Affirmative action ads hit the internet + ‘Split-roll’ language challenged + Appeal for COVID-19 aid
It’s Wednesday. You know what that means. Time for another newsletter update!
GROUP LAUNCHES AD FOR PROP 16
It’s political ad season, and they’re starting to come fast and furious.
The Yes on Proposition 16, Opportunity for All Coalition has launched a new ad supporting Proposition 16, which would undo Proposition 209 and restore affirmative action in California.
The 78 second animated ad, titled “Ladders,” was released on Youtube in English, Chinese and Spanish on Tuesday.
“We are in a historic moment as we fight for racial justice and to protect those hit hardest by COVID-19. Together, we can take a stand against discrimination and re-shape our systems so all Californians have the opportunity to thrive,” the ad says.
According to the campaign behind the ad, the ad was written, produced and performed by women and minority creators and actors.
Proposition 16 goes to voters in November, after evoking a passionate debate in the Legislature earlier this summer.
MORE BALLOT LANGUAGE TROUBLE FOR PROP 15
Via Matt Kristoffersen...
Opponents to a proposed property tax overhaul that will be on the November ballot have now taken to the courts to voice their displeasure over the measure.
Known as Proposition 15, the proposal would boost tax revenues by as much as roughly $12 billion by reassessing multi-million dollar commercial and industrial property at market value. It would leave residential property alone — that’s the “split-roll.” It’s opposed mostly by business interests.
Julian Canete, the head of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, filed a complaint in the Sacramento County Superior Court Monday, alleging “wildly dubious claims” in the arguments for and against the measure that are set to be printed in the ballot pamphlet for the November election.
Canete’s asking a judge to order Secretary of State Alex Padilla to correct or delete the statements, which he calls “misleading” and, in some cases, “clearly false.”
“Prop 15 is the largest property tax increase in state history and voters deserve to know exactly what they’re voting for and who will pay for the increased costs,” he said. “The courts have ruled repeatedly that the ballot pamphlet cannot be used as a vehicle to communicate false or misleading facts to voters, which is why we ask the court to hold proponents to a basic standard of accuracy and honesty in their statements to voters.”
Canete alleges the ballot language goes against the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office review of the proposition by saying it would cut taxes for small businesses and give “local communities desperately needed resources.”
In fact, he said, not all communities will get more revenue — and for small businesses with property worth less than $3 million, the taxes might not go lower.
A spokesman from Padilla’s press office said the Secretary of State doesn’t have a position on the “merits of the case.”
COALITION CALLS ON FEDS TO DO MORE
A coalition of 74 groups has signed on to a letter to California’s federal delegation, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, calling on them to pass a comprehensive COVID-19 stimulus package.
“Given the dire need and urgency for education, health and human services, and many more,this is not the time to ‘go small’ with a compromise proposal. We need congressional leaders to stand strong for a big, broad package meet the needs of our state, and result in not just stopping the worst scenarios, but actually invests in our communities and rectify longstanding inequalities, but to take pro-active steps to get COVID-19 under control, and allow our counties to re-open physical schools, in store interactions, and more,” the letter reads in part.
The letter was drafted and sent by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, whose executive director Kiran Savage-Sangwan in a statement called the lack of an adequate response “reckless and will result in thousands of unnecessary illnesses and deaths in California.
You can read the letter for yourself by visiting here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When the California Democrats announced yesterday that they would have a $100 billion economic stimulus package with no tax increases, a few clichés came to mind like there is no such thing as a free lunch and the piper must be paid. So did the ‘Popeye’ character ‘Wimpy.’”
- Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
Unemployed California workers stand to lose about 43% of their weekly benefit — and the state’s already-reeling economy is likely to lose billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs — if the Republican plan to dramatically cut jobless payments becomes law, new studies reported Tuesday, via David Lightman.
An Orangevale man who has reportedly led a secret online life as leader of a neo-Nazi movement that idolizes church shooter Dylann Roof is under investigation by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office in connection with racist graffiti and had a firearm seized earlier this month over fears that he might become a “lone wolf” attacker, court records say, via Sam Stanton.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced on Tuesday a new lawsuit against the Trump administration over a memorandum it released last week that aims to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 Census formula used to calculate the number of congressional seats each state is given, via Kim Bojórquez.