A People’s Bailout

We need a swift, inclusive bailout by and for the People.  We can no longer rely on the Federal Government and the political duopoly to represent our best interests when they continue to bail out Corporations, not People.  This isn’t partisan or tribal – we ALL need relief and we need it now. The People of this great State have suffered long enough – no more.   

In the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis, we have no time to be anything other than visionary and bold – and we do this by investing in #OurCalifornia. As your Governor I would use the California  Emergency Services Act (2 CCR § 8550-8669.7) and the authority vested to me in 2 CCR § 8567a & 2 CCR § 8569-8570 in order to mitigate the effects of our declared States of Emergency both for COVID-19 and our economic crisis by implementing the following:

• Universal Basic Income and direct cash assistance of $1000/person with the #SaferAtHome mandate is compassionate, ethical, safe & healthy thing to do;
• Universal Housing for All: Gavin Newsom’s #SaferAtHome statewide initiative ignores our previously unhoused, millions of recently unhoused, and millions more on the brink of homelessness.  Coupling this in with unsafe spaces due to a lack of quality Elder care, minimal availability of ADA certified housing, redlining, and overcrowding as a direct result of government policy failures to address the State’s affordable housing crises… it is time that our government finally acts on our behalf.  If you don’t have shelter, or a safe shelter, in the first place than Newsom’s #SaferAtHome excludes you and is risking your life. This COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a lethal inequality in housing, and has directly impeded our ability to exist peacefully, safely & ensure public health when we need it most. As we re-emerge, we must have Universal Housing for all with diverse housing options to meet the diverse needs of #OurCalifornia. Only then can we be safe home:
  • Immediate self-determined full funding for First Nations of California;
  • Immediately house all unhoused Californians.  Newsom’s neoliberal #ProjectRoomkey & program superficially aim to house 10% of California’s unhoused population in the coming 3 years.  Our lives and our communities are not expendable;
  • Residential Rent & Mortgage Cancellation for the duration of this COVID-19 crisis;
  • Exhaustive and dynamic eviction and foreclosure bans to ensure housing, financial and credit protections for ALL Californians to fully support both renters and homeowners for the duration of this declared State of Emergency, and for one (1) full year following.  Receive a 5.0 COVID-19 Eviction Lab score:
    • Ban evictions unrelated to COVID-19, such as owner-move-in under the Ellis Act or for any breach of lease unrelated to rent payments; 
    • Prosecution and enforcement of economic sanctions on any individual or corporate entity that violate this eviction moratorium. Economic sanctions will include but are not limited to asset seizure, damages for impacted parties & costly State fines
  • Utility moratorium and Shutoff Ban;
  • Grand Recession History shows that in times of economic crises, Private Equity and the Wealthy purchased/obtained large swaths of land with predatory and legally questionable tactics, selling this land for exorbitant prices and exacerbating real estate speculation within the State of California; This negatively impacts both regular homeowners and renters alike – although in very different ways.  I will impose a statewide ban on real estate speculation for the duration of the pandemic plus one year applying and enforcing economic sanctions on any entity that participates in or directly benefits from real estate speculation during this COVID-19 and economic crisis:
    • Prosecution and enforcement of economic sanctions will include but are not limited to asset seizure, damages for impacted parties & costly State fines;
• #MediCALForAllCalifornians:  Health is the top priority, for all people, with no exceptions.  And as healthcare is a human right – I would implement SB562 fully and immediately for #OurCalifornia.  It remains critically important that we ensure such health protections cover all people including essential and low-wage workers, health workers, independent contractors, Veterans, Black and Latinx communities, LGBTQ and Gender Noncomforming Folx, Migrant populations, our Elders, the Disabled, our currently incarcerated peoples, unhoused & housing insecure and all  marginalized and underserved populations.  #MediCALForAllCalifornians will provide free at-point of service:
  • COVID-19 Specific:
    • COVID-19 testing and treatment;
    • COVID-19 Protective equipment;
      • Expanded hospital capacity, especially prioritizing rural areas, territories and tribal lands being hit hardest;
  • Comprehensive healthcare to include medical, dental, hearing, vision, and home- and community-based long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, prescription drugs, and more.
  • Strengthening Tribal Sovereignty and ensuring State Redress by fully meeting all funding Indian Health Service and Urban Indian Health Centers needs’;
  • Include paid Care Leave for all Workers;
  • Include paid Sick Leave for all Workers that extends beyond the two week maximum currently allotted;
• Food Justice for #OurCalifornia: The pandemic has pushed a broken food system into an emergency of epic proportions: millions of animals killed, rivers of spilt milk, spoiling eggs, mountains of molding vegetables, migrant farmworkers dying, and food bank use spiking across #OurCalifornia.  I believe the only catalyst for true change is supporting localized and sustainable food economies that feed people, not Corporate profits:
  • Ensure Indigenous food sovereignty and the right to live off the land is strengthened through concrete legislation created by California Indians and First Nations & immediate State funding; 
  • Instead of authorizing the use of our National Guard on unconstitutional curfews & peaceful and nonviolent protesters exercising their 1st Amendment rights and the funds that wasted during our State Budgetary Crisis, I’d call on the National Guard to assist directly with supply chains from farm-to-table to ensure food is not wasted en masse as millions of Californians wait in food lines and are food insecure;
  • The creation of California’s expansion and supplemental #SNAPForAll program
  • End all State Government Food Contracts that utilize BigAg & transition solely to Californian Small Farmers & Producers;
  • TFC-funded Small Farmers Emergency Loans & Administrative Assistance Program to expand resilient and restorative farming/agricultural practices;
    • Prioritizing funding and administrative support to Farmers of Color who have been historically and disproportionately excluded from land access and farming resources – both federally and locally;
  • State funded program expanding Farm & Food Worker protections and labor relations laws;
  • Debt cancellation programs and additional incentives for farmers and ranchers if the State assumes ownership of farm lands to expand worker and/or customer-owned cooperatives;
  • Create resilient communities with State-funded Expansion of Community Gardens, specifically in urban localities where food deserts have long exacerbated healthy living and access to quality locally grown food;
• TFC-funded #ChildcareForAll: As our schools and daycares have closed as a result of COVID-19 outbreaks or government stay at home orders, working families – especially working mothers, have been hit the hardest.  For many in #OurCalifornia, returning to pre-pandemic childcare arrangements isn’t economically feasible.     Supporting working families supports every facet of our economy and the Tax Fairness Commission is capable of authorizing funding for independently assigned childcare to each working family (if it wanted) for up to 40 hours per week for the duration of our declared States of Emergency.
  • TFC-funded #ChildcareForAll will invest in the childcare workforce 
    • Improve material working conditions for the childcare workforce
      • Improve inequities in State treatment of early educators in childcare vs. public schools
    • Working Families are eligible for TFC Childcare employment
    •  Increase recruitment opportunities for Child Care Providers UNITED – SEIU Local 99 & United Domestic Workers of America
  • Allow working families to the freedom and stability to return to places of employment 
  • Begin to address and reverse the devastating effects we’ve seen thus far in COVID-19 impacting the employment and  professional growth opportunities of working mothers
  • Provide individual support and consistent contact with working families children within the home to support appropriate academic rigor and social development;
• In the true spirit of Upton Sinclair’s End Poverty in California campaign, I will call on fellow Citizens, Socialists, Governors, and fellow Socialist Gubernatorial campaigns across this country to adopt and implement the same.

Given Governor Newsom’s declared States of Emergency and his Constitutional authority, there is nothing logistically stopping Governor Newsom from adopting and immediately implementing all of these policies for the health, well-being, and future of #OurCalfironia.  I call on him to do so immediately.