Why are so many people applying for the Board of Equalization in 2026?

from Kayla Michalovich and Adam AshtonCalMatters

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of California Leveling board is once again a coveted spot for state lawmakers looking for a new gig nearly a decade after then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law gutting the organization of any serious managerial responsibility.

This year, three incumbent state lawmakers are vying for seats on the nation’s only elected tax board. They are among about two dozen candidates on the ballot for the four elective positions, which are divided by geographic area.

The board has long been a launching pad for higher posts in California politics — Fiona Ma served on it before becoming state treasurer, as did Betty Yee and Malia Cohen before each was elected state inspector.

The agency itself is a going back to the 19th century. It was rooted in an 1879 constitutional amendment that created it and charged it with “equalizing” county property tax assessments across the country.

From that narrow mandate, it swelled to become a behemoth that collected a third of the state’s tax revenue and provided a venue for people and businesses to challenge their tax bills before the elected board. He survived numerous attempts by governors to kill him outright, including attempts by Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

That is until 2017, when a cascade of allegations of board members abusing their position to promote themselves led to authoritative state audit that the legislators he couldn’t ignore.

Brown signed a law that stripped the agency of any powers beyond what voters gave it in 1879 and created two new departments that report to the governor instead of an elected board: one to collect sales and use taxes and another to handle taxpayer complaints.

After that, Board of Equalization elections tend to be lower-profile contests. Ted Gaines, a former Republican state representative from the Sacramento area, won the seat. Former Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber is up for re-election to the board this year. The other members had experience in local politics instead of the Capitol.

“We’re lean, but we’re not mean,” said Lieber, the incumbent for District 2, which includes 19 counties centered in the Bay Area. “I think the Board of Equalization is the right size in the system right now. … I really believe the board plays a role as a forum for taxpayers to come forward.”

This year, voters will see more contested elections for the Tax Commission:

• In District 1, representing inland California, Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield has more than $900,000 in a campaign account and name recognition from her representing the San Joaquin Valley in the Legislature since 2010. Democrats are running for the district. Fresno City Councilman Nelson Esparza is running with the party’s endorsement.
• In District 2, representing coastal California north of Los Angeles, incumbent Lieber faces San Mateo Community College District Trustee John Pimentel. Lieber has the Democratic Party’s endorsement, but a number of Bay Area Democratic leaders are backing Pimentel, including State Treasurer Ma and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
• In District 3, representing the Los Angeles area, former Monterey Park City Councilwoman Yvonne Yiu put up $760,000 of her own money and has about $1 million on hand. The race has another heavyweight in Assemblymember Mike Gipsona Gardena Democrat who has served in the Legislature since 2014.
• District 4, representing the San Diego area, has a particularly crowded race with the Democratic state senator. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana, San Ysidro School Board member Martin Arias, San Diego Unified School District board member Cody Peterson and Dennis Bilodeau, a Republican supported by San Diego Assemblyman Carl DeMaioCalifornia Reform Organization.

California Taxpayer Forum

The board has always been popular with taxpayer advocacy groups, which like that it provides a forum to focus on tax issues in a capital city where debate often centers on labor and business.

“It’s a very useful elected body that answers to the voters,” said Susan Shelley, vice president of communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Some of this year’s candidates are considering ways to make the most of the agency.

Arias believes the board can do more to help homeowners and potential homeowners. As a taxpayer advocate for the San Diego County Assessor’s Office, he says he works with the Board of Equalization every day and has a front-end on how the system works.

“I think there’s a greater opportunity here to make the Board of Equalization the constitutional office that it is — that it should be,” he said. “There’s a clear opportunity here to start advocating at the state level for all of our taxpayers, including those who don’t speak English.”

Umberg said he would like the board to have more powers and resources to investigate. Referring to cases where San Bernardino and Los Angeles assessors have been arrested on felony charges, he said he is most interested in the board’s oversight of property tax assessors.

“Even though it’s not a high-profile job, it’s an extremely important job, especially when we have so many revenue challenges in California,” Umberg said in an interview with CalMatters.

Questioning the relevance of the BOE

Advocacy to expand the board drew criticism from former board members and staff. Yee, a board member from 2004 to 2014, has been vocal in favor of eliminating the board entirely because he believes its limited responsibilities could easily be transferred to another department or agency.

“I really question how this advice continues to matter,” she told CalMatters. “Sometimes I feel like the board really does a lot of work looking for problems to solve. …I know that every member of the board has a very strong sense of being an advocate for the taxpayer. But frankly, every public servant should be an advocate for the taxpayer.”

Democrats failed to kill the agency entirely because they had to put that question to the voters.

“They should have just cut off the head of the snake and done away with the Board of Equalization completely,” said Mark DeSio, the board’s former communications director. “They didn’t do that. They left enough of the cancer to grow back.”

He cooperated with the audit that revealed improper spending at the agency that appeared to be aimed at promoting its elected members, as well as another that showed widespread nepotism in its hiring practices. He then lost his job in the reorganization and filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the state.

DeSio believes lawmakers want Council of Equalization seats because it allows them to maintain a high profile until they can run for office again.

“That was the recipe for disaster a few years ago,” he said. “Somebody better watch these guys. They’re not there for politics. It’s for exposure.”

Kayla Michalovich is a contributor to California Local News.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.