LCEA Joins the California Progressive Alliance to Build Progressive Power Statewide

On March 30-31, LCEA’s very own Jessica Guadalupe Tovar participated in the 2019 founding convention of the California Progressive Alliance (CPA), a new volunteer network dedicated to building a statewide political and legislative agenda to reclaim our government from corporate interests and re-center the voice of the people in the electoral process and policymaking to build the power and equity of our most underrepresented communities.  The initial proposed platform of CPA includes a broad range of solutions such as:
  • Increasing regulation of the fossil fuel industry and promoting renewable energy
  • Transitioning energy generation and distribution from PG&E to public ownership and/or Community Choice Energy programs
  • Statewide Medicare for All
  • Support for AB 857, to allow cities and counties in California to form local public banks to finance investments in public benefits such as affordable housing, education, transportation, etc.
  • Closing the corporate tax loophole in Prop 13 to increase revenues for public schools and local communities
  • Police accountability and criminal justice reform, including support of the Reform L.A. Jails campaign to grant subpoena power to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission to investigate misconduct and develop a plan to reduce prison populations and fund alternatives to incarceration
  • Activating underutilized public and private land to create emergency shelter and a pathway to healing and stable housing for homeless people
  • The creation of land trusts and land stewardship programs by indigenous peoples of California
  • Opposing public and private investment in war and militarism
  • Universal basic income/prosperity dividend for all residents, funded by taxes on the fossil fuel industry, corporations, estates and a portion of budget surpluses
Jessica spoke on a panel with other activists and political leaders, and described East Bay Community Energy’s Local Development Business Plan, hard-won by LCEA's advocacy and organizing over the last few years, as a roadmap for implementing the Green New Deal in Alameda County.  She also spoke to the importance of centering the leadership of the most impacted communities to guide progressive campaigns, holding monopoly utility companies accountable, and bridging divides between labor and environmental justice work.  “Progressives in labor need to hold ‘their own’ accountable to not supporting myths about environmental justice initiatives taking away jobs—we are creating jobs.  The real culprit is the monopoly utilities that are holding workers and our communities hostage in an energy system that makes the public pay more to increase the profits of investors at the expense of public safety and workers’ prosperity.  This energy system continues to invest in dirty energy that disproportionately harms the health of low-income communities and communities of color.”
 
Speakers this weekend also included Richmond Progressive Alliance founder and former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, Chief Attorney of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Matt Gonzalez, president of Physicians for a National Health Program California Paul Song, Lakota People’s Law Project Dakotas Counsel Chase Iron Eyes, 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, and other notable leaders.
 
To become a member of the California Progressive Alliance and join an action committee, visit CPA’s website (https://californiaprogressivealliance.org/), and read more about CPA’s proposed policy platform here.  CPA seeks to build a broad and diverse membership base, and needs your leadership to guide this bold agenda for statewide progressive change.