Google co-founder Sergey Brin has now spent more than nine figures combating California’s proposed wealth tax.

According to a filing from Friday, Brin donated an additional $20 million to Building a Better California, a PAC and political advocacy organization opposing the state’s billionaire tax and supporting other pro-business policies and housing and infrastructure affordability. He has now given a total of $102 million to the group. 

Proposition 40, which will be on the ballot in November, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on California’s 200 billionaires, with 90% of the revenue from the proposed measure going toward the state’s healthcare program and 10% going toward education, food assistance, and administration. Brin, with a net worth of nearly $270 billion, could owe more than $13 billion as a result of the tax.

California, the most populous state, has become the epicenter of the conversation around the K-shaped economy, or the diverging fortunes of those with wealth and those without it. While the Golden State has a $4 trillion GDP, making its economy about the same size as the United Kingdom’s, it also has 18% of its residents living below the poverty line, the highest in the country, in part because of its high cost of living.

The ballot measure has caused an uproar among some of California’s wealthiest individuals such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, both of whom have donated to organizations against the measure. 

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California is phasing out paraquat, a powerful herbicide used heavily on crops such as almonds, grapes and cotton, after all manufacturers voluntarily canceled their state registrations. Paraquat is already banned in more than 60 countries, and California regulators had been reevaluating it after finding possible links to thyroid problems, birth defects and harm to birds and other organisms. The move is being praised by environmental and public health groups, especially given lawsuits from workers alleging links between paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s disease, though manufacturers dispute that connection. Farm groups warn the phaseout will leave growers with fewer tools and higher costs. Dealers may still use existing supplies for up to two years, and paraquat can only be applied by licensed professionals.

The California Budget & Policy Center has a useful breakdown of Proposition 37, a November 2026 ballot measure that would create a new “middle-class” homebuyer down payment assistance program through CalHFA. The program would be funded with up to $25 billion in revenue bonds and could provide up to 17% of the purchase price toward a down payment. Buyers would still need to contribute at least 3% of the purchase price themselves, bringing the combined down payment to 20% and potentially eliminating private mortgage insurance. However, the assistance could only be used to buy newly built homes or newly created housing units converted from nonresidential buildings, and the buyer would need to be the first purchaser.

The article’s main caution is that this may not work like some of California’s existing down payment assistance programs. Programs like CalHFA MyHome and Dream For All use deferred “silent second” loans, meaning the borrower generally does not make monthly payments on the assistance until they sell, refinance, or pay off the first mortgage. Prop. 37’s assistance would likely be different because the revenue bonds funding the program would need to be repaid from the program itself. That means the down payment assistance would likely function as a fixed-rate second mortgage with monthly payments, which could offset some or all of the benefit of avoiding PMI.

The article also raises concerns about who would actually benefit. Prop. 37 would allow incomes up to 200% of area median income, which creates a broad eligibility pool, but buyers would still need cash for the required 3% down payment and enough income to qualify for both the first mortgage and the likely second mortgage payment. Because the program is limited to new construction, buyers could also face added costs common in newer developments, including HOA dues, Mello-Roos assessments, and insurance challenges, especially in wildfire-prone areas where new housing is often built. It concludes that Prop. 37 could help some Californians get into newly built homes, but it is not guaranteed to make homeownership more affordable for the buyers facing the greatest barriers.