YES ON PROP 15: Election Night Press Conference & Media Packet

For Prop. 15 updates and interviews, please tune into tonight’s 10:30 PM press conference and/or contact the Yes on 15 campaign

Proposition 15, the historic ballot measure put forward by the Schools & Communities First coalition that closes corporate tax loopholes to reclaim $12 billion every year for essential local services and schools, is the product of a years-long effort of Californians who got into this fight for the right reasons. The corporate-backed opponents of Prop. 15, which outspent Yes on 15 by $20 million, relied on a campaign of scare tactics and misinformation – while we ran a campaign of what’s possible when Californians come together to shape their destiny.

Here’s more information about Prop. 15 and the historic coalition that powered it:

• The Story of Prop. 15 and the Historic Coalition Behind It

• Prop. 15 One-Pager

Tonight, the California groups and leaders that anchored the Yes on 15 campaign will host a press conference to talk about this effort, provide an update on vote returns, and answer questions from the media:

WHAT: Yes on 15 election night press conference

WHEN: Tuesday, November 3rd from 10:30-11:00 PM

WHERE: Please click here to RSVP for this Zoom

WHO:

• E. Toby Boyd, kindergarten teacher and President of the California Teachers Association, the voice of 310,000 educators in California’s public schools and colleges.

• Anthony Thigpenn of California Calls, an alliance of 31 grassroots organizations throughout the state dedicated to engaging, educating, and motivating new and infrequent voters to make California’s electorate reflect the state’s diverse population.

• April Verrett, President of SEIU, Local 2015 – a union fighting for progressive change for working people across the state, representing over 400,000 home care and nursing home workers throughout California.

• Jeff Freitas, a former high school math teacher and president of the California Federation of Teachers, a union of educators and classified employees committed to promoting high-quality education and securing the conditions necessary to provide the best services to California’s students.

• Andrea Guerrero of Alliance San Diego, a community empowerment organization working to ensure that all people can achieve their full potential in an environment of harmony, safety, equality, and justice.

• Joseph Tomás Mckellar of PICO California, a network of faith-based, multicultural community organizations representing 400 congregations and 450,000 families across California dedicated to developing clergy and grassroots community leaders to enrich congregational life through racial and economic justice.

The Story of Prop. 15 and the Historic Coalition Behind It

The battle for Prop. 15 began long before the official committee was formed or the ballot number was assigned. Five years ago, a core group of racial and social justice organizations and labor unions convened to take on the impossible: closing the corporate tax loopholes that have drained billions from our schools and local communities. The historic coalition that organized behind Prop. 15 is a reflection of the widely held belief that California’s future demands greater public investment in the things we all value.

The central debate in the campaign for Prop. 15 was about what our priorities as a state should be and the structural reform needed to accomplish those priorities. Despite California ranking as the 5th largest economy in the world, we have the most overcrowded classrooms in the entire country and suffer from some of the worst rates of poverty and income inequality in the nation. Prop. 15 challenged Californians to break from tax giveaway policies and boldly confront the big challenges we face through sound investments.

The fight for Prop. 15 has exposed major cracks in the decades-old scare tactics big corporations use to bully voters into giving them tax loopholes so they can avoid paying their fair share. These are lies and scare tactics that were struck down by a court ruling for being “false and/or misleading” and multiple fact checks. This campaign showed that Californians are highly skeptical of these worn out old scare tactics.

The fight for Prop. 15 was many years in the making. It is a big step forward for a more equitable and prosperous state, and it provides a framework for future work and reform to truly take on the challenges of our times on behalf of all Californians.

From the very beginning, the Schools & Communities First coalition executed a multi-year strategy that took nothing for granted:

Historically broad coalition and more than 1,600 endorsers

The Schools & Communities First coalition, which expanded dramatically over the past several years, was anchored by some of the most influential groups in California:

• PICO California

• California Teachers Association

• California Federation of Teachers

• SEIU California

• California Calls

• Alliance San Diego

Yes on 15 garnered more than 1,600 endorsements from grassroots organizations, elected officials, frontline and essential workers, interfaith and business leaders, labor unions, nonprofits, and more. Here are just a few:

• Former Vice President Joe Biden

• U.S. Senator Kamala Harris

• Governor Gavin Newsom

• California Democratic Party

• U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders

• State Superintendent Tony Thurmond

• Parent Teachers Association (PTA) of California

• California Labor Federation

• California League of Conservation Voters

• Natural Resources Defense Council

• Sierra Club California

• ACLU of California

• California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA)

• Housing California

• League of Women Voters California

• Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California

• California Nurses Association

• California Professional Firefighters

• California State Firefighters Association

• Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce

• Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce

• Community Alliance with Family Farmers

• Community Coalition

• Dolores Huerta Foundation

• CHIRLA

• TechEquity Collaborative

• ACCE

• Evolve California

• AAPI Force

• Advancement Project

• Californians for Justice

• Working Partnerships USA

• Power CA

• Economic Security Project

• California School Employees Association

• CA Yimby

• Common Sense

• Policy Link

• LAANE

• Public Advocates

• Alliance for a Better Community

• UTLA

• Greater Public Schools Now

The people power in this broad coalition of working Californians, community groups, and leaders was a game changer on all fronts and was the driving force every step of the way. That same people power is what ultimately got us across the finish line, reaching out to tens of thousands of voters through newsletters, social media, texts, calls, postcards, mailers, voter guides, forums, panels, op-eds, LTEs, and more.

Massive ground game to expand the electorate

• Starting more than five years before Prop. 15 ever made it to the ballot, the Schools & Communities First coalition began building a grassroots infrastructure: contacting voters and engaging in public education to build support to deliver critical votes.

• This coalition waged the largest GOTV and persuasion program in California, with more than 100 organizations that mobilized 39,000 volunteer shifts to conduct more than 500 phone banks, texting, and digital outreach in the 8 weeks leading up to Election Day – making roughly 900,000 voter contacts.

• Before this GOTV effort, the Schools & Communities First coalition made history by collecting and submitting more than 1.74 million signatures of support – the most in California history.

• Yes on 15 held nearly 300 non-English phone banks in eleven languages, and hosted multiple virtual rallies that attracted thousands of Californians to engage more supporters and voters.

Reaching voters online

• The campaign adapted to an evolving and increasingly-expensive market to mobilize the entire Democratic spectrum towards victory, starting significantly earlier than the opposition and other ballot initiatives competing for attention.

• Beginning in November 2019, we made significant investments in building a social media following and a massive email list.

• The campaign was able to reach up to 500,000 people online per day with Yes on 15 content that helped build an unparalleled audience, online advocacy efforts, and volunteer recruitment.

• We targeted a critical group of voters with digital persuasion ads starting in January 2020, communicating with voters in multiple languages and crafting variations on the ads depending on the voters we were targeting. Despite unprecedented challenges in mobilizing voters, we continued innovating and adapting.

Exposing the corporate-backed opposition and their tax breaks

The opponents of Prop. 15 raised $75 million from corporations that benefit from tax loopholes, such as Blackstone and Chevron, to run a campaign to protect those tax breaks – outspending the Yes on 15 campaign by $20 million.

Throughout this campaign, the corporate-backed opposition and the tax breaks they benefit from were exposed:

• KQED: 45 Fremont Street: How Commercial Real Estate Owners Avoid Higher Property Taxes

• Los Angeles Times: Corporations get big edge in Prop. 13 quirk

• Curbed: The Most Notorious Property-Tax Underpayers in California

• KQED: Prop. 15 Would Close a Corporate Tax Loophole. Here's How It Got There in the First Place

• Curbed: Dell Founder Using Prop. 13 Loophole to Save Bundle on Fairmont Miramar Taxes

• Los Angeles Times: Column: Who’s opposing Proposition 15? Land developers and Big Business

STATEMENT: Another Poll Shows Yes on 15 in the Lead

As with every single other poll conducted to date, new Berkeley IGS poll shows that voters choose to support Prop. 15

According to a new Berkeley IGS poll, California voters continue to support Prop. 15. These results reflect every single other poll conducted to date showing that Prop. 15 either wins a majority or plurality of support, while opponents have never come close to such support.

“With only eight days left, voters continue to support Prop. 15. Opponents of this measure have yet to win a plurality of voters, and this poll further reinforces that,” said Alex Stack, Yes on 15 spokesperson. “This is another sign that California voters support closing corporate tax loopholes to bring $12 billion back into our local communities, schools, and small businesses every year.”

These results reflect all other polling conducted to date showing that Prop. 15 always wins a plurality of voters:

• PPIC October poll showed 49% support for Prop. 15.

• ABC 10 poll from September showed 49% support for Prop. 15.

• Berkeley IGS poll from September showed 49% support for Prop. 15

• PPIC September poll showed 51% support for Prop. 15.

• Latino Community Foundation poll conducted between August 7th and 16th showed 76% support from Latino voters.

Prop. 15 is a November ballot measure that will close corporate property tax loopholes to reclaim nearly $12 billion every year for schools and critical local services – all while protecting homeowners and renters, small businesses, and agriculture. Prop. 15 will also cut business personal property taxes for small businesses. An analysis of Prop. 15 showed that only the top 10% will generate 92% of the revenue.