New campaign committee gives big to possible 2026 CA housing ballot measures
A recently created campaign committee with at least $35 million to spend has already injected much of that to support two closely watched housing measures that could appear on the November ballot.
The Building a Better California committee last month gave $6 million to a proposed initiative looking to create a loan program to help residents buy new homes and $5 million for a potential measure to limit the use of the California Environmental Quality Act, according to state campaign documents.
“We support forward-looking policies aimed at making the state more livable and affordable — while protecting innovation and entrepreneurship, which help support a strong economy and good-paying jobs,” said Abby Lunardini, a spokesperson for Building a Better California.
The biggest donor to the new group is Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, who gave a $20 million contribution last month. Eric Schmidt, a former Google CEO, and Tony Xu, who co-founded Doordash, as well as Stewart Resnick, president of The Wonderful Company, the major nut producer, have all given at least $2 million. Nine people in total have contributed money to the group.
The new committee’s contributions are the largest single payments to date by at least $3 million for each of the proposed initiatives and provide critical boosts for supporters of the initiatives who are collecting signatures needed to place them on the ballot.
That’s especially the case for the group pushing the “California Middle-Class Homeownership and Family Home Construction Act of 2026,” which would allow for selling and issuing of up to $25 billion in bonds to create loans that residents can use to help pay for newly built homes. The loans would act as second mortgages paid for by the buyers of the home.
The organization behind the initiative ended last year with just under $46,000 in cash, according to a state campaign document filed Monday. The California Association of Realtors and groups representing union carpenters have also contributed several millions of dollars combined to support the measure.
Robert Hertzberg, a Southern California Democrat who became an Assembly speaker in the early 2000s, submitted the initiative. He said he has spoken with most of the people who have contributed to the Building a Better California committee over the years.
“This is gigantically significant in the sense that these guys are helping the middle class,” he said. “I want this thing not just to win, but I want it to win big because I want a positive message about homeownership and that California is doing something about it.”
Legislators are also wanting to place a housing bond in front of voters this year they hope will generate billions to fund rental housing and homeownership programs.
CEQA measure
The California Chamber of Commerce, a business trade group, is behind the measure that would make changes to the environmental law, known as CEQA. The initiative would set and modify time limits for how long public agencies have to review housing, electric, water and other projects and restricting how the environmental law can be used.
CEQA has been blamed for delays in building homes in the state, and legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom in recent years have responded by adding exemptions to the law, but this would push changes even more aggressively.
Jennifer Barrera, the chamber’s CEO, said in a statement the organization “appreciates the support of the Building a Better California organization, to allow voters the opportunity to take action to modernize the review and approval process of essential projects to ensure a thriving economy, including housing, clean energy, and reliable water supplies.”
In 2025, the committee connected to the initiative brought in almost $2.5 million in contributions, including a $2 million loan from Southern California Edison, one of the country’s largest utilities.
Howard Penn, executive director of the Planning and Conservation League, and a major proponent of CEQA, said the revisions in the measure would effectively cut “all the arms and the legs and the heart” of the law.
“If it’s all billionaires founding this initiative, does it really make sense that it’s going to benefit the little guy?” he said. “I don’t trust that.”
The website for the newly formed Building a Better California does not explicitly mention the potential ballot measures. But it says the committee wants to expand “access to affordable housing for middle-class” residents and cut “the red tape that stalls building of homes and much-needed infrastructure.” The committee has not contributed money to any other proposed initiatives.
That includes a measure that would impose a one-time tax on Californians with assets worth over $1 billion. The initiative also won’t be placed on the ballot until supporters collect enough signatures, and it has faced strong opposition, including from Newsom.
Lunardini, the Building a Better California spokesperson, said the group has not taken a position on the proposed billionaire tax.
But how the committee keeps spending its money for that and other efforts will be closely watched.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 11:35 AM.
