Bay Area tax measures to bail out transit agencies faces lawsuit over 'misleading' ballot language

Grace Hase, The Mercury News on Aug 19, 2026

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A group of Bay Area voters filed a lawsuit this week over a November regional sales tax measure that would fund struggling transit agencies, asking a judge to strike what they consider to be “misleading” and “biased” language from the ballot initiative.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday, the group alleges the measure was written to favor a yes vote in violation of election law.

“It reads like a commercial for the tax, and that’s just not right,” said Marc Joffe, one of the plaintiffs and the treasurer of Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit — a group that is opposing the measure.

If it passes, the measure would raise the sales tax rate by 0.5% in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, and by 1% in San Francisco, with a majority of the funds going to fund bus, train and ferry lines. The remaining dollars would fund other transit infrastructure and rider improvements.

Supporters of the measure say the tax is critical to preserving transit in the region and without it, transit agencies would close stations and cut service. The measure needs a simple majority of votes across all five counties combined to pass.

The ballot language challenged in the lawsuit was approved last month by the Public Transit Revenue Measure District — a governing body of Metropolitan Transportation Commission members created to oversee the measure. The list of changes the plaintiffs have asked a judge to make includes cutting claims that the tax increase will “prevent major service cuts” and “preserv(e) BART.”

“What are ‘major service cuts’ to one person might not be ‘major service cuts’ to another person,” the group argues in the lawsuit.

Rebecca Long, a spokesperson for MTC, said in a statement that the ballot language and the impartial analysis that will appear in the voter guide, “were prepared in accordance with California election law, and the District will defend them on the schedule the court sets.”

The opponents asked a judge to make a ruling by Aug. 28 — the day the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters has set as its printing deadline for ballots and voter guides.

The lawsuit mirrors similar legal challenges mounted against tax measures in recent years.

Last year, a group of local taxpayer advocates filed a lawsuit to block a general sales tax measure in Santa Clara County, while also contesting the ballot measure text. A lawsuit filed earlier this year in Contra Costa County sought changes to the wording of a ballot measure that would increase the sales tax. A judge ruled in favor of changing some of the language in both cases.

Joffe, who is also president of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, attributes the misleading ballot measure language to polling firms that test different language on voters to see what might be the most successful. He said while it is reasonable to help craft a ballot argument, it isn’t acceptable in the ballot text itself; that’s supposed to be neutral.

“You should not know what the opinion is of the of the writer of the 75-word statement,” he said.And yet pretty much you look at every single thing on the ballot that’s a tax or a bond and it always reads in a very biased way towards the proponents.”

The proposed sales tax increase comes as Bay Area transit agencies feel the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw ridership numbers plummet. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $590 million bailout earlier this year to help stave off cuts to Caltrain, Muni, AC Transit and BART, but the money was meant as a temporary stopgap while agencies weighed long-term solutions, like the regional transit measure.

BART has warned that without the tax, it may need to close between 10 and 15 stations and two lines, while CalTrain might have to cut weekend service and end weekday service after 9 p.m.

Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson with Connect Bay Area, the group backing the measure, declined to comment on the lawsuit as they weren’t named as a party.

“Our focus right now is explaining to voters that if we don’t pass this measure, there will be catastrophic cuts to public transit that will hurt communities in all five counties,” he said.