Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
US Sen. Bernie Sanders is headed to Los Angeles next week to lead a campaign kickoff for a bill that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of California 's billionaires to support the state's healthcare system, including by keeping hospitals and emergency departments open.
Economists, healthcare workers, and unions launched the fight for the tax last year, after Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump enacted a budget package that included massive Medicaid cuts. Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West is spearheading the battle for the California Billionaire Tax Act.Sanders endorsed the proposal in December, calling it 'a model that should be emulated throughout the country.' He is now set to appear at the Wiltern in Los Angeles alongside musical acts and other supporters of the ballot measure for the bill on Wednesday, February 18.'At a time of unprecedented and growing wealth consolidation and income inequality, I strongly support the grassroots effort in California to impose this reasonable and necessary 5% wealth tax on about 200 California billionaires,' Sanders said in a Tuesday statement. 'This initiative would provide the necessary funding to prevent over 3 million working-class Californians from losing the healthcare they currently have—and would help prevent the closures of California hospitals and emergency rooms,' noted the senator, a longtime leading advocate of higher taxes for the ultrarich and Medicare for All. 'It should be common sense that the billionaires pay just slightly more so that entire communities can preserve access to lifesaving medical care,' he added. 'Our country needs access to hospitals and emergency rooms, not more tax breaks for billionaires.'Mayra Castaneda, an ultrasound technologist at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, said that 'we are very grateful for the support of US Sen. Sanders, who for years has been telling the truth about the threat that income inequality poses to our nation—and to working people.' 'If we let these healthcare cuts stand, my patients will suffer,' Castaneda stressed. 'Hospitals and ERs will close, others will be strained by taking on more patients, and people will lose access to lifesaving care.''This is all avoidable if billionaires just pay their fair share in California, so I'm going to do whatever is in my power to see this proposal pass in November,' Castaneda continued. 'I'll be telling my story alongside Sen. Sanders and urging my fellow Californians to take action to save lives.'Healthcare experts warn a crisis is here. Congress’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” cuts $100B from CA healthcare. LA Times: “People will die.” A one-time 5% billionaire tax can backfill the cuts and protect care.https://lat.ms/4amFfYK— SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West February 4, 2026 at 7:00 PMAccording to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported on the upcoming event: 'The supporters need to gather the signatures of nearly 875,000 registered voters and submit them to county elections officials by June 24 for the measure to qualify for the November ballot. They began gathering signatures in January.'While the bill targeting the state's billionaires is backed by Sanders—who caucuses with Democrats in Congress and twice sought the party's presidential nomination—its opponents include Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is expected to run for president in 2028. 'Gavin Newsom is on the side of the billionaires, not the millions of working people who stand to lose healthcare because of the Trump cuts,' progressive organizer Jonathan Rosenblum said after the governor made his position clear last month. 'Shamefully typical of the Democratic establishment.'The Times noted Tuesday that other opponents include 'San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who is among a dozen candidates running in November to replace the termed-out governor.'
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