This June election, we’re asking you to vote no on Proposition 70. While CCA doesn’t usually get involved with elections, defeating Prop 70 is important. Proposition 70 rewrites California’s constitution to create a recipe for gridlock, and could result in millions of dollars in climate investments being used to lined polluters’ pockets.
California’s climate investments are vital to the fight against climate change, and are helping to transform underserved communities. The state’s climate investments so far are expected to eliminate more than 23 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over time, as well as improve air quality in California. These investments are creating jobs, building sustainable, affordable housing and replacing dirty vehicles with cleaner technologies. Additionally, due to the work of CCA, allied environmental organizations and grassroots community advocates, many of these investments are being made in California’s most environmentally-impacted communities.
However, Proposition 70 threatens this resounding success and could cause these projects to wither away due to gridlock, or worse – reallocate investments back to polluters.
Proposition 70 is the result of a backroom legislative deal that would subject California’s climate investments to a supermajority vote in the state legislature in 2024. While supporters argue this will increase accountability, Prop 70 does the opposite.
We’ve seen this song and dance before: when California required a supermajority vote to pass its state budget, lawmakers relied on gimmicks and pork-barrel spending to get enough votes for passage. Even then, the budget was often many months late, and California was a national symbol of government dysfunction. Prop 70 proposes to bring that dysfunction back.
If Prop 70 was serious about improving oversight, it would empower communities rather than a small group of legislators, special interests and polluters. Please join more than 50 environmental, labor, faith and community organizations, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee, and other newspapers, as well as both major political parties and vote no on Proposition 70.
