Posts tagged Proposition 44
Opinion Dave Regan’s alleged bullying should put an end to ‘billionaire tax’
September 21, 2026 // For years, Regan has bossed his way around California, drawing on his training in New York state and his experience in the Rust Belt. He arrived in California and immediately saw the state’s ballot initiative process as the soft underbelly of democracy. In election after election, he has organized initiatives on his pet priorities. He doesn’t always win them. But he has turned ballot initiatives into weapons to increase the political power of his union — regardless of the consequences.
California health clinics accuse influential union and its leader of racketeering in civil lawsuit
September 18, 2026 // The California Primary Care Assn. and five clinics filed a civil lawsuit in federal court Friday accusing SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and its president, Dave Regan, of racketeering and using ballot initiatives to “shake down” community health centers. The association alleges that Regan and his union orchestrated a “multi-year campaign of coercion, threats, and economic pressure” to “extort” what the lawsuit describes as “valuable property rights” and “labor-organizing terms” from CPCA and the health centers the association represents in California, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Times.
Proposition 44 pits California clinics against union known for ballot battles
September 17, 2026 // While SEIU-UHW insists it will put resources behind the measure, the union hasn’t invested any major funds in Prop. 44 since May, instead funneling its dollars to support the billionaire tax. Opponents of the measure, meanwhile, had $32 million in cash on hand as of the end of June and have continued to raise money since then. The proposition is one of the least popular of the 14 statewide measures on this year’s ballot, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Tuesday. Just 34% of the 1,745 California adults surveyed said they backed it.