Supports Proposition 99
The CSEA Board of Directors voted to oppose Proposition 98- The California Property and Farmland Protection Act and support Proposition 99 – The Homeowners Protection Act; both measures will be on the June 2008 ballot.
These two ballot measures address the government’s power of eminent domain and should not be confused with the Proposition 98 education funding formula passed by the voters in 1988.
A national battle over eminent domain has been raging since a 2005 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which upheld the right of governments to take homes for commercial development. Since that ruling, more than 40 states have reformed their eminent domain laws.
CSEA opposes Proposition 98 because it is backed by wealthy apartment and mobile home park owners who are spending millions on a deceptive campaign to pass Proposition 98 for their own financial gain. These landlords want voters to believe that Proposition 98 is about eminent domain, but their hidden agenda is to eliminate rent control so they can make hundreds of millions of dollars by raising rents on seniors and working families.
Proposition 98 would deliver a devastating one-two punch to renters and mobile homeowners by eliminating rent control laws and laws protecting renters against unfair evictions. This would result in landlords kicking tenants out of their homes regardless of cause, therefore allowing landlords to take their newly vacated units and raise rents as high as they want.
Proposition 98 also eliminates additional renter protections such as:
60 day notice before forcing renters out of their housing,
Affordable housing,
Return of security deposits,
Seniors and disabled provisions against drastic rent increases and requirements that landlords provide ample notice before forcing seniors out of rental housing.
Proposition 98 also eliminates laws to combat global warming and protect our natural resources. It jeopardizes the state’s ability to secure new water sources to protect the environment and fuel our economy.
Under Proposition 98, CSEA members and retirees who rent could be forced out of their residences based purely on a landlord’s desire to make more money. Because of the landlord’s ability to raise rents, CSEA members would be subject to increasing housing costs which would put increasing pressure on their paychecks. In addition, this proposal would jeopardize current protections for seniors and disabled individuals from drastic rent increases and ample notice before eviction.
By contrast, CSEA supports Proposition 99 because it is a grass roots effort backed by over 1 million signatures that addresses real eminent domain reform without hidden agendas or adverse consequences. Proposition 99 would:
Prohibit the government from using eminent domain to take a home and transfer it to a private developer.
Place these protections in the state constitution to ensure that they cannot be removed unless by a vote of the people.
Proposition 99 is a common sense approach to eminent domain reform that balances the well-being of homeowners with government’s ability to acquire property for public use, protect public health and safety and enforce environmental standards. Proposition 99 is supported by a broad coalition of over 80 organizations made up of homeowners, business, labor, cities and environmentalists.
http://www.no98yes99.com
In Solidarity…and good health,
Benjamin Gamboa
Political Action Coordinator
California School Employee Association
Chapter #291
909.384.4308
909.825.1567 fax
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