Californians voted for two progressive policies. Now, corporations want to undo them | Opinion




Tefere Gebre, David Huerta
Thu, February 23, 2023 

When corporations spend countless dollars, deceive California voters and veto public policy, that’s an assault on our democracy.

Last year, Californians won two major legislative victories: a public health buffer zone from harmful oil drilling and a fast food minimum wage council. Both of these policies provide better working conditions and quality of life as well as cleaner air for millions. Both policies are incredibly popular, both won in the Legislature and both were signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Yet today neither are enshrined in law. Why?

Before these laws could be implemented, the oil industry and multinational corporations spent millions of dollars to gather signatures for “referendums” to suspend these laws unless voters affirm them at the next general election — where millions more can and will likely go toward deceptive advertising to sway voters.

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The secretary of state only determined that the referendum on Senate Bill 1137 had enough signatures to appear on the 2024 general election ballot after oil interests spent more than $20 million to challenge the 3,200-foot buffer zone the bill would implement between oil drilling and sensitive sites like homes, schools and hospitals.

Researchers have known for decades that oil drilling emits toxic pollution that negatively impacts human health (we’re talking about asthma, respiratory disease, cancer, preterm births and higher risk for infant mortality). Common sense public health policy is life-altering for millions of Californians who live and work within 3,200 feet of an oil well. The referendum paused the law, and with a ballot measure in 2024 it could end this lifeline for the future.

Fast food workers were dealt a similar blow when the secretary of state qualified the referendum on Assembly Bill 257, which would have created the infrastructure for California’s over 700,000 workers in the notoriously exploitative fast food industry to negotiate wages, hours and safer working conditions. By paying for signatures, fast food corporations accomplished what they couldn’t do in the legislative process: Stop workers from having a greater say in reforming the industry. This law hasn’t yet taken effect, squashing dreams of a more fair workplace.

These examples reveal a serious threat to our democracy. The increasing use of paid signature gatherers injects a profit incentive to deceive voters about what they’re signing, as recent reports confirm.

There is evidence that some voters who signed the referendum to overturn the buffer zone were told it would prevent oil drilling near schools, when the opposite was actually true. Likewise, some voters signing the fast food corporations’ referendum were enticed by the idea of raising workers’ wages, when it actually limits workers’ ability to negotiate for them.

For too long, corporations have been able to effectively veto legislation through the expensive referendum process, all to the benefit of various shareholders and the detriment of people’s health and prosperity. Hardworking, low-income California workers and families — the same people these two laws would protect — don’t have access to the cash flow that large corporations do.

It’s time to fight back as fellow workers and families because our well-being is more important than profits.

We’re determined to maintain our progress on critical environmental and worker empowerment policies and to support California voters by demanding transparency. Together, we’ll hold signature-gathering firms to a higher standard, and improve the referendum process for voters — not corporations.

Bullies don’t just exist on school playgrounds, they exist in our politics. They hide in plain sight and in back rooms, buying the laws they want. But grassroots power overcame corporations twice to win these legislative victories, and we’ll win again by defending them.

Tefere Gebre is the chief program officer at Greenpeace USA and the former executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. David Huerta is the president of SEIU California, which represents 700,000 California political and electoral workers to build a more just and equitable state.