DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the April 15, 2021 regular meeting.

WHEREAS, Current California law allows corporations and business entities to make direct campaign contributions to state and local candidates, a practice prohibited for federal candidates and in 22 other states, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions by them in each election cycle throughout the state; and

WHEREAS, In order to curb actual corruption and the appearance of corruption of our government by corporate contributions, it is incumbent upon the Legislature to prohibit direct contributions by corporations and business entities to state and local political candidates; and

WHEREAS, Assembly Bill 20 would further the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 by amending it to bar all corporate special interests from contributing directly to candidates running for state or local elective office; 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County supports the passage of Assembly Bill 20, the Corporate-Free Elections Act, as amended on March 1, 2020, and urges the Democratic supermajority in the California State Legislature to pass the legislation and the Democratic Governor to sign the bill into law;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County shall communicate this resolution to members of the State Senate and State Assembly representing any part of Contra Costa County and the Governor of the State of California. 

Submitted by: Craig Cheslog, Associate Member, District 2

DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the March 18, 2021 regular meeting.

WHEREAS, one of the things voters most want to know about ballot measures is who supports and opposes them, but many voters don’t know that information for all the state ballot measures they vote on; and

WHEREAS, ballot measure campaigns supported by organizations people trust often don’t have the financial resources to effectively communicate that information to voters, giving an unfair advantage to campaigns backed by wealthy interests; and

WHEREAS, voters can find key supporters and opponents of ballot measures in the voter information guide by looking at who signed the official arguments in favor and against them, but many voters haven’t read or may not remember or have handy all that information when they go to vote because the voter guide is usually very long and dense;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa  County supports SB 90 (Stern) and AB 1416 (Santiago), two identical and parallel bills which will add 15 words listing the supporters and 15 words listing the opponents who signed the official arguments for and against each state ballot measure in the voter information guide to the current title, summary, and fiscal analysis shown on the actual ballot for state ballot measures, giving voters information they need when they vote while adding minimal amounts to the current 75 word summaries on the ballot.

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this Resolution be provided to the Governor, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Elections Committee Chair Marc Berman, Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Lorena Gonzalez, Senate Elections Committee Chair Steve Glazer, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Anthony Portantino, Senator Henry Stern, Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, and to our area’s members of the California Legislature.

Respectfully submitted by Brodie Hilp, Elected Member, District 2