Ballot Measure Endorsements:
Prop 15: Yes - Closes commercial property tax loopholes that benefit corporations and wealthy investors and reclaims $12 billion every year to fund schools and strengthen local economies. This does not affect homeowners or renters property tax. Ever since its passage by voters, Prop 13 has reduced funds for local government services, including schools and parks. This is the first structural and equitable tax reform of Prop 13.
Prop 16: Yes - California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996, which banned affirmative action at state institutions. Prop. 16 will once again allow schools and public agencies to consider race, sex, gender, and ethnicity when making admission, hiring or contracting decisions. It will create real opportunities for all Californians. Sierra Club embraces efforts to ensure that equity and social justice are incorporated into public policy. Prop. 16 does that and also helps ensure that everyone will have an equitable chance to play a key role in shaping environmental policy.
Prop. 17: Yes - Californians who have completed their prison sentence should not have their voting rights denied. Proposition 17 would amend the state constitution to allow Californians who have completed their prison term to vote. Support for this measure is aligned with the Club’s commitment towards Diversity, Justice, and Inclusion.
Prop 22: No - This initiative would consider app-based drivers to be independent contractors and not employees or agents. If passed, Prop. 22 would override Assembly Bill 5, which Sierra Club California supported and the legislature passed in 2019.
Independent contractors are not covered by various state employment laws. Instead, the drivers would be subject to the labor and wage policies specific to the app-based companies. Prop. 22 would deny drivers the basic rights to earning the minimum wage for all hours worked, social security, reimbursements for their costs, overtime pay, and the right to organize. It would also discourage transportation network companies from taking responsibility for reducing tailpipe emissions from cars used in their networks.
Prop. 25: Yes - Proposition 25 would replace cash bail with risk assessments for detained suspects awaiting trials. The cash bail system is inherently discriminatory and antithetical to our values of justice, fairness, and racial equity. By charging people nonrefundable fees for pretrial release, the bail industry makes billions of dollars off of vulnerable individuals in dire circumstances, especially people most affected by racial and economic inequities. This measure upholds SB 10, the original legislation that Sierra Club California supported and the legislature passed in 2018.
See more endorsements:
Presidential Election Endorsement
2020 Congressional and Legislative Endorsements
2020 Local Endorsements in SLO County
Sierra Club California’s endorsements for the 2020 legislative and statewide office elections
Paid for by Sierra Club Political Committee, www.sierraclub.org/santa-lucia,
and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.