The California Apartment Assn. says the measure will increase spending on patient care and, by permanently allowing the state to negotiate Medi-Cal drug prices, will lock in “billions of dollars in state savings every year” and thus lessen the rationale for taxes on its members.
The real estate group, through its Protect Patients Now committee, also singles out the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its president, Michael Weinstein, as targets.
Among other things, Protect Patients Now accuses Weinstein and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation of using taxpayer money to fund “his own personal and political agenda,” including rent control measures that the group says would “block housing construction.”
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has accused Protect Patients Now of “lying to voters and taxpayers about how AHF makes its money” and has called the measure anti-tenant and anti-patient.
AIDS Healthcare argues the measure is unconstitutional because the proposition singles it out for punishment. The nonprofit has sued to remove Prop. 34 from the ballot but so far has been unsuccessful.
“The Initiative violates our state and federal constitutions, is an abuse of the initiative process, and serves as a blueprint for corporate interests wishing to punish nonprofit organizations for their speech and advocacy,” the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog wrote in a court filing in support of AHF’s challenge to Prop. 34.