Group abruptly ends effort to get new sales tax on SLO County ballot. Here’s why
A San Luis Obispo County citizen-led group that gathered thousands of signatures to get a half-cent sales tax proposal on the November ballot suddenly suspended its campaign Tuesday after discovering a critical error on its petition.
Better Roads for All — SLO County was attempting to raise the county’s sales tax to fund future transportation projects.
If the petition drive had succeeded, the ballot measure would have let voters decide whether to turn the area into a “self-help” county with its own dedicated reserve to finance local transportation initiatives, instead of relying solely on state or federal dollars.
But after collecting more than 12,000 voter signatures in under two months, the coalition found a “technical petition error” that effectively forced them to cease the initiative, according to a Better Roads for All news release.
The petitions that were circulated did not meet the standard requirements, “rendering the collected signatures invalid,” the release said.
The coalition needed to submit 12,400 valid signatures by the end of April to get the sales tax proposal on the ballot.
“After careful review and legal advice, the committee concluded that restarting the signature-gathering process from scratch while meeting the qualifying deadline was not feasible,” committee chair Jorge Aguilar said in an email to supporters that he shared with The Tribune. “This is, without question, a very disappointing setback.”
In the aftermath of the error, Better Roads for All said it was looking into options to recover funds spent on the initiative.
Citizen-led group vows to back identical SLOCOG measure
Better Roads for All said it was still dedicated to advancing a half-cent transportation sales tax to the November ballot.
“Despite this unfortunate development, the citizen-led campaign demonstrated strong and widespread public support across the county for this ‘Self-Help’ measure,” the release said.
The coalition said it’s now throwing support behind the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments’ identical proposal.
However, the measure will face a steeper road to success because SLOCOG’s proposal requires a two-thirds majority to pass. Better Roads for All’s citizen-led initiative would have only needed a simple majority.
“While the SLOCOG approach requires a higher voter threshold for approval, the committee believes the demonstrated community support creates a viable path forward and will contribute its research, outreach, and grassroots network to help ensure success,” the release said.
It’s not the first time in recent years that SLO County has had a transportation sales tax on the ballot.
In 2016, voters rejected Measure J — which also needed a two-thirds majority vote — causing the county to lose out on approximately $270 million collected from taxes and around $430 million received from grants awarded to self-help counties over the past nine years, according to SLOCOG.
SLOCOG has yet to make a final decision on whether its initiative will appear on the November ballot.
This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 12:34 PM.
