Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) has introduced a bill that could make it harder for campaigns to mislead voters when circulating petitions to qualify a statewide referendum.
The bill is backed by labor unions, environmentalists and good government groups who allege corporations are abusing California’s initiative process to undermine gains for working people.
Proponents point to the fate of measures like Assembly Bill 257, which created a new council with the ability to set labor and pay standards for fast food workers, as well as Senate Bill 1137, which requires oil and gas wells to be at least 3,200 feet from sensitive places like homes and schools.
After those bills were approved, oil and fast food industry lobbyists hired signature gatherers across California and got enough to put the laws up for a vote again in November 2024. In the meantime, neither law will go into effect.
“The protections that people have fought so hard for are on hold, and we are no closer to ending neighborhood oil drilling because of the initiative process,” said Martha Dina Argüello, executive director of the nonprofit Physicians for Social Responsibility – Los Angeles.
She’s worked for more than a decade with a coalition of community-based groups to end oil drilling in L.A. neighborhoods, which can lead to a host of health issues, including asthma and cancer.
“The initiative process is a part of democratic reform so that the people could actually engage, not so that corporations could overturn laws meant to regulate them and protect human health,” she said.
At a press conference on Monday, Assemblymember Bryan and his team shared videos of signature gatherers either misrepresenting the purpose of their referendum petitions or lying about their employers. In…
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