Dear friends,
First off, I am sending you love and strength during these incredibly challenging times. I know how hard this year has been on so many of us. It can feel impossible to muster the emotional resilience to even think about politics when it feels like the world is ending. I know that the toxicity of Washington politics can make us all want to turn away from politics. But one thing I want you to know is that there are many elected leaders and policy advocates who are doing amazing work right now here in California and Los Angeles. Try to draw inspiration from the good work so many public servants are engaged in more locally. I am so grateful to live in California where we certainly haven’t managed the pandemic perfectly, but where science does drive most decisions. This has been an incredible year for criminal justice reform, and our prisons and jails are incarcerating the lowest number of individuals in decades. We still have far too many people locked up and at extraordinary COVID risk as a result, but there are thousands who are home thankfully. It was a small victory, but I am so grateful that incarcerated men and women who serve on the fire lines are now no longer prevented from being employed as firefighters when they get out of jail and prison. Change is happening, not fast enough, and certainly not in the way we want in D.C., but you can speed up and steer that change by getting motivated to engage this fall.
I have lots of recommendations to help you vote. There are lots of ways to make sure your mail-in ballot is counted, like by dropping it at a vote center or one of the super cool ballot drop boxes around the county. You can even track your ballot on-line. There is lots of good information at https://www.lavote.net/home/voting-elections/voting-options/vote-by-mail/how-to-vote-by-mail. You can also vote in-person at one of the voting centers. I will be volunteering as a poll worker to help support in-person voting this year.
You can spread the impact of your vote by making sure that everyone you know votes, too. Get on social media, text your family and friends, make sure everyone has a plan to vote and is registered to vote. The voter registration deadline is October 19th.
You can also help by texting voters in other states, supporting some of the amazing propositions on the ballot (!) and donating financially.
My voter recommendations are below. As always take what you like and leave the rest. I am not an expert in any way, shape, or form, but I do want my community to have information on how to navigate these large ballots. These are my personal recommendations and do not reflect the opinions of my boss or my employer. The ballot is now organized with local elections on top, state elections, and then federal. I don’t have the bandwidth to write about every local election. So if you don’t see anything below about a candidate or local measure on your ballot, you can look up more information at https://www.vote411.org/. Propositions I feel strongly about are in bold.
LA Community College District Trustees
Seat 1 – Abra Hoffman
Seat 3 – Gerald Anderson
Seat 5 - Nichelle M. Henderson
Seat 7 – Chris Han
LAUSD Races
District 3 – Scott Scherelson
District 7 – Patricia Castellanos
LA City Council
No endorsements
If you happen to live in Claremont please vote for Christine Margiotta for Claremont City Council!
LA County Board of Supervisors
District 2 – Holly Mitchell
CA State Assembly Races
District 39- Luz Rivas
District 41 – Chris Holden
District 43 – Laura Friedman
District 45 – Jesse Gabriel
District 46 – Adrin Nazarian
District 50 – Richard Bloom
District 51 – Wendy Carrillo
District 53 – Miguel Santiago
District 63- Anthony Rendon
U.S. Representatives
District 25 – Christy Smith
District 27 – Judy Chu
District 28 – Adam Schifft
District 33 – Ted Lieu
District 34 – David Kim
District 37 – Karen Bass
District 40 – Lucille Roybal-Allard
LAUSD Measure RR – Yes
This is a $7 billion bond to fund school equipment and improvements. The funds will be used for things like replacing roofs and seismic improvements, but can also be used to retrofit classrooms to prevent COVID transmission. Funding schools is always a good thing.
LA County District Attorney
George Gascon
Superior Court Judges
No. 72 - Steve Morgan
No. 80 - Klint James McKay
No. 162 - David D. Diamond
County Measure J – YES
Measure J is a great measure that requires the County to set aside 10% of all unrestricted funds to address racial injustice by investing in jobs, health and wellness services. The County budget is made up of both restricted funds (like Medi-Cal that must be spent on healthcare) and unrestricted funds (like property taxes). This year, $8 billion of the County budget is unrestricted and the largest chunk of that money goes to law enforcement and public safety expenses. After the murder of George Floyd, advocates decided that the only way to force the County to redirect revenue from law enforcement to community services was to amend the County charter to require it. I have worked for the County for six years and been involved in the budget process all of those years, and while you would think that politicians could make this change on their own, it is much harder than you would think. No politician wants to be known as the elected official responsible for County employees losing their jobs and so the County invests in the same things year after year. Measure J won’t change that completely, but it will require that more money be spent on the critical services needed to keep people out of jail, rather than only spending on the backend law enforcement to arrest people. The police unions are spending big to try to defeat this measure with mailers saying essential workers will lose their jobs. Don’t believe the hype and vote to invest in services to prevent people from needing to call the police.
State Measure 14 -No
This is a complicated measure because stem cell research is important. In the early 2000’s, then President Bush banned federal investment in stem cell research and as a result, California voters approved Prop 71 in 2004, which invested $3 billion in bond proceeds in stem cell research. At issue is the organization Prop 71 created to oversee the $3 billion – the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). By all accounts CIRM is problematic and lacks proper government oversight and accountability. Prop 14 would provide $5.5 billion more in bond proceeds to be overseen by CIRM. It is unclear if this money is still needed in the same way it was in 2004 because President Obama reversed the ban on federal investment in stem cell research. If CIRM had shown good results from the original $3 billion investment, this proposition would be a no-brainer, but there have not been many stem cell therapies that have resulted from the first investment,. So, more money is probably not what is needed right now.
State Measure 15 – YES
I have been waiting years for this proposition! Taxation is important because we can tax in ways that distribute the tax burden fairly (known as progressive taxes) or we can tax in ways that allow wealthy people to pay less in taxes (known as regressive taxes). One of the most problematic tax policies ever passed was Prop 13 in 1978, because it locked in property taxes at 1978 levels or at 1% of the assessed value of a property when it is sold and severely limited how much property taxes could be increased per year above those levels to no more than 2%. While lower property taxes might sound good, the taxes were only lower for property owners who held on to property, which benefits people who are older and wealthier. Prop 13 resulted in cities and schools losing 60% of their property tax revenue. So, older, wealthier property owners won big and school children lost badly. It turns out that the properties that turn over the least are commercial properties. So, if you were wealthy enough to own a mini-mall, you really won big with Prop 13. If you own a mini-mall, there is no limit to how much you charge the businesses that rent from you. So, you can increase rent by an unlimited amount and pay no additional property taxes. It doesn’t matter if the property is owned by a corporation or publicly-traded; all properties in the state benefit from artificially low property taxes. In fact, commercial properties often stay at their 1978-assessed value because often they are owned by share-holders or limited partnerships where no one owns more than 49% of the company. So, even when a property is sold, it may not be considered to have changed hands. Prop 15 will create what’s called a split-roll property tax system, which means residential property owners will still pay low property taxes, but commercial property owners will have to pay taxes based on the true assessed value of their property. Prop 15 is expected to generate an additional $11.5 billion in annual property tax revenues, which will go to the cities and schools that have been starved of revenue for 42 years.
State Measure 16 – YES
Another fantastic proposition that you can be so excited to vote yes for! Prop 16 will overturn Prop 209 which prohibits affirmative action in public education, public employment, and public contracting. If Prop 16 is enacted, public universities, cities, and other government entities will be allowed to enact policies to promote admissions, hiring and contracts for people of color and women. Racial quotas are banned through precedent set by the Supreme Court, but Prop 16 would allow policies like a university accepting a student with lower test scores than another student if they are a student of color. Prop 16 creates no requirements for public entities to do anything; it simply lifts an existing ban that does not exist in 42 states in the country.
State Measure 17 – YES
We are on a roll! Prop 17 is fantastic, too! Prop 17 would grant the right to vote to individuals on parole for felony convictions. I personally think everyone should be allowed to vote, but it is particularly egregious that someone who has served a prison sentence and been released from prison is not allowed to vote. I am glad to see our State reversing our terrible current State Constitutional ban on people on parole casting votes.
State Measure 18 – Yes
Prop 18 will allow 17 year-olds to vote in primary and special elections if they will turn 18 by the time of the general election. This is also a no-brainer. Of course, 17 year-olds should have a voice in the candidates they will vote for in general elections.
State Measure 19 – No
This is another incredibly complicated proposition that ties back to Prop 13. The California Association of Realtors already successfully passed a state law that allows senior citizens to keep their artificially-low Prop 13 tax rates if they sell a home to downsize to a home of equal or lesser value. Imagine a family that bought a home in 1980 for $100,000 and pays $1,000 in property taxes whose 1980 home is now worth $800,000 in 2020 and they decide to downsize to a condo purchased for $500,000. They would normally now have to pay $5,000 in property taxes (1% of $500,000), but they get to “keep” their $1,000 payment to encourage seniors’ to downsize. This policy is viewed as helpful because it frees up homes for families with children. Currently, this policy may not apply if the senior citizen wants to move to another county. They also can only get the benefit once and only when the new home is of lesser value than the value of their current home. Prop 19 would allow our hypothetical senior to take the $1,000 property tax rate with them for up to three moves and regardless of how expensive the new home is. It is a little more complicated than all that because it allows a portion of the new property value to be considered, but it they still get a significantly discounted property tax rate. Why should we allow a millionaire who happens to be over 55 to get an artificially low tax rate if they want to buy a bigger mansion? It is disgusting that this measure is named the “The Home Protection for Seniors, Severely Disabled, Families and Victims of Natural Disasters Act” because this measure is just about promoting more property sales to enrich relators. But they also threw in a policy that limits a current tax loophole when a property is inherited. When a person inherits a property from a relative, they could only keep the Prop 13 low property tax rate if they make the inherited home their primary residence. Increased property taxes from eliminating this loophole would be dedicated to a California Fire Response Fund. Don’t be fooled by this. This was thrown in because the relators hope that if “fire response” is in the title voters will blindly vote for this crappy proposition.
State Measure 20 – NO
Prop 20 was placed on the ballot by police unions to overturn previous voter-approved criminal justice reforms. A vote for Prop 20 is a vote for mass incarceration. It seeks to overturn Assembly Bill 109, Prop 47, and Prop 57. AB 109 allowed non-violent, non-serious, and non-sexual felony convictions to result in serving time in local jails or under county probation rather than serving time in state prison. Prop 47 changed a number of drug felonies to misdemeanors, and Prop 57 allowed judges rather than prosecutors to decide if a child should be tried as an adult and allowed people in prison for crimes committed when they were children to be reconsidered for release. Prop 20 seeks to overturn these reforms and even creates two new felony crimes for serial theft and organized retail theft. This proposition is bad, bad, bad.
State Measure 21 – YES
Prop 21 would allow local governments to apply rent control to more properties – particularly buildings that were built over 15 years ago and single-family homes owned by landlords and corporate owners. It would also allow local jurisdictions to limit rent increases when a rental unit turns over. Prop 21 does not change any existing laws or policies, but it would overturn the state Costa-Hawkins Act that severely limits what local rent control policies cities are allowed to enact.
State Measure 22 – No
I am not an expert on employment law, but it is hard not to believe that app-based transportation and delivery companies exploit their workers. Prop 22 would create state law classifying employees of these companies (Uber, Lyft, Doordash, etc.) as independent contractors so that their employees would not be protected under existing state employment law. It was written by these companies, which is enough for me to believe that it is bad news. It is also opposed by every major Democratic leader.
State Measure 23 – No
Let me start with a disclaimer that despite my step-mother having been a dialysis patient, I am completely baffled by dialysis business practices. This is what I understand about Prop 23. First, this is a redo of a measure that lost two years ago, and second, this measure has nothing to do with patient safety. This measure was put on the ballot by unions, whom I like, but I don’t like measures that are misleading, which this one is. It would require a doctor onsite at clinics whenever patients are being treated, which has more to do with a longstanding fight to unionize dialysis nurses than patient care. All the patient advocates hate this measure because it would increase costs to patients. While I don’t know the intricacies of this measure, it seems like it is no good.
State Measure 24 – Yes
This is another measure which outside my policy bailiwick, but this one seems good. Prop 24 would strengthen consumer privacy data laws and rights. It also increases penalties on companies that break these laws and establishes a new state agency to protect consumers privacy. As far as I can tell, we need all the help we can get to protect our privacy.
State Measure 25 – YES
Prop 25 is a good criminal justice reform that would help eliminate cash bail in California. Everybody knows that if you are rich, you can bail out of jail while you await trial, which can be years, and if you are poor you are stuck in jail while you await trial, even if you are arrested on a minor crime. The State legislature already passed Senate Bill 10 to eliminate cash bail, but then the bail bond industry placed this measure on the ballot to try to overturn SB 10. A yes votes keeps SB 10 in place and will eliminate cash bail. If you are wondering how sick our criminal justice system is, here is a fun fact: commercial bail bond agents are only legal in the U.S. and the Philippines. And if you are wondering how big an impact the bail system has on incarceration, half of the people incarcerated in LA county jails are awaiting trial and the vast majority would not be there if they had the money to pay bail. Let’s get folks who are not dangerous and have not been convicted of a crime out of our jails. Vote yes on this measure.
A quick addendum to my original analysis because I got a question. A number of really good justice reform groups oppose Prop 25. SB10 was definitely a compromise bill. A lot of racial equity advocates don't like the bill's focus on risk assessments because they are always racially biased. I agree that risk assessments are biased, but I also think we need to get as many people out of jail as fast as possible. If Prop 25 fails policymakers may believe that the voters don't want bail reform and give up on the concept all together. My hope is that we can show that cash bail has no impact on public safety and then go one step further in the future to get a bail reform system that does not use risk assessments. It is really an argument over is incremental change worth supporting? I believe in this case yes.
There is no need to write about the presidential race. You guys got this. Thanks for hanging in there to the end of this mega-ballot. Here is to 2021 with some good reforms and hopefully a new president.
