This commentary gives a clear explanation of how Prop. 13 came about. Jim Shultz wrote it in 1997, 19 years after Prop. 13’s 1978 passage, and it seems worth reposting (with a few updates) today.

Jim Shultz is a former teacher of policy analysis and California politics at San Francisco State University and former staff with the California Legislature. He is the founder and executive director of the Democracy Center, an advocacy organization founded in San Francisco.

Updates are in [brackets].  

Proposition 13 pop quiz:

Who among the following opposed Proposition 13 when it was voted on in June 1978?

Former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson (governor at the time this commentary was written)

The California Taxpayers Association

Atlantic Richfield

Southern Pacific Railroad

Bank of America

Former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian

Standard Oil of California

Southern California Edison
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