Building a Better California

Background and Activities

Proposed California Wealth Tax

Building a Better California was established in January 2026 as a social welfare organization with an affiliated political action committee. The group was established by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. According to the New York Times and New York Post, the group was formed to organize the political efforts of billionaire residents and former residents of California in response to a proposed one-time wealth tax of five percent on all asset value over $1 billion. Brin, a long-time California resident, moved out of the state following the proposal and terminated or moved numerous California business ventures. Prior to Building a Better California, Brin had not donated to a California political cause since 2010. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel and investor and second Trump administration adviser David Sacks have also transferred significant assets out of California. ^{1 2}

The tax, which is projected to raise $50 to $60 billion for healthcare funding, would include stock equity in asset values, potentially costing billionaires like Brin tens of billions of dollars, which could only be paid by selling off long-held assets like stocks, thereby limiting the controlling interest of their shares. According to critics, the “fine print in the bill” would also impact the assets of non-billionaires. ^{1 2}

At its launch, Building a Better California claimed to not have taken an official stance on the billionaire tax. However, Nielsen Merksamer, the firm handling Building a Better California’s legal filings, had as of January 2026 already filed five ballot-initiative proposals designed to undermine the proposed tax, including a potential prohibition on retroactive taxes. ^{1 2}

Building a Better California initially raised $35 million, with $20 million coming from Brin, who had engaged in discussions with California business leaders about “raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a California influence campaign.” The largest non-tech donor was Wonderful Company co-owner Stewart Resnick, who contributed $2 million. Other donors to Building a Better California include cryptocurrency investor Chris Larsen; venture capitalists Mike Moritz, Peter Thiel, and John Doerr; DoorDash co-founder Tony Xu; Affirm CEO Max Levchin; and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison. ^{1 2}

Within its first month, the group spent $11 million supporting ballot initiatives. One initiative, on which the group spent $6 million, would create a $25 billion program to subsidize downpayments on new homes. Building a Better California also contributed $5 million to an initiative to alter parts of the California Environmental Quality Act to speed up home construction. ^{1 2}

Proposed CA Transparency Act

As of 2026, Building a Better California was listed as a sponsor and “top funder” for Californians For A More Transparent And Effective Government, a ballot committee pushing for including the “Improving Transparency, Effectiveness, and Efficiency in California Government Act of 2026 (“Transparency Act”) on the California state November 2026 ballot. According to handouts promoting the Transparency Act as well as instructions on how to get petition signatures for approving the Act’s placement on the ballot, the new bill would allege to cut down on spending waste and fraud by requiring state auditors to “conduct performance and financial audits of new taxes,” would require findings “to be posted publicly,” and require any excess tax revenue to be “refunded to taxpayers.” ^{3 4}

Leadership

As of 2026, Abby Lunardi was a spokesperson for Building a Better California and the chief marketing officer of Truity, a personality and career testing service. She previously worked as the chief communications and brand officer of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and led branding and marketing efforts at Virgin America. ^{1 5}