Press Release
January 8, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2021
CONTACT: Suzanne Spencer, 510-550-8172
[email protected]
Commit to Equity Coalition Supports Emergency Budget Relief for Needy Families, Urges California Leaders To Do More, Think Bigger, Rise to This Moment in History, and Invest for Equitable Recovery
(Sacramento, CA) – The sweeping “Commit to Equity” coalition issued this unified message in response to Governor Newsom’s budget proposal for the 2021-22 fiscal year:
“Frontline workers, teachers, seniors, and advocates for racial, environmental, health, and social justice are united in our demand for a state budget that does more than offer an immediate and vitally needed boost to struggling families.
“We support the emergency budget relief for needy families, but urge California’s leaders to do much, much more: to think bigger, rise to this moment in history, and invest for equitable recovery. One-off solutions are not enough. We need our leaders to confront California’s entrenched inequality through ongoing investments paid for through revenue reforms taxing the wealthiest among us. This will lift up the vast majority of Californians whose struggles are not reflected in economic forecasts based on stock market trends.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and magnified our state’s deep, deadly and destructive disparities. Frontline workers and communities of color have gotten sick, died, and struggled to survive economically, while billionaires and corporations have padded their piles of cash.
“At the same time, our state and local governments are still facing steep deficits in future years that will tear huge holes in our safety net for years to come and will slow down our economic recovery, and the deep trigger cuts we have already experienced remain and will cause damage for years unless we reverse them now.
“While we are partially relieved to see that this budget does no further harm to our safety net, and we applaud the extension of emergency assistance to struggling families, this budget is far from what this moment in history calls for, and it does not offer the vision that will help us build a better, stronger, more equitable, and more resilient state.
“There is no question that California can ensure that every working person, senior, child and family in the Golden State can access the resources and opportunities to thrive. The same health and economic crises that leveled working families and small businesses led to skyrocketing wealth among the mega-rich. The only question is whether our leaders have the courage to tax the privileged to ensure a California for All, whether we are Black, Latino, Asian, Native American or white.”
The Commit to Equity Coalition is a coalition of 24 organizations representing frontline workers, teachers, seniors, and advocates for racial, environmental, health, and social justice. It urges California’s leaders to stop budget cuts that hurt our schools, health care and child care, tax the privileged for budget balancing revenue, and invest in our communities of color and vulnerable people to build a more just, equal, and inclusive society.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL VOTERS
California Environmental Voters (formerly the California League of Conservation Voters) believes the climate crisis is here and this moment requires transformative change. California has the policy solutions to stop climate change but lacks the political will to do it at the rate and scale that’s necessary. EnviroVoters exists to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. We organize voters, elect and train candidates, and hold lawmakers accountable for bold policy change. We won’t stop until we have resilient, healthy, thriving communities, and a democracy and economy that is just and sustainable for all. Join us at www.envirovoters.org and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. See more press releases.
