Prominent Democrats Join Long List of Prop. 54 Supporters

October 5, 2016 –California State Controller Betty Yee, former State Controller Steve Westly, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and San Francisco Supervisor Scott Weiner have joined former Assemblyman Joe Nation, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Chico City Councilman Randall Stone, and Crescent City Council Member Kathryn Murray, and a large bipartisan coalition of organizations and individuals in support of Prop. 54, a statewide initiative on the November 2016 ballot that will rein in the power of special interests and give voters a stronger voice in the State Legislature.

“As the former Controller of the State of California, I am proud to join the growing bipartisan coalition supporting Proposition 54, because we all can agree that giving the public and legislators time to review and weigh in on bills before they’re voted upon will result in better laws for our state,” said Steve Westly. “Transparency in government is critical, I hope voters will join me by voting yes on Prop 54.”

Prop. 54 will require all legislation to be in print and publicly posted online in its final form at least 72 hours before it may pass out of either house of the State Legislature, require all open legislative meetings to be audiovisual recorded and posted online within 24 hours, and grant all individuals the right to record and share videos of public legislative proceedings.

“Not only does Prop. 54 greatly increase transparency by ensuring proposed laws are available for public review prior to votes, but it reduces the influence of special interests by giving citizens the opportunity to discuss proposals,” said Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in a recent press release. “No longer will special interests be able to slip last-minute deals into policy behind closed doors.”

“Far too often, last-minute deals between lawmakers can drastically change the intent of legislation,” said Joe Nation, in an August 10, 2016 opinion editorial in the Marin Independent Journal. “This is not a partisan issue. A wide range of organizations from various political backgrounds support the California Legislature Transparency Act.”

The broad and diverse coalition supporting Prop. 54 also includes the League of Women Voters of California, the California State Conference of the NAACP, League of California Cities, California Common Cause, California Forward, the California Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business/CA, the Small Business Action Committee, the Latin Business Association, the California Business Roundtable, California Planning and Conservation League, Californians Aware, the First Amendment Coalition, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, CalTax, and many others.

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