Legislative Advocacy with UUJMCA
Looking for ways to put your Unitarian Universalist values and faith into action? Want to learn more about upcoming opportunities to engage in policy and legislative justice in California? You’ve come to the right place!
UUJMCA knows that mobilizing and supporting California UUs to take specific faith-rooted action is an important part of our mission to make life better for all Californians. And we also know that our collective power can make a difference, shift hearts, and transform policies. So we’ve made it a bit easier for you to see what openings exist for you to put your faith in action. Check out the policy and legislative initiatives below, sign, send, and share them with other California UUs who want to create a more just and equitable world!
Immigrant Justice
Monday, May 11, 2020
UUJMCA will once again be participating in the California Immigrant Policy Center’s “Immigrant Day of Action,” now being held ONLINE. Sign up to be part of our UU contingent making our voices virtually heard in Sacramento!
Sign up for Immigrant Day of Action!
Support the VISION Act (AB 2596)
Join UUJMCA and immigrant rights activists in our ongoing efforts to get #ICEOUTOFCA with the latest effort to pass the VISION Act in 2020! The VISION Act builds on the previous efforts of the 2017 Values Act by further dismantling the ways in which California prisons and jails can coordinate with ICE, so we can end the prison to deportation pipeline and keep families together. You can find out more about the VISION Act and show your support by sending a letter to your California state legislators and signing UUJMCA’s letter of support, to be delivered to Sacramento late this year!
#Health4All (AB 4 / SB 29)
Join UUJMCA & the California Immigrant Policy Center in our ongoing push to get #Health4All Californians. More updates about the 2020 effort to expand coverage to all adults regardless of documentation will be shared here. Learn more about the importance of #Health4All by bringing a screening of CIPC’s COVER/AGE Documentary.
Include Immigrants in the CalEITC!
From the California Immigrant Policy Center: “The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) is critical for staving off the devastating economic impact of coronavirus, but immigrant tax filers continue to be excluded. For too long, immigrants have been excluded from the Cal EITC, Unemployment Insurance, and other vital benefits. We need the Governor to retroactively include ALL low-income workers in the CalEITC and Young Child Tax Credit right away. Send a message TODAY to make sure ALL of California’s families are cared for!
Economic Justice
Support Schools & Communities First in November 2020!
The UU Justice Ministry of California supports the Schools and Communities First Initiative, which is seeking to revise Proposition 13 (passed in 1978) to update taxes on industrial and commercial properties. Revenue from these taxes will be applied to building and improving schools across California. From BallotPedia:
“The ballot initiative would amend the state constitution to require commercial and industrial properties, except those zoned as commercial agriculture, to be taxed based on their market value. In California, the proposal to assess taxes on commercial and industrial properties at market value, while continuing to assess taxes on residential properties based on purchase price, is known as split roll… The ballot initiative would provide the following tax exemptions for industrial and commercial properties: (1) the first $500,000 of a business’s personal property or (2) 100 percent of a business’s personal property when the business has 50 or fewer full-time employees. The ballot initiative would also continue to tax properties of businesses whose holdings in the state are valued at less than $2 million (adjusted for inflation beginning in 2023) based on their purchase price, rather than market value.”
Environmental Justice
Updates from our partners at Community Water Center, the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe will be shared here shortly.
