Assemblymember Lowenthal Proposes a New “California Social Media Users Bill of Rights”
Groundbreaking Resolution Developed in Partnership with California Initiative for Technology and Democracy (CITED) Urges Protections for Children and Voters
California lawmakers shelve controversial bill that would have raised campaign contribution limits
A controversial proposal to allow state legislative leaders to accept bigger campaign checks for their favored candidates was sidelined by lawmakers for the year on Monday after it failed to garner sufficient support in the state Senate.
Rarely are power grabs as transparent as Assembly Bill 84. Introduced by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, the bill would allow legislative leaders to raise and spend much more campaign money than currently allowed. We urge the state Senate to vote it down.
Legislative leaders want to milk more campaign money
“AB 84 would be the biggest rollback of California’s campaign finance law in at least a decade,” Nicolas Heidorn of California Common Cause told the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee before it voted to approve the measure last week.
The bill’s supporters are touting AB 84 as a transparency and accountability measure because it would require more frequent disclosures by campaign committees. While we would like to see more frequent campaign disclosures, we are not fooled. Transparency is nothing more than the sweet coating to disguise the bitter taste of a power grab.
Thumbs Down: Just what politics needs. More money.
Raise your hand if you think money plays too big a role in politics. We may be naive, but we wouldn’t be surprised if a few officeholders out there are holding their hands in the air, because they’d like to spend less time with their palms out. It’s expensive to communicate with voters. Mail and advertising cost a lot of money, and legislative candidates can burn a lot of fuel getting around geographically large districts.
California Democratic Party and open-government groups fight proposal to lift contribution limits for legislative leaders
Faced with opposition from the California Democratic Party and open-government advocates, divided state lawmakers advanced a bill Tuesday that would increase the amount of campaign money that can be accepted by Democratic and Republican legislative leaders.
The proposal approved Tuesday by a 3-2 vote of the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee would allow partisan caucuses in the Legislature to accept campaign contributions of $36,000 from individual sources for state races, up from the current limit of $4,400.
California lawmakers advance bill to boost leaders’ power
California lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill to let legislative leaders raise and spend more money to help their preferred candidates, despite opposition from open-government groups. The bill would let leaders in the Legislature operate fundraising committees governed like political party committees at the state and county level. Such committees have higher contribution limits than regular campaigns and can give unlimited amounts to help their chosen state candidates.
Equitable Redistricting for Cambodians host community forum on redistricting in Long Beach
Dan Vicuna, Common Cause's National Redistricting Manager, and Sylvia Moore, Southern California Organizer for California Common Cause appeared at Equitable Redistricting for Cambodians community forum on redistricting reform in Long Beach at the MAYE Center, Aug. 4, 2018. The Long Beach City Council is poised to ask voters to end political gerrymandering in its city by placing the proposal on the November ballot.
Will California Democrats be hypocrites on campaign donations?
In 2014, the California Legislature made a big deal of calling for a constitutional convention to overturn the Citizens United ruling, which allows unlimited corporate and union spending in campaigns.
Now, in 2018, some legislators are pushing a bill that critics say will open the floodgates to special interest money in legislative races, as soon as the November election.
It’s not only hypocritical, it’s a bad idea. Assembly Bill 84 should get a quick death before the Senate Elections Committee on Tuesday.
Common Cause hails new Secretary of State initiative while ACLU sued the same office for lack of voter outreach
A joint effort between California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and the Department of Motor Vehicles managed to get 250,000 new registered voters on the rolls between April and June, according to the government watchdog group Common Cause.
SACRAMENTO, Wednesday, August 8, 2018 — A group of California’s major good government organizations announced their joint opposition to AB 84 today and urged California senators to put a brick on the bill before it fast-tracks a flood of special interest campaign donations to legislative leaders.
LONG BEACH, Monday, July 30, 2018 - California Common Cause and Equity for Cambodians are inviting community members to a public forum August 4 to learn more about how a proposal to create an independent citizens redistricting commission to draw Long Beach City Council districts will make redistricting more responsive to Long Beach communities. The Long Beach City Council is poised to ask voters to end political gerrymandering in its city by placing the proposal on the November ballot.
