Three times in the last decade, Napa County voters have been asked to tax themselves for wildfire prevention or open space. Each time, a clear majority of voters said yes. Each time, the measure failed.
- 2016, Measure Z (open space): 65 percent yes
- 2020, Measure K (open space): 63 percent yes
- 2022, Measure L (fire resilience): 56 percent yes
The reason is the same in all three cases. The Napa County Board of Supervisors put each measure on the ballot, which under California law made them special-purpose taxes requiring a two-thirds supermajority to pass.
Now a fourth measure is coming. It is bigger than any of the three — a half-cent sales tax that would generate roughly $23 million a year for 18 years, almost half a billion dollars between 2027 and 2045. And this time, the backers think they can win.
The strategy is procedural, not persuasive. Instead of asking the supervisors to place it on the ballot, the same coalition that championed every previous attempt is collecting signatures to file it as a citizens’ initiative. Under California’s Upland decision and the case law that has followed, a citizens’ initiative tax can pass with a simple majority — 50 percent plus one — even when it earmarks money for specific purposes.
The campaign’s own polling, posted to its website, shows over 60 percent support. Enough to lose under the old rules. More than enough to win under the new ones.
Key takeaways
- Napa voters backed three wildfire or open-space taxes (2016, 2020, 2022), but each fell short of the two-thirds supermajority required of board-placed measures.
- A fourth measure — a half-cent sales tax raising about $23 million a year for 18 years — is being filed as a citizens’ initiative, which needs only a simple majority.
- Revenue would split 50/50 between county wildfire-prevention grants and the Regional Park and Open Space District.
- The wildfire half is restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofits — a field dominated by the Napa Communities Firewise Foundation, a measure co-sponsor.
- Backers need 5,011 valid signatures by Aug. 9 to make the November ballot.
The measure
The tax would be a 0.5 percent sales tax countywide, taking effect April 1, 2027 and sunsetting March 31, 2045. The proposed ballot title is the Napa County Wildfire Preparedness, Watershed Protection and Open Space Preservation Act of 2026. The notice of intent was filed with the county on February 5. Backers must collect 5,011 valid signatures by August 9 to qualify for the November ballot. They are aiming for around 7,300.
The revenue would be split exactly down the middle:
- $11.5 million a year to Napa County for wildfire-prevention grants
- $11.5 million a year to the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District for watershed protection and open space
That fifty-fifty split is itself the second piece of the political workaround. The 2016 and 2020 measures were just for open space. The 2022 measure was just for fire. By bundling the two — fire on one side, parks and open space on the other — backers stitch together constituencies that, separately, couldn’t get to two-thirds.
There is a third piece of the workaround, and it is the most consequential. Buried in the official Napa County ballot title and summary, in the fourth of six bullet points spelling out what the measure does, is this sentence: “The County may award grants only to 501c3 nonprofit organizations, with exceptions as outlined in the Initiative.”
That language is not standard. Most local wildfire-prevention dollars in California flow through fire districts, fire safe councils and county fire departments — public agencies. This measure restricts the wildfire half — $11.5 million a year, $207 million over 18 years — to private nonprofits.
Napa Communities Firewise Foundation is, by a wide margin, the dominant wildfire-prevention 501(c)(3) in Napa County. The Park District side of the measure may grant to public agencies as well as nonprofits. The wildfire side may not. The competitive-grant criteria are tailored to a field of one.
Who’s behind it
The campaign committee is Citizens for a Safer, Resilient Napa. Its two named sponsors are the Napa Communities Firewise Foundation and the Land Trust of Napa County.
Napa Firewise is not a small nonprofit. According to its 2024 IRS Form 990, it took in $11.8 million in revenue and spent $9.6 million. Its highest-paid employee, Senior Director of Vegetation Operations Michael Wilson, made $190,001. CEO Joe Nordlinger made $154,960. The foundation already holds a $3.5 million contract with Napa County, signed last July, to do roadside clearance, fuel breaks and grazing-based fuel reduction. By its own count, it has leveraged county dollars into more than $26 million in additional grants from CAL FIRE, PG&E, the state and private donors.
If the measure passes, the county half — $11.5 million a year — would be distributed through a competitive grant process restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Napa Firewise is structurally positioned to be the dominant applicant. The foundation already employs vegetation-operations staff at scale; few other Napa County entities do, and none of the others meet the eligibility threshold the measure itself sets.
The Land Trust of Napa County, the other named sponsor, holds and manages conservation easements — a property-tax-and-federal-tax-deductible arrangement that has historically benefited large rural landowners. The open-space half of the measure would flow to the Regional Park and Open Space District but is structured around the kinds of acquisitions and watershed projects in which the Land Trust is the primary partner.
The wine-industry connection
Both nonprofits are board-connected to the Napa wine industry. Cyril Chappellet of Chappellet Winery — Napa Valley Vintners chair in 2024 — has served on Napa Firewise’s board. According to Napa Firewise’s leadership page, other directors include past Napa Valley Vintners presidents and members of the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Executive Leadership Board. The interlock isn’t unusual for a nonprofit serving a wine-industry-dominated county. It does mean the half-cent sales tax — which falls disproportionately on Napa’s hospitality workers, renters and lower-income residents — would fund vegetation-management work that protects vineyards, hillside estates and tasting-room infrastructure.
Wine industry trade publications have already endorsed the measure. Wine Business reported strong wine-industry support; the campaign is likely to gather more endorsements in coming weeks.
Sonoma’s playbook, scaled up
Napa’s backers are running a play Sonoma County ran successfully last year. Measure H, on Sonoma’s March 2024 ballot, was a half-cent sales tax that now raises $60 million a year for 31 fire agencies. It was citizen-initiated. It needed only a simple majority. It passed.
The Sonoma comparable is instructive in one other way. Measure H requires an 11-person oversight committee with three appointees from the Sonoma County Fire Chiefs Association and two from the Sonoma County Fire Districts Association. Six of the eleven seats — a majority — are populated by people who work for the agencies the tax funds. Anyone who wants to know how Napa’s measure will be administered should look at Sonoma.
What still isn’t on the record
The Citizens for a Safer, Resilient Napa committee has not yet posted its FPPC Form 460 on the campaign website. Whether the signature drive is volunteer-led or uses paid circulators — and at what rate — is not in the public coverage. Neither is the identity of major donors. Neither is the committee’s treasurer.
The full Expenditure Plan, which would be codified as Section 3.38.040 of the Napa County Code, has not been posted on the campaign’s public-facing site at the time of writing. The “with exceptions as outlined in the Initiative” language attached to the 501(c)(3)-only restriction warrants reading. Exceptions are where measures like this hide their work.
Three failed measures. Four total runs. Four hundred million dollars on the table if it passes. Voters get one more crack at it in November. They should know who is going to receive the money before they sign their own names to put the measure on the ballot — and again before they vote it up or down.
Frequently asked questions
How big is the tax?
A 0.5 percent countywide sales tax raising roughly $23 million a year from 2027 through 2045 — close to half a billion dollars over 18 years.
Why would it need only a simple majority?
Filed as a citizens’ initiative rather than placed on the ballot by the supervisors, it falls under California’s Upland decision and avoids the two-thirds supermajority that sank the three previous measures.
Who would receive the money?
Half goes to Napa County for wildfire-prevention grants restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofits; half goes to the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District for watershed and open-space work.