Overview
- Signature gathering kicked off at Fire Station 58 as members and volunteers begin canvassing across the city.
- The plan would raise the sales tax from 9.75% to 10.25% and is projected to generate about $345 million in the first year.
- Revenue would be restricted to an LAFD-only fund with annual public audits, a citizens oversight committee, and a maintenance-of-effort provision.
- Backers cite decades of underinvestment, with five times the 1960s call volume and similar staffing, and an IAFF review urging roughly 4,000 more firefighters and 62 new stations.
- The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposes the proposal as regressive and questions the citizen-initiative route, while Mayor Karen Bass supports seeking new LAFD revenue but has not endorsed this measure.