of the votes cast on it are Yes; City of Los Angeles voters vote on it.[8][9]
Voters have to decide this because ULA itself was passed by voters through a citizen petition. Under the City Charter, a law passed that way can be changed only by another vote of the city's voters. The exception is if the law itself lets the council change it. The City Attorney concluded this exemption does not fit within ULA's own rules for changes.[10] The TE text has no rule about conflicts with other measures on this ballot.[2]
In the law, but not in the official summary
This box lists parts of the measure's legal text that change what a Yes or No vote does but are not described in the official ballot summary or the official analysis. It does not say why they were left out.
Only property that was destroyed, or damaged badly, would qualify. "Damaged" means the building's strength fell below the code for a new building, and repairs would cost more than half of its replacement cost, not counting the foundation. Lightly damaged homes would not qualify.[11][12] (details below. The impartial summary says only that damage "would be verified by the Department of Building and Safety." The test is not in the ballot question, impartial summary, or financial impact statement.[13])
What's in place now
The ULA tax. Voters approved ULA in 2022. Its revenue pays for affordable housing and tenant assistance, and no more than 8% may go to administration.[1]
The city's base transfer tax. A separate 0.45% city tax applies to all property sales.[1] TE exempts sales only from the ULA tax, not from this base tax.[14]
Current exemptions. Today, ULA exempts only sales to government agencies, qualified affordable-housing groups, and certain long-standing nonprofits. There is no disaster exemption.[10]
The fire. City building records show the Palisades Fire damaged or destroyed about 5,620 structures, of which an estimated 5,495 were residential.[1]
No emergency waiver. The City Attorney found that the disaster declarations do not give the city power to waive the ULA tax.[10]
Who is affected, and who is not
Affected:
Owners as of January 7, 2025 of damaged or destroyed Palisades residential property who sell above the ULA threshold by January 6, 2030.[15]
Owners who do not live in the property. The City Attorney says the exemption applies "whether or not owner-occupied." The text also leaves "residential property" undefined on purpose, so that it can be read broadly.[16] The supporters' argument says the exemption covers multi-family buildings.[4]
Programs paid for by ULA, which would get less money.[3]
Not affected:
Most empty lots. The City Attorney found that almost all vacant Palisades lots listed or sold for under $5 million, so they already owe no ULA tax.[10]
Lightly damaged homes. "Damaged" takes its meaning from city code section 16.03. That section requires that the building's structural strength be appreciably reduced and that repairs cost more than 50% of the building's replacement cost.[11][12]
Later buyers. Someone who bought after the fire and resells cannot use the exemption.[17]
Commercial property, and fires other than the Palisades Fire. The text names only the Palisades Fire, even though the official title says "January 2025 Fire Disaster."[18]
Key Questions Answered
Does the label match the substance? Partly. The label accurately describes a one-time exemption for damaged or destroyed residential property. It does not say that investor-owned and rental property qualify, that "damaged" means repairs costing more than 50% of replacement cost, or that refunds reach back to January 2025.[2][16] The supporters' argument says TE does not "create a loophole for investors or speculators." The text has no requirement that the owner lived there and no limit on how many properties one owner holds.[4][19]
Is the vote straightforward? Yes. YES grants the exemption. NO keeps the tax.[5]
Does it bundle unrelated things? No. The measure adds one exemption plus a refund rule.[2]
What guardrails exist? Some. The exemption ends January 6, 2030. It applies once per property, only to the owner at the time of the fire, and only with damage verified by Building and Safety. There is no price cap, residency requirement, or income test.[19] The text does not say whether the council can change TE later without another vote of City of Los Angeles voters.[2]
Who benefits, and who pays? Sellers of high-value Palisades properties keep 4% to 5.5% of the sale price that would otherwise go to ULA. Housing and tenant programs absorb the $35–66 million loss estimated by the City Administrative Officer (CAO).[3] A May 10, 2026 Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) report modeled earlier versions of the exemption, not TE's final text. Exempting all residential sales in fire-impacted areas (modeled with ZIP codes 90272 and 90402) would cut ULA revenue by about 6%, roughly $32 million a year while in effect. A narrower scenario, labeled single-family homes destroyed by a disaster but modeled with sales of any parcel in Cal Fire's Palisades damage-inspection database regardless of the level of damage, would cut it by about 2%, roughly $8 million a year.[20] The CAO estimate covers the whole period through January 2030; the LAHD figures are per year.
Supporters, opponents, and funding
Supporters
Ballot-argument signers include Councilmember Traci Park, Mayor Karen Bass, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, State Sen. Ben Allen, Assemblymember Jacqui Erwin (name as printed in the guide), Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board member Nick Melvoin, the Los Angeles/Orange County (LA/OC) Building & Construction Trades Council, the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, and the Pacific Palisades Community Council. Their reason: survivors who lost everything should not face an extra tax when they sell.[4]
Park, who represents the Palisades, called taxing fire survivors "unspeakably cruel."[6]
Opponents
No ballot argument was filed against TE.[5]
Councilmember Hernandez voted no.[7] Her objection is described under Summary.[6]
Funding: The City Ethics Commission shows no committee formed for or against TE, and $329.96 in independent spending in support by AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Equity Alliance, last reported October 16, 2026. The page shows no "as of" date; it was read October 19, 2026.[21]
Details
How it got here
In October 2025, Councilmembers Park and Harris-Dawson asked whether the city could grant the exemption without a vote. In January 2026, the City Attorney advised that a ballot measure was the direct route.[22] The council unanimously requested the ballot measure on June 17, 2026.[23] On July 1, 2026, the council set aside a separate, broader ULA amendment (a multifamily exemption) rather than send it to voters.[24]
Sources
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, impartial summary (Chief Legislative Analyst). The printer's proof pages are marked "DRAFT."
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, CAO financial impact statement
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, argument in favor
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, ballot label and voter guide pages generally
LAist, Aug. 4, 2026 (secondary)
Council File 26-1100-S9: votes of July 1 and Aug. 4, 2026
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE, Sec. 21.9.17(b)
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, ballot question, impartial summary, and financial impact statement
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE, Sec. 21.9.17(a)
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE, Sec. 21.9.17(a), (c)
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE, Sec. 21.9.17(a)(4)–(5)
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE, Sec. 21.9.17(a)(1)
City of LA voter guide pages for Proposition TE, full text of Measure TE, Sec. 21.9.17
Los Angeles Housing Department report on ULA exemptions, May 10, 2026 (Council File (CF) 26-0088-S1)
City Ethics Commission, 2026 election totals: read Oct. 14, 2026
Council File 26-1100-S10: multifamily exemption noted and filed, July 1, 2026
City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission, campaign contributions and independent expenditures search, contributor "Anthropic", https://ethics.lacity.gov/data/campaigns/contributions/, searched Oct. 16, 2026; and Cal-Access, Anthropic PBC (filer 1491817), https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1491817, as of Oct. 16, 2026.
Reviewed in the original: City voter guide pages for TE (all 7 pages); both City Attorney reports; Council Files 26-1100-S9, 26-0774 (with the motion) and 26-1100-S10; LAMC Sec. 16.03; the full Los Angeles Housing Department report of May 10, 2026 (25 pages, including its figure and appendices); the LA County Registrar's final measures list; the Ethics Commission totals page; the LAist article.
Could not be reviewed: None found.