RECORDED: Tuesday, September 15, 2020

GUEST SPEAKER:

Jon Coupal
President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

Jon Coupal is the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA).  HJTA, with offices in both Los Angeles and Sacramento, is the largest taxpayers’ association in California with a membership of over 200,000. Founded by the late Howard Jarvis, the author of Proposition 13, HJTA’s name is synonymous with tax relief and the uncompromising defense of the California homeowner. HJTA maintains offices in both Los Angeles and Sacramento, California’s capital.

From 1991 to 1998, Jon served as Director of Legal Affairs for HJTA, overseeing the organization’s litigation and lobbying efforts. He is a recognized expert in California fiscal affairs and has argued numerous tax cases before the courts. He also successfully defended Proposition 140, the state’s term limit initiative, before the California Supreme Court. In 1995, he won a major ruling before the Supreme Court when it upheld the validity of Proposition 62, an HJTA sponsored initiative guaranteeing the right to vote on local taxes. Coupal has served as chairman of several initiative campaigns representing the interests of taxpayers including the campaign against Proposition 88, the statewide parcel tax initiative and the successful defeat of Proposition 1-A, defeated by the voters in 2009. In 2003, he served as a member of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Transition Team.

Coupal is a graduate of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary where he received his J.D.  Following law school, he was an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation for nine years, specializing in tax and political law.