Years of litigation over Measure C hotel tax hike finally come to an end

For five years a citywide ballot measure to finance a long-sought convention center expansion, homeless services and road repairs has been in limbo, but no more.

Litigation over Measure C formally came to an end Wednesday when no one lodged an appeal with the state Supreme Court challenging a court ruling last month confirming that voters had legally passed the hotel tax hike measure by a simple majority. The 2020 ballot initiative had garnered 65.24% support, just short of a supermajority.

It has since been tied up in litigation for years over the question of whether it could legally pass with a simple majority of voters, as opposed to a two-thirds threshold that voters were told was the requirement for special tax initiatives. While multiple court decisions have concluded a simple majo