Napa Fire Conducts 90-Acre Burn as Prop. 40 Opponents Spend $50M

Napa County Fire and Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit conducted a scheduled 90-acre prescribed burn near Soda Canyon Road on a ridge above populated areas in east Napa on Thursday, notifying residents that light smoke will remain visible for the next few days (Napa Valley Register). Meanwhile, campaign finance disclosures reported by the Napa Valley Register and The Almanac show that billionaire-backed Building a Better California spent more than $50 million over the past week to defeat Proposition 40, California's proposed 1-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires (Napa Valley Register, The Almanac).

90-Acre Controlled Burn Near Soda Canyon Road in East Napa

According to an Everbridge alert sent by Napa County Fire and a Facebook announcement from Cal Fire's Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, firing operations began around 10 a.m. Thursday and were scheduled to conclude by 5 p.m. (Napa Valley Register). Crews treated 90 acres of grass and oak woodlands atop a ridge near Soda Canyon Road overlooking east Napa, and fire officials advised residents that smoke from the vegetation management project would remain visible for several days.

Opponents Pour Over $50 Million in a Single Week Into Defeating Proposition 40

On the statewide ballot, Building a Better California spent more than $50 million in a single week opposing Proposition 40 — exceeding the $32.7 million raised over 10 months by the primary Yes on 40 committee sponsored by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) (Napa Valley Register). SEIU-UHW, led by President Dave Regan and Chief of Staff Suzanne Jimenez, estimates the 1-time 5% tax on approximately 200 California billionaires would raise up to $100 billion over 5 years to offset federal healthcare cuts under H.R. 1. A Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll released Tuesday showed 46% of likely voters supporting Proposition 40 (down from 52% in September), while 51% supported Proposition 42, a competing measure alongside Proposition 41 that would block the billionaire tax if it receives a higher share of the vote.

According to campaign filings reviewed by The Sacramento Bee and The Almanac, Building a Better California raised more than $58 million in the first 17 days of October and $164 million since the beginning of September (with $140 million spent as of Oct. 28), and 15 of the 53 donors who contributed in October had no prior history of state-level political contributions (Napa Valley Register, The Almanac). Major contributors opposing Proposition 40 include:

• Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who contributed $102 million to $103 million to Building a Better California.
• Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who contributed more than $40 million to Building a Better California plus $2.5 million to Californians Against Tax Increases (which also received $3 million from Peter Thiel and $250,000 each from Douglas Leone and Patricia Perkins-Leone, spending $835,000 against Prop. 40).
• Venture capitalist John Doerr ($40 million pledged), Stripe CEO Patrick Collison ($33 million), Vinod Khosla ($12 million), and Chris Larsen and Ripple Labs ($10 million to Golden State Promise, which also received $450,000 from the California Business Roundtable PAC, alongside $580,000 from Right Path California Issues PAC), as well as John Pritzker and Jack Altman.

While the 5 wealthiest Bay Area residents — Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Eric Schmidt — hold a combined net worth exceeding $900 billion and 49 other billionaires reside on the Midpeninsula (including 20 in Palo Alto, where Mayor Vicki Veenker noted the City Council took no position), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CBS Sunday Morning it would be a "privilege" to pay the tax, and Patriotic Millionaires members Alan Davis ($300,000 to Tax the Ultra-Rich Now) and Scott Ellis (who suggested a $30 million threshold) backed the measure. No on 40 spokesperson Evan Westrup and Democratic consultants Steve Maviglio and Eric Jaye said opponents are aiming for a decisive margin on Election Day (Napa Valley Register).