Overview
- Campaign finance filings in mid‑August show Brin donated an additional $20 million to Building a Better California, bringing his reported total to about $102 million and making him the largest donor opposing the measure.
- Proposition 40 would levy a one‑time 5 percent tax on roughly 200 Californians with net worths above $1 billion, with supporters earmarking 90 percent of revenue for state health care programs.
- Building a Better California has directed opposition money into competing initiatives and has given large transfers to Propositions 41 and 42, moves supporters say could effectively block or override Prop 40 if they receive more votes.
- Supporters led by the SEIU‑UHW have raised just over $30 million in the campaign so far while opposition groups, boosted by Brin and other wealthy donors, outpace them by a wide margin in reported spending.
- The fight has already reshaped behavior by some billionaires who have changed residency or bought out‑of‑state homes, and it has prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to call for a national billionaire tax as a response to potential relocation and revenue risk.