September 12, 2005 - Why CCPOA Opposes Prop 75

• Like previous California initiatives, Proposition 75 has a hidden agenda. Its real agenda is to make it easier for the Governor and his big business pals to cut school funding, heath care and public safety.
• California teachers spoke out when the Governor broke his promise to repay the $2 billion he borrowed from the education budget. Proposition 75 would make it harder for teachers and other education workers to fight the Governor's agenda to slash education funding by $4 billion and give him broad powers to make midyear school budget cuts without consulting anyone.
• California nurses took the Governor to court when he tried to roll back the hospital staffing law that protects patients. Proposition 75 would make it harder for nurses to speak out on behalf of patients, better health care, and affordable prescription drugs.
• California firefighters and police officers attacked the Governor's plan to eliminate survivor benefits for family members when an officer or firefighter is killed in the line of duty. Proposition 75 would make it harder for law enforcement officers to fight the Governor's agenda to cut public safety and rollback retirement security.
• Now, the same people who pushed those devastating cuts and bad ideas are pushing Prop. 75 to silence the voices of those who oppose their plans to cut education funding, health care, and public safety.

• Proposition 75 imposes new restrictions on public employee political contributions that don't apply to anyone else—not the Governor's corporate contributors, not wealthy individuals and special interests like big drug, oil and tobacco corporations.
• Campaign watchdog groups, including the League of Women Voters of California, oppose Proposition 75 because it unfairly creates two sets of rules for political contributions. It would shift the balance of power in the political process to big corporations, which already outspend workers by 24 to 1, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

• Proposition 75 was put on the ballot by individuals with close ties to Governor Schwarzenegger.
• Prop. 75's author admitted he was urged to file this measure by a top aide to the Governor. And he admits the goal of Prop. 75 is to weaken those who oppose the Governor's bad ideas.
• The Governor's campaign committee, Citizens to Save California, gathered signatures to place Prop. 75 on the ballot.
• Proposition 75 has been funded almost entirely by "seven ultra wealthy" donors, some from out state, who happen to be the top supporters of the Governor's destructive agenda to silence public workers so they can cut funding to schools, health care and public safety.
• The sponsors of Proposition 75 don't really care about the rights of union members. In fact, the author of Proposition 75 has called them "greedy" and "arrogant" for opposing Governor Schwarzenegger's agenda.

• Proposition 75 is not about protecting workers' rights. Teachers, nurses, firefighters and other state workers strongly oppose Proposition 75.
• In 1998, California voters rejected a similar initiative, Proposition 226, with union members voting overwhelmingly NO. Prop, 226 was supported by some of the same out-of-state extremists and big corporations that created Proposition 75 at the request of the Governor's key supporters.
• Proposition 75 is unnecessary because under current federal law and a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court no public employee can be forced to join a union and contribute to political campaigns.
• Proposition 75 violates employees' privacy by forcing them to sign a government-imposed form that could be circulated in the workplace and accessed by a state agency at any time.

• If teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police are unfairly restricted by Prop. 75, and their voices are silenced, the Governor and his big corporation supporters will be able to decide what happens with education, health care and public safety in California without opposition.
• The Governor and his supporters are already conducting a campaign to give him the power to cut education, health care and public safety funding without consulting anyone else. If Prop. 75 passes, who will protect education, health care and public safety?

 Print This Page


RETURN to Legislative Update Archive


RETURN to CCPOA Capitol Watch MAIN PAGE