Community Forum – May 4, 2026
Ensuring Opportunity, the Budget Justice Coalition, the Multi-Faith ACTION Coalition, and Root and Bloom hosted a community forum on Contra Costa Measure B, an item on the June 2, 2026, ballot that proposes a 0.625% (five-eighths of a cent) temporary sales tax for a period of five years. The revenue generated is intended to sustain essential county services that face increased demand or decreased federal support.
There are several resources available for those who would like background information on how this proposal was developed. Below are links to presentations (in PDF form) and recorded meetings of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors where this proposal and related topics were discussed. The Board of Supervisors voted in early March to place Measure B on the June ballot. See the list below for all of the resources.
Community Forum Resources
The Measure B Decision: Timeline and Resources
The path to placing the measure on the ballot involved several key steps from late 2025. Most of these links are to presentation slides and video recordings of meetings of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. Please note that the recorded discussions can be relatively lengthy.
- December 16, 2025: Report on the impacts of H.R. 1 and state changes to Medicaid policy.
- Presentation Slides
- Video recording of the presentation and discussion—go to item D.1, which begins at 5:27:30
- January 20, 2026: The Board initially directed the County Administrator to begin the necessary steps to place a five-year sales tax on the ballot and to seek state authority to exceed the local sales tax cap.
- Video recording of the discussion—go to item D.4, which begins at 1:44
- February 3, 2026: Presentations and discussion at the Board of Supervisors Retreat
- Presentation by Monica Nino, County Administrator and Adam Nguyen, County Finance Director on Budget Considerations
- Presentation by Carlos Marquez, County Welfare Directors Association of California on Mitigating the Harm of H.R. 1
- Presentation Slides, California Association of Public Hospital and Health Systems, “Navigating Change”
- Video recording of the discussion—go to items D.2 at 2:59, D.3 at 4:59, and D.4 at 5:50:25
- March 3, 2026: The Board held the final vote to adopt Resolution No. 2026-40, which formally referred the 0.625% sales tax to the voters for the June primary election.
- Presentation Slides
- Video recording of the discussion—go to item D.1, which begins at 1:53
- April 1, 2026: Following a legal challenge regarding the neutrality of the language, a Superior Court judge ordered specific modifications to the ballot text (such as removing the words “deep” and “critical”), resulting in the updated version used in the current voter guides.
- April 14, 2026: Presentations from County Departments
- Presentation Slides, Homeless Services Annual Report CY2024, Christy Saxton, Director H3
- Presentation Slides, HR 1 and State Budget Impacts, Marla Stewart, Director EHSD
- Video recording of the discussion—go to items D.5 at 2:58:30 and D.6 at 3:41:40
- April 27, 2026: Special Meeting, Budget Presentations
- Presentation Slides, County Administrator’s Office Budget Overview
- Presentation Slides, Employment and Human Services “Mitigating Social Vulnerability”
- Presentation Slides, Health Services Budget
- Video recording of the discussion—go to items D.1.1 at 1:27:15, D.1.4 at 3:41.50 and D.1.4 at 5:01:10
