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But even if it fails, he\u2019s not stopping.Dave Regan, the head of the union leading the ballot measure, says taxing wealth is the only way to cover roughly $100 billion in federal healthcare funding he says California will lose over the coming years after cuts made under the Trump administration. Despite opposition from some of the world\u2019s richest people, as well as Governor Gavin Newsom and his likely successor Xavier Becerra, Regan sees Proposition 40 as not only winnable, but a potential springboard for wealth-tax campaigns across the country.\u201cWe understand we\u2019re the underdog,\u201d Regan said in an interview at Bloomberg\u2019s San Francisco office. \u201cI think we\u2019ve made a lot of headway, and I think we\u2019ve made this issue inevitable.\u201dWith four weeks until Election Day, Regan and his healthcare-workers union are in the final stretch of a campaign to persuade Californians to embrace the tax, enlisting allies like Senator Bernie Sanders and mobilizing members across the state. Polls show an extremely tight contest, and opponents including Newsom, unions and business groups argue the one-time tax is poorly designed, unnecessary and risks driving wealthy residents \u2014 and their tax dollars \u2014 out of the state.Related:What \u2018White Glove\u2019 Means TodayBillionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been among the fiercest adversaries, pouring over $100 million into a political influence machine that\u2019s mostly fighting the tax, with an ad barrage expected to hit voters in the coming weeks across TV, social media and the mail. Brin is also propping up two other ballot measures that could undercut the billionaire tax even if it passes.\u201cThey\u2019re going to carpet-bomb us,\u201d Regan said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question about that.\u201dSanders RallySupporters are trying to meet the wall of money with a show of political force. On Saturday, the Vermont Senator took the stage at San Francisco\u2019s Curran Theatre to rally more than 1,600 people around what he called \u201cthe most important ballot initiative in the country.\u201dJoined by state insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim and Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna, Sanders cast the California campaign as part of a broader progressive fight over extreme wealth and the political power of billionaires.\u201cThe whole country and frankly people around the world are paying attention to what is happening here,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cEven with all their money and all their power, the people united are going to beat them.\u201dRelated:Are Your Clients Raising Heirs or Passengers?Regan has taken that effort further than most. The 60-year-old union leader has helped turn a wealth tax long-pursued by progressives into a real choice before voters in the nation\u2019s most populous state.And he is already looking elsewhere. Regan says he has fielded interest from people in roughly two dozen other states that, like California, allow citizens to put initiatives before voters.\u201cWhen you look at billionaire wealth, it\u2019s first California, but there\u2019s also Florida,\u201d Regan said. \u201cWe would love to do this in Florida in 2028.\u201dDeath StarFirst, he\u2019ll have to persuade Californians that the proposed wealth tax won\u2019t cause more harm than good.The Proposition 40 campaign argues taxing the rich is the only realistic way of averting cuts that could leave millions without medical coverage, eliminate tens of thousands of healthcare jobs and force clinics to close.\u201cWe know for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, lives will be lost if Prop 40 does not pass,\u201d said SEIU-UHW Vice President Debru Carthan.Regan has put the threat in more cinematic terms. At a recent conference of roughly 2,000 union members, he warned a \u201chealthcare Death Star\u201d is heading toward California, casting his union colleagues as characters in Star Wars\u2019 Rebel Alliance. He\u2019s also framed the tax as an \u201cenormous moral choice\u201d facing Californians.Related:The Great Wealth Transfer Is Also a Great Risk TransferOpponents of the tax dispute the scale of the looming healthcare shortfall and argue Proposition 40 could inflict lasting economic damage by driving wealthy residents, entrepreneurs and investment out of California.Regan and his allies are simply \u201cmanufacturing a crisis in order to create a new tax,\u201d said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan group of executives that opposes the tax. Lapsley says the eventual windfall from Anthropic PBC\u2019s initial public offering and other AI-company IPOs could help offset funding losses that he expects would be far smaller than what Regan projects.Read More: Billionaire Tax Divides California Industry It\u2019s Meant to HelpLost FightsProposition 40 has also put Regan\u2019s own record under scrutiny.Regan grew up in working-class family in Buffalo, New York, as the city was hollowed out by the decline in American manufacturing. After graduating from Cornell in the 1980s, he went straight into the bare-knuckled world of organized labor. For the past 15 years, he has led SEIU-UHW as an aggressive operator willing take fights directly to voters.Regan\u2019s union successfully pushed for a ballot measure in 2016 that would increase California\u2019s minimum wage, forcing lawmakers into a deal. More recently, for three straight elections, Regan backed \u2014 and lost \u2014 initiatives that sought to impose new requirements for kidney dialysis clinics.\u201cHe\u2019s taken on a big fight, and he doesn\u2019t have a lot of history of actually winning campaigns,\u201d said Brandon Castillo, a ballot-measure strategist who faced Regan in the dialysis fights.This time, Regan\u2019s adversaries are considerably wealthier.A group of billionaires that includes Brin, the world\u2019s fourth-richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as well as former Google Chief Executive Office Eric Schmidt and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, has helped bankroll around $80 million in ads to defeat Proposition 40. Their spending is also supporting Proposition 41 and 42, which could nullify the wealth tax if they pass with more votes.Assault AllegationsRegan has also been accused of intimidating women who worked within SEIU, allegations detailed in investigative reports commissioned by SEIU International and its California council that were first reported by The Los Angeles Times and also reviewed by Bloomberg News. Some of the incidents date back more than 15 years and include an allegation that Regan physically intimidated a female SEIU leader, and other accounts of aggressive behavior toward women.Regan denied the physically intimidating behavior allegation and said they are part of a \u201cshoot-the-messenger campaign\u201d to discredit Proposition 40.\u201cUnrelated verbal interactions spanning nearly two decades are being stitched together and stripped of context to manufacture a false narrative about the union\u2019s leadership,\u201d SEIU-UHW said in a statement.Grassroots OrganizingWith the election closing in, Regan is betting grassroots organizing can help offset his enormous financial disadvantage.He has asked supporters to blast their contacts with texts, is counting on endorsements from figures like Sanders to amplify his reach and believes growing resentment against Big Tech and billionaires creates favorable conditions for the proposal.California\u2019s costly media market, however, makes it hard to compete with a billionaire-backed advertising blitz. And Sanders has endorsed at least a half-dozen ballot measures in the state in recent years that failed, including proposals on rent control, affirmative action and property-tax reform.Regan knows it might not be enough to win this time.And already, he\u2019s plotting a comeback.\u201cI think we\u2019d go back to the ballot in 2028,\u201d he said.About the AuthorsReporter, BloombergJosh Sisco is a reporter for Bloomberg News in San Francisco covering antitrust enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission. 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Despite opposition from some of the world\u2019s richest people, as well as Governor Gavin Newsom and his likely successor Xavier Becerra, Regan sees Proposition 40 as not only winnable, but a potential springboard for wealth-tax campaigns across the country.\u201cWe understand we\u2019re the underdog,\u201d Regan said in an interview at Bloomberg\u2019s San Francisco office. \u201cI think we\u2019ve made a lot of headway, and I think we\u2019ve made this issue inevitable.\u201dWith four weeks until Election Day, Regan and his healthcare-workers union are in the final stretch of a campaign to persuade Californians to embrace the tax, enlisting allies like Senator Bernie Sanders and mobilizing members across the state. Polls show an extremely tight contest, and opponents including Newsom, unions and business groups argue the one-time tax is poorly designed, unnecessary and risks driving wealthy residents \u2014 and their tax dollars \u2014 out of the state.Related:What \u2018White Glove\u2019 Means TodayBillionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been among the fiercest adversaries, pouring over $100 million into a political influence machine that\u2019s mostly fighting the tax, with an ad barrage expected to hit voters in the coming weeks across TV, social media and the mail. Brin is also propping up two other ballot measures that could undercut the billionaire tax even if it passes.\u201cThey\u2019re going to carpet-bomb us,\u201d Regan said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question about that.\u201dSanders RallySupporters are trying to meet the wall of money with a show of political force. On Saturday, the Vermont Senator took the stage at San Francisco\u2019s Curran Theatre to rally more than 1,600 people around what he called \u201cthe most important ballot initiative in the country.\u201dJoined by state insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim and Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna, Sanders cast the California campaign as part of a broader progressive fight over extreme wealth and the political power of billionaires.\u201cThe whole country and frankly people around the world are paying attention to what is happening here,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cEven with all their money and all their power, the people united are going to beat them.\u201dRelated:Are Your Clients Raising Heirs or Passengers?Regan has taken that effort further than most. The 60-year-old union leader has helped turn a wealth tax long-pursued by progressives into a real choice before voters in the nation\u2019s most populous state.And he is already looking elsewhere. Regan says he has fielded interest from people in roughly two dozen other states that, like California, allow citizens to put initiatives before voters.\u201cWhen you look at billionaire wealth, it\u2019s first California, but there\u2019s also Florida,\u201d Regan said. \u201cWe would love to do this in Florida in 2028.\u201dDeath StarFirst, he\u2019ll have to persuade Californians that the proposed wealth tax won\u2019t cause more harm than good.The Proposition 40 campaign argues taxing the rich is the only realistic way of averting cuts that could leave millions without medical coverage, eliminate tens of thousands of healthcare jobs and force clinics to close.\u201cWe know for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, lives will be lost if Prop 40 does not pass,\u201d said SEIU-UHW Vice President Debru Carthan.Regan has put the threat in more cinematic terms. At a recent conference of roughly 2,000 union members, he warned a \u201chealthcare Death Star\u201d is heading toward California, casting his union colleagues as characters in Star Wars\u2019 Rebel Alliance. He\u2019s also framed the tax as an \u201cenormous moral choice\u201d facing Californians.Related:The Great Wealth Transfer Is Also a Great Risk TransferOpponents of the tax dispute the scale of the looming healthcare shortfall and argue Proposition 40 could inflict lasting economic damage by driving wealthy residents, entrepreneurs and investment out of California.Regan and his allies are simply \u201cmanufacturing a crisis in order to create a new tax,\u201d said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan group of executives that opposes the tax. Lapsley says the eventual windfall from Anthropic PBC\u2019s initial public offering and other AI-company IPOs could help offset funding losses that he expects would be far smaller than what Regan projects.Read More: Billionaire Tax Divides California Industry It\u2019s Meant to HelpLost FightsProposition 40 has also put Regan\u2019s own record under scrutiny.Regan grew up in working-class family in Buffalo, New York, as the city was hollowed out by the decline in American manufacturing. After graduating from Cornell in the 1980s, he went straight into the bare-knuckled world of organized labor. For the past 15 years, he has led SEIU-UHW as an aggressive operator willing take fights directly to voters.Regan\u2019s union successfully pushed for a ballot measure in 2016 that would increase California\u2019s minimum wage, forcing lawmakers into a deal. More recently, for three straight elections, Regan backed \u2014 and lost \u2014 initiatives that sought to impose new requirements for kidney dialysis clinics.\u201cHe\u2019s taken on a big fight, and he doesn\u2019t have a lot of history of actually winning campaigns,\u201d said Brandon Castillo, a ballot-measure strategist who faced Regan in the dialysis fights.This time, Regan\u2019s adversaries are considerably wealthier.A group of billionaires that includes Brin, the world\u2019s fourth-richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as well as former Google Chief Executive Office Eric Schmidt and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, has helped bankroll around $80 million in ads to defeat Proposition 40. Their spending is also supporting Proposition 41 and 42, which could nullify the wealth tax if they pass with more votes.Assault AllegationsRegan has also been accused of intimidating women who worked within SEIU, allegations detailed in investigative reports commissioned by SEIU International and its California council that were first reported by The Los Angeles Times and also reviewed by Bloomberg News. Some of the incidents date back more than 15 years and include an allegation that Regan physically intimidated a female SEIU leader, and other accounts of aggressive behavior toward women.Regan denied the physically intimidating behavior allegation and said they are part of a \u201cshoot-the-messenger campaign\u201d to discredit Proposition 40.\u201cUnrelated verbal interactions spanning nearly two decades are being stitched together and stripped of context to manufacture a false narrative about the union\u2019s leadership,\u201d SEIU-UHW said in a statement.Grassroots OrganizingWith the election closing in, Regan is betting grassroots organizing can help offset his enormous financial disadvantage.He has asked supporters to blast their contacts with texts, is counting on endorsements from figures like Sanders to amplify his reach and believes growing resentment against Big Tech and billionaires creates favorable conditions for the proposal.California\u2019s costly media market, however, makes it hard to compete with a billionaire-backed advertising blitz. And Sanders has endorsed at least a half-dozen ballot measures in the state in recent years that failed, including proposals on rent control, affirmative action and property-tax reform.Regan knows it might not be enough to win this time.And already, he\u2019s plotting a comeback.\u201cI think we\u2019d go back to the ballot in 2028,\u201d he said.About the AuthorsReporter, BloombergJosh Sisco is a reporter for Bloomberg News in San Francisco covering antitrust enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission. 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Despite opposition from some of the world\u2019s richest people, as well as Governor Gavin Newsom and his likely successor Xavier Becerra, Regan sees Proposition 40 as not only winnable, but a potential springboard for wealth-tax campaigns across the country.\u201cWe understand we\u2019re the underdog,\u201d Regan said in an interview at Bloomberg\u2019s San Francisco office. \u201cI think we\u2019ve made a lot of headway, and I think we\u2019ve made this issue inevitable.\u201dWith four weeks until Election Day, Regan and his healthcare-workers union are in the final stretch of a campaign to persuade Californians to embrace the tax, enlisting allies like Senator Bernie Sanders and mobilizing members across the state. Polls show an extremely tight contest, and opponents including Newsom, unions and business groups argue the one-time tax is poorly designed, unnecessary and risks driving wealthy residents \u2014 and their tax dollars \u2014 out of the state.Related:How to Advise a Business Client With a Personal Judgment Against ThemBillionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been among the fiercest adversaries, pouring over $100 million into a political influence machine that\u2019s mostly fighting the tax, with an ad barrage expected to hit voters in the coming weeks across TV, social media and the mail. Brin is also propping up two other ballot measures that could undercut the billionaire tax even if it passes.\u201cThey\u2019re going to carpet-bomb us,\u201d Regan said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question about that.\u201dSanders RallySupporters are trying to meet the wall of money with a show of political force. On Saturday, the Vermont Senator took the stage at San Francisco\u2019s Curran Theatre to rally more than 1,600 people around what he called \u201cthe most important ballot initiative in the country.\u201dJoined by state insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim and Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna, Sanders cast the California campaign as part of a broader progressive fight over extreme wealth and the political power of billionaires.\u201cThe whole country and frankly people around the world are paying attention to what is happening here,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cEven with all their money and all their power, the people united are going to beat them.\u201dRelated:NYC Families That Fled to Suburbs See Jersey Discount DisappearRegan has taken that effort further than most. The 60-year-old union leader has helped turn a wealth tax long-pursued by progressives into a real choice before voters in the nation\u2019s most populous state.And he is already looking elsewhere. Regan says he has fielded interest from people in roughly two dozen other states that, like California, allow citizens to put initiatives before voters.\u201cWhen you look at billionaire wealth, it\u2019s first California, but there\u2019s also Florida,\u201d Regan said. \u201cWe would love to do this in Florida in 2028.\u201dDeath StarFirst, he\u2019ll have to persuade Californians that the proposed wealth tax won\u2019t cause more harm than good.The Proposition 40 campaign argues taxing the rich is the only realistic way of averting cuts that could leave millions without medical coverage, eliminate tens of thousands of healthcare jobs and force clinics to close.\u201cWe know for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, lives will be lost if Prop 40 does not pass,\u201d said SEIU-UHW Vice President Debru Carthan.Regan has put the threat in more cinematic terms. At a recent conference of roughly 2,000 union members, he warned a \u201chealthcare Death Star\u201d is heading toward California, casting his union colleagues as characters in Star Wars\u2019 Rebel Alliance. He\u2019s also framed the tax as an \u201cenormous moral choice\u201d facing Californians.Related:What \u2018White Glove\u2019 Means TodayOpponents of the tax dispute the scale of the looming healthcare shortfall and argue Proposition 40 could inflict lasting economic damage by driving wealthy residents, entrepreneurs and investment out of California.Regan and his allies are simply \u201cmanufacturing a crisis in order to create a new tax,\u201d said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan group of executives that opposes the tax. Lapsley says the eventual windfall from Anthropic PBC\u2019s initial public offering and other AI-company IPOs could help offset funding losses that he expects would be far smaller than what Regan projects.Read More: Billionaire Tax Divides California Industry It\u2019s Meant to HelpLost FightsProposition 40 has also put Regan\u2019s own record under scrutiny.Regan grew up in working-class family in Buffalo, New York, as the city was hollowed out by the decline in American manufacturing. After graduating from Cornell in the 1980s, he went straight into the bare-knuckled world of organized labor. For the past 15 years, he has led SEIU-UHW as an aggressive operator willing take fights directly to voters.Regan\u2019s union successfully pushed for a ballot measure in 2016 that would increase California\u2019s minimum wage, forcing lawmakers into a deal. More recently, for three straight elections, Regan backed \u2014 and lost \u2014 initiatives that sought to impose new requirements for kidney dialysis clinics.\u201cHe\u2019s taken on a big fight, and he doesn\u2019t have a lot of history of actually winning campaigns,\u201d said Brandon Castillo, a ballot-measure strategist who faced Regan in the dialysis fights.This time, Regan\u2019s adversaries are considerably wealthier.A group of billionaires that includes Brin, the world\u2019s fourth-richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as well as former Google Chief Executive Office Eric Schmidt and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, has helped bankroll around $80 million in ads to defeat Proposition 40. Their spending is also supporting Proposition 41 and 42, which could nullify the wealth tax if they pass with more votes.Assault AllegationsRegan has also been accused of intimidating women who worked within SEIU, allegations detailed in investigative reports commissioned by SEIU International and its California council that were first reported by The Los Angeles Times and also reviewed by Bloomberg News. Some of the incidents date back more than 15 years and include an allegation that Regan physically intimidated a female SEIU leader, and other accounts of aggressive behavior toward women.Regan denied the physically intimidating behavior allegation and said they are part of a \u201cshoot-the-messenger campaign\u201d to discredit Proposition 40.\u201cUnrelated verbal interactions spanning nearly two decades are being stitched together and stripped of context to manufacture a false narrative about the union\u2019s leadership,\u201d SEIU-UHW said in a statement.Grassroots OrganizingWith the election closing in, Regan is betting grassroots organizing can help offset his enormous financial disadvantage.He has asked supporters to blast their contacts with texts, is counting on endorsements from figures like Sanders to amplify his reach and believes growing resentment against Big Tech and billionaires creates favorable conditions for the proposal.California\u2019s costly media market, however, makes it hard to compete with a billionaire-backed advertising blitz. And Sanders has endorsed at least a half-dozen ballot measures in the state in recent years that failed, including proposals on rent control, affirmative action and property-tax reform.Regan knows it might not be enough to win this time.And already, he\u2019s plotting a comeback.\u201cI think we\u2019d go back to the ballot in 2028,\u201d he said.About the AuthorsReporter, BloombergJosh Sisco is a reporter for Bloomberg News in San Francisco covering antitrust enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission. 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