Salinas residents are being bombarded with videos and mailers for and against Measure H, which would discard (a yes vote) or keep (no vote) four tenant protection ordinances, including rent stabilization capping annual rent increases and a rental registry.
Protect Salinas Residents, the Yes on H group that supports eliminating these protections, says one of its main concerns is data sharing, including personal information such as name, address, lease agreement and more.
Ads and mailers from Yes on H claim Salinas’ rental registry database is unsafe and contains information about vulnerable groups, including the elderly and immigrants.
The California Attorney General lists reported data breaches, and has published no such report from Salinas.
Crime Victims United and the Salinas Police Officers Association have both endorsed Yes on H, both citing privacy concerns. “Salinas collects personal information on every renter and keeps it in an insecure database,” according to a text message advertisement announcing Crime Victims United’s endorsement. “Crime victims and their families deserve privacy.”
The Weekly submitted a California Public Records Act request seeking 2026 records from the City’s rental registry portal, including lease agreements as well as petitions filed both by property owners and tenants.
The City’s response includes no lease agreements, even in redacted form, because, according to City Attorney Chris Callihan, municipal code specifies that these records are confidential. (For landlords inputting registry rental information into the portal, monthly rent, occupancy status and subsidies are optional.)
There are a couple of exceptions for sharing rental agreements. They may be requested if the unit was rented after the registration deadline, or uploaded as supporting documents when filing a petition for rent increases and decreases. However, none were disclosed to the Weekly.
In response to the Weekly’s request, the City provided 25 petitions filed this year. Tenants filed 21, mostly contesting rent increases, while property owners filed four. The files released are heavily redacted, and do not include enough information to identify who the person is or where they live.
“The question isn’t whether that information appears in a public records request. It’s why the government needs to retain it, who can access it internally, how long it’s stored, and what safeguards are in place,” Yes on H spokesperson Hector Barajas says via email.
According to the City’s ordinance, “the residential rental registry information shall be received in confidence.”
Jacob Sandoval, speaking on behalf of the No on H group Protect Salinas Renters, says, “Voters are being asked to give up renter protections and rent stabilization, and they’re being misled, especially about putting immigrants or domestic violence survivors at risk.”
The Yes on H committee has outfundraised No by more than 9-to-1.