Why Prop 15

Today a handful of corporations undermine all of us. Corporations like Chevron, Google and Disney rake in record profits, while they refuse to contribute to the schools where our young people learn, the roads we drive on, the buses we take to work. Then they divide us against each other by blaming Black and brown people for our problems, hoping we won’t notice so they can continue to reap the benefits of our contributions while refusing to put in their share.

That’s why we’re supporting Prop 15, the Schools and Communities First initiative on the November 2020 ballot. When we vote it in, we will restore the resources we need for our communities by ensuring that everyone pitches in for each other in California, including the wealthiest corporations. This initiative will make history by making sure that corporations pay their fair share of commercial property taxes. This will generate over $800 million every year for San Francisco’s public schools and our general fund. We’re ready to win in 2020!

When everyone is all in for all of us, we make California a place we’re proud to call home with world-class schools and universities, healthcare, affordable housing, and shared resources our families need. When we join together across racial differences to change the rules, we’ll restore the resources to truly educate all of our kids and truly support all of our families.

Learn more and find out about ways you can volunteer to help get Prop 15 passed.

4 Reasons to Vote Yes on G

REASON #1: WE NEED TO MAKE VOTING A HABIT

Lowering the voting age can lead to a long-term increase in voter turnout, bringing more citizens in touch with their government and pushing the government to better serve its people. Research shows that voting is habitual. A person who votes in the first election they are eligible for is likely to continue voting consistently, while someone who doesn’t will take several years to pick up the habit. It is clear that age 16 is a better time to establish a new habit than age 18, and data from places that have lowered the voting age shows that 16-year-olds do indeed vote at higher rates than older first-time voters.

REASON #2: SIXTEEN- AND 17-YEAR OLDS ARE READY TO VOTE 

Research shows that 16- and 17-year-olds have the necessary civic knowledge, skills, and cognitive ability to vote for their futures. A study comparing the qualities associated with voting—such as civic knowledge, political skills, and political interest—among citizens 18 and older and citizens below 18 found no significant differences between 16 year olds and those above age 18. Furthermore, deciding how to vote relies on “cold cognition,” the decision making process in which a person deliberates alone and unhurried, and draws on logical reasoning abilities. Research shows that cold cognition matures by 16, and does not improve as one gets older.

REASON #3: SIXTEEN- AND 17-YEAR-OLDS HAVE A STAKE IN THE GAME, AND ELECTED OFFICIALS MUST TREAT THEM AS EQUAL CONSTITUENTS

Sixteen- and 17-year-olds are affected by local political issues as much as anyone. They also work without limits on hours, and pay taxes on their income, can drive, and in some cases are tried in adult courts. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds deserve the right to vote on issues that affect them on the local level. Further, voting is the most reliable way for ordinary citizens to influence the government. Lowering the voting age would make sure local politicians to listen to sixteen- and 17-year-olds and address their needs.

REASON #4: LOWERING THE VOTING AGE TO 16 WILL STRENGTHEN CIVICS EDUCATION

Strong civics education and a lower voting age would mutually reinforce each other to increase civic engagement. A lower voting age would make civics education more effective as providing students a way to directly apply what they’re learning in the classroom in their communities  would add a crucial level of relevance to civics courses. It would also encourage more schools to implement higher quality civics education programs given its immediate implications on students lives.

How your community will benefit:

• Prop 15 will reclaim billions every year for our schools, community colleges, and essential local services in EVERY county to invest in things like:

  • Class sizes

  • Health care services

  • Fighting homelessness

  • Firefighters and their equipment

  • Safe drinking water

  • Preparing for future disasters such as wildfire, pandemic or earthquakes

Learn more.

All of us regardless of race and place or how long we’ve been here want to live in the best places for our families. That’s why every one of us must show up and participate in the Census—so our communities get the recognition, representation, and resources we deserve.

President Trump has actively worked to stop communities of color from voting and keep our communities in the dark about healthcare enrollment. He will do the same when it comes to the Census.

One powerful way to fight his racism and oppression is to participate in the Census and make sure your family, friends, and neighbors do too. When all of us count ourselves into the Census—as communities of color, immigrants, and young people—we get the resources and political representation we're due.

By standing together and making sure each and every one of us—whether Black or white, native or newcomer, Latinx or Asian, from 9 months to 99 years old—is counted, we can take California to the power of we. When we count ourselves in, we get our fair share of funding for our children's classrooms, health clinics, transportation, and jobs in our neighborhoods, and we ensure that each of us has an equal say in our democracy.

2020 is the year we count. This is about our entire communities showing up and declaring that we matter, that we count, that our communities deserve recognition, representation, and resources.

SF Rising and our affiliate organizations are part of the grassroots movement ensuring that our communities count in the Census through door-to-door outreach and events. The 2020 Census will be available online and through a paper form starting in March 2020.

Volunteer with us to make sure our community counts!

SF Rising is the leading coalition member of College for All, a statewide campaign to make college free again at the University of California, California State University and community college level--including for undocumented and formerly incarcerated students--by taxing the ultra-wealthy. 

Up until the 1970s, we as Californians enshrined public higher education as a democratic right and made sure it was practically tuition-free. Since then, we’ve watched politicians give the wealthy tax breaks while cutting higher education funding and raising tuition--pushing more and more students deeper into debt. Their cuts especially hurt working-class students and students of color. We, the people, have had enough. Students, teachers, community organizations and labor unions are proposing a ballot measure to tax the wealthy and restore free universal public higher education to CA residents. 

The campaign, College for All, creates about $4 billion in new revenue for grants dedicated entirely to student aid by taxing the inheritances of the wealthiest 0.2% of California’s families. This proposal expands Cal Grant eligibility to more than 330,000 working-class students who don’t attend college directly from high school, are formerly incarcerated, or are undocumented students considered residents under AB130 (the California Dream Act of 2011). It also increases living expense aid for working-class students by 80% to help ease the burden of non-tuition costs such as books, housing, and food.

The campaign is currently working with labor partners and state assembly members to propose a bill in the state legislature to place this measure on the 2022 ballot. Students are mobilizing their peers to put pressure on these stakeholders and communicate the crisis they’re experiencing for simply wanting to advance their lives and the lives of their communities.

If you’re a student wanting to get involved with this campaign, please learn more about SF Students Rising.