Santa Clara County leaders already face an uphill battle convincing voters to pay more taxes to keep their public hospitals afloat — but a fast-moving lawsuit and pushback from wealthier cities will steepen the climb.
A judge next Wednesday could decide the fate of the county’s proposed five-eighths cent sales tax increase, known as Measure A, after local libertarians filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of placing it on the Nov. 4 special election ballot. The lawsuit argues federal spending cuts — which county leaders warn could devastate California’s second largest public hospital system — don’t constitute an emergency allowing for a sales tax vote on a non-general election year.
If the measure moves forward, the lawsuit asks county elections officials be ordered to remove President Donald Trump’s name as a motivator of the tax measure — as well as phrases emphasizing the tax would save local hospitals from closing — from the ballot measure’s language…