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After months of work by CSU faculty members, students, education groups and thousands of other working people up and down the state, Proposition 30 was approved by voters Tuesday night.
The ballot measure championed by Gov. Jerry Brown will raise income taxes on the wealthiest citizens in the state and temporarily increase the state sales tax by a quarter of a cent to fund K-12 schools, community colleges and state universities.
Prop 30 is expected to raise more than $6 billion in revenue. If it had not passed, schools and colleges would have suffered significant trigger cuts including an immediate $250 million cut to the CSU budget.
CFA President Lillian Taiz said, “California has made a solid investment in its future by demonstrating support for public education including its public colleges and universities.
“By voting for Proposition 30, voters have shown their commitment to the California State University system, our students, our faculty, and the future of California.
“Public education truly is the economic issue of our time. Californians have cast a lifeline to a system of higher education that has been drowning. This lifeline will provide the next generation of Californians the same access to an affordable, accessible and quality public higher education that previous generations have enjoyed.”
College-age voters tended to be very supportive of the measure, as faculty members and students joined Brown to work college campuses in the waning days of the campaign to get out the youth vote. Those efforts paid off.
Voters soundly rejected the deceptive Proposition 32 on Election Day, sending a clear message to the right wing and wealthy corporate interests that sponsored the measure.
With almost 98 percent of the votes counted Wednesday morning, 56 percent of voters statewide said no to the measure that sought to eliminate the ability of labor organizations to engage the political process, effectively silencing all of us.
CFA President Lillian Taiz was elated with the defeat of Prop 32 saying, “For the third time in 14 years, Californians have rejected an attempt by a few wealthy individuals to silence the voices of millions of working men and women. CFA is pleased to have worked with organizations across the spectrum to defeat this latest attempt to seize power from the people.”
Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary of the California Labor Federation, credited the work done on the ground by faculty and other working people with defeating Prop 32.
He said, “Today’s victory was the culmination of the largest voter contact program in the California labor movement’s history. Over the course of the campaign, 40,000 union volunteers reached millions of voters on the phone, at the door, through the mail and online about the harmful consequences of Prop 32.
“The result of this massive program was more engagement than ever from working people this election. That engagement not only drove the defeat of Prop 32, it also had a positive impact on other ballot measures and helped elect working family candidates at all levels,” he said.
The voice of the faculty will be heard in the state Capitol like never before during the next legislative cycle. Seven current or former faculty members have won election to the state legislature!
The opportunity to elect seven strong voices for public higher ed to office in a single election is unprecedented.
“In the past we have felt lucky to have one, maybe two, higher ed candidates in a given election. Now that we have been successful in electing these men and women to office, faculty members will make up one of the largest voting blocs in the Assembly,” said Pete Kreysa, chair of CFA’s Political Action & Legislative Committee.
The higher ed candidates on the ballot include five current or former CFA members (Marty Block, Raul Bocanegra, Susan Eggman, Anthony Rendon and Shirley Weber) and two University of California faculty members (Adam Gray and Richard Pan).
Democrats are on the verge of seizing two-thirds control of both houses of the California state legislature, a development that would usher an era in state politics not seen in nearly eight decades.
Depending on the outcome of several tightly contested races, there is a very good chance that for the first time since 1933, the ruling party will have two-thirds majorities in both chambers.
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez declared Tuesday night that Democrats had secured the 54 seats necessary to hold a two-thirds super majority in that house, and trends in the Senate were following suit this morning.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has also said he is confident Democrats will hold a two-thirds majority, though several races remain very close and two sitting Senate Democrats will be leaving for Congress, requiring special elections early next year.
CFA Secretary John Halcón elected to Palomar College Governing Board – San Diego Union Tribune
Brown’s closing blitz for Prop. 30 helped turn tide
Three weeks ago, Gov. Jerry Brown’s ballot initiative to raise taxes was on the brink. The measure was fading in public opinion polls, pulled down by a rival tax initiative, a state parks scandal and other distractions at the Capitol. – Sacramento Bee
Election-themed flash mobs sweep the CSU
Faculty members from across the state put a Halloween spin on their electoral efforts by performing a spontaneous ‘flashmobs’ for campus onlookers to promote the effort to pass Prop 30 and defeat Prop 32. – Watch the Videos
Big win for schools as Prop 30 defies polls
California schools’ rendezvous with rock bottom is over. A massive grassroots campaign, an eleventh hour surge in advertising and strategic targeting of likely voters pulled Proposition 30 over the halfway mark yesterday, giving both Gov. Jerry Brown and California public schools and community colleges a victory. – EdSource
Labor defeats anti-union initiative Prop. 32 in California
California voters have reaffirmed their support for unions in defeating a provision that would have banned the way labor traditionally raises money to fund political activity. The defeat of Proposition 32 became clear early Wednesday. – Associated Press
