Article VIII is added to the California Constitution, to read:

ARTICLE VIII

SECTION 1. Prohibition on Taxing Retirement Holdings, Individually-Owned
Assets, and Other Forms of Personal Savings.

(a) No state law and no provision of this Constitution enacted on or after January 1, 2026
may enact, create, impose, or authorize collection of a tax on the ownership or control of
retirement holdings, individually-owned assets, and other forms of personal savings, whether
held directly or indirectly.
(b) Nothing in this section shall alter or limit the imposition or collection of any tax that
was in effect, imposed, and first collected on or before December 31, 2025.
(c) Nothing in this section shall alter or affect the taxation of real property as provided in
other provisions of this Constitution.

SEC. 2. Prohibition on Retroactive Taxes.

(a)(l) No state law and no provision of this Constitution enacted on or after January 1,
2026 may enact, create, impose, or authorize collection of a tax that operates retroactively to
result in tax liability based on conduct, activities, or a status that occurred or was present prior to
the effective date of the state law or constitutional provision.
(2) This subdivision also applies to a tax that is imposed on a taxpayer based upon their
residency status on a date prior to the effective date of the tax.
(b) Nothing in subdivision (a) shall alter or limit the imposition or collection of any tax
that was in effect, imposed, and first collected on or before December 31, 2025.
(c) Subdivision (a) shall not apply to a tax imposed by a statute passed by the Legislature
on or after January 1, 2026 where both of the following apply:

(1) The tax does not apply retroactively for more than 365 days prior to the date the
statute takes effect.
(2) At least one of the following conditions exists:
(A) The Governor declares an emergency as a result of a fire, flood, storm, civil disorder,
earthquake, volcanic eruption, or actual or imminent attack by a foreign enemy, and the use of
the revenues from the tax are expressly limited by the statute to responding to the emergency.
(B) The Governor declares a fiscal emergency pursuant to subdivision ( f) of Section 10 of
Article IV and the use of the revenues from the tax are expressly limited by the statute to
responding to the fiscal emergency.

SEC. 3. Definitions.

For purposes of this article, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) "Retirement holdings, individually-owned assets, and other forms of personal
savings" means pensions; retirement accounts including but not limited to 401 (k) accounts,
403(b) accounts, and all other individual retirement accounts; mutual funds; and all personal
property, whether tangible or intangible, including but not limited to financial assets, investment
accounts, business interests, digital assets, intellectual property, personal belongings, and other
assets used to produce or collect income or savings for retirement or financial planning.
(b) "Tax" means a tax as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article XIII A.

SEC. 4. Application of Article.

This article applies to all statewide initiative measures submitted to the electors on or
after January 1, 2026, including measures that appear on the ballot at the same election at which
the measure adding this article is approved by the electors.
Section 5. Conflicting Measures.
( a)( 1) In the event that this initiative measure appears on the same statewide election
ballot as another initiative measure that would establish, enact, create, impose, or authorize
collection of a tax on the ownership or control of retirement holdings, individually-owned assets,
and other forms of personal savings, or enact a tax that would result in tax liability based on
conduct, activities, or a status that occurred or was present prior to the effective date of the
initiative measure, then that other initiative measure shall be deemed to be in conflict with this
measure. In the event that this initiative measure receives a greater number of affirmative votes,
the provisions of this measure shall prevail in their entirety, and all the provisions of the other
measure shall be null and void.
(2) For purposes of this section, "retirement holdings, individually-owned assets, and
other forms of personal savings" shall have the same meaning as set forth in Section 4 of this Act
(Cal. Const., art. VIII§ 3).
(b) If this initiative measure is approved by the voters but superseded in whole or in part
by any other conflicting initiative measure approved by the voters at the same election, and such
conflicting measure is later held invalid, this measure shall be self-executing and given full force
and effect.

Section 6. Severability.

The provisions of this Act are severable. If any portion, section, subdivision, paragraph,
clause, subclause, sentence, phrase, word, or application of this Act is for any reason held to be
invalid by a decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, that decision shall not affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this Act. The People of the State of California hereby
declare that they would have adopted this Act and each and every portion, section, subdivision,
paragraph, clause, subclause, sentence, phrase, word, and application not declared invalid or
unconstitutional without regard to whether any part of this Act or application thereof would be
subsequently declared invalid.

Section 7. Effective Date.

This Act shall take effect at the earliest possible date in accordance with Section 10 of
Article II of the California Constitution. This Act shall become operative on the same day it
takes effect.

Section 8. Liberal Construction.

This Act shall be liberally construed to give effect to its intent and purposes.

Section 9. Legal Defense.

The purpose of this section is to ensure that the people's precious right of initiative
cannot be improperly annulled by state politicians who refuse to defend the will of the voters.
Therefore, if this Act is approved by the voters of the State of California and thereafter subjected
to a legal challenge which attempts to limit the scope or application of this Act in any way, or
alleges this Act violates any state or federal law in whole or in part, and both the Governor and
Attorney General refuse to defend this Act to the fullest extent possible on behalf of the State of
California, then the following actions shall be taken:
(a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Chapter 6 (commencing with
Section 12500) of Part 2 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code or any other law, the
Attorney General shall appoint independent counsel to faithfully and vigorously defend this Act
to the fullest extent possible on behalf of the State of California.
(b) Before appointing or thereafter substituting independent counsel, the Attorney
General shall exercise due diligence in determining the qualifications of independent counsel and
shall obtain written affirmation from independent counsel that independent counsel will
faithfully and vigorously defend this Act to the fullest extent possible. The written affirmation
shall be made publicly available immediately upon request.
(c) In order to support the defense of this Act in instances where the Governor and
Attorney General fail to do so despite the will of the voters, a continuous appropriation is hereby
made from the General Fund to the Controller, without regard to fiscal years, in an amount
necessary to cover the costs of retaining independent counsel to faithfully and vigorously defend
this Act on behalf of the State of California to the fullest extent possible.