News Archives: Tagged california

College Used To Be Virtually Free In California   

Student debt is a huge problem in the United States, with the average student debt hitting a record high of $27,000 recently. But college wasn’t always this expensive in the United States. In fact, in some parts of the country it was virtually free.

For many years, dating back to the 19th century, California state colleges and universities were tuition-free. At most, students were asked to pay a small fee to cover certain university expenses (in 1899 this was $10 per semester).

When Gov. Ronald Reagan (R) took office, he insisted on imposing a new fee that would later become synonymous with tuition, thus ending California’s tradition of providing virtually free education to qualified college students. Since then, tuition has slowly skyrocketed, eclipsing the ability of many middle class Californians to get an affordable education.

In the past five fiscal years, California public colleges and universities have had the second-sharpest increases in tuition among any state in the country. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities illustrates this:

But 1,800 miles away, another state may get a chance at giving its students tuition-free college. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Halter has unveiled a plan called the “Arkansas Promise” which would make any state college tuition-free for a student who graduated from an Arkansas high school and can maintain a 2.5 grade point average.

We’ve launched a campaign to support Halter’s bold plan to guarantee tuition-free college to students who work hard. Click here to sign on as a citizen supporter of the Arkansas Promise.

Posted on March 19, 2013 at 2:00pm by . Posted in , . Leave a response.

SACRAMENTO BEE: L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa taking heat from Democratic left   

A coalition of liberal groups this week delivered petitions with more than 21,000 names to Villaraigosa’s office, demanding that he resign from the Campaign to Fix the Debt, which those on the left consider to be a right-wing plot to slash Social Security, Medicare and other social service and support programs, and protect the wealthy against tax increases. Move.on, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the California-based Courage Campaign are joining forces to pressure Villaraigosa, as detailed in this item on the Calitics website. [more]

Posted on December 12, 2012 at 1:48pm by . Posted in , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a response.

California Senator Challenges Corporate CEOs To Televised Debate About Their Tax Dodging   

California State Senator Kevin De Leon (D) has had enough of corporate tax dodging in his state.

If you have a dollar in your wallet, you have more money than Bank of America paid in taxes in 2010. That’s because a variety of corporations have bought off politicians and rigged the tax code so that they pay little to nothing at all in taxes, with some even getting generous tax benefits.

One California state senator is trying to put an end to one form of this tax-dodging. California state senator Kevin de Leon (D) is backing Proposition 39, which would “close a $1 billion corporate tax loophole” that allows corporations who have employees outside the state but who sell heavily in the state to take advantage of special tax breaks to keep their rates super-low.

Asking corporations to pay their fair share has raised the hackles of Big Business, and a number of corporations have started spending big against the measure, doing everything they can to turn voters against it.

De Leon is throwing down the gauntlet against these companies. He has requested a televised debate with the CEOs of General Motors, International Paper, and Kimberly-Clark — three corporations overtly opposing Prop. 39.

“The loophole allows you to sell products and services to the largest consumer market in the country while paying very little in taxes – and considerably less in taxes than California companies must pay.  It makes perfect sense for out-of-state companies that are padding their profits, but for California taxpayers and businesses, it makes absolutely no sense at all,” he wrote in his open letter to the three CEOs. “I am prepared to explain to Californians why we believe eliminating the loophole and leveling the playing field for California businesses is in the best interest of the state.  I welcome the three of you to explain why you felt the same way in other states, but not in California.”

De Leon is patiently waiting on a response from the corporate titans. Read his full letter to them here.

Posted on September 26, 2012 at 11:15am by . Posted in , . 3 comments. Leave a response.

Out Of State Interests Pouring Millions Into California To Crush Labor’s Political Power   

The corporate-funded anti-union movement that has targeted locales from Madison to Chicago has a new target: the state of California. In November, voters will get a chance to vote on Proposition 32, which would disallow labor unions from using their funds to back political candidates.

Although the proposition’s backers say that it would restrict corporate money as well, the problem is that it is written in a way to still allow corporations to finance outside money groups to back candidates — meaning that it would weaken the political power of labor unions while doing little to stop corporations from continuing to have outsized influence.

The primary group advocating for Prop. 32 is the “California Future Fund for Free Markets,” which is running television ads in support of the measure. Last week, the California Secretary of State’s office released disclosures that show contributions to the organization. The one large piece of money going to the group is a $4,080,000 contribution from the “American Future Fund” (AFF).

AFF is actually based about 1,800 miles away from the state of California, in Des Moines, Iowa. Because of a loophole in the tax code that allows for highly political organizations to register as “social welfare organizations,” it’s impossible to know exactly who funds AFF because it is not required to disclose its donors.

However, we do know that Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, who runs of a major ethanol company, has admitted to donating to AFF in the past. And an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that Big Pharma gave $300,000 to the group in 2010. We also know that it is run by hard-right Republican state senator Sandra Greiner.

The battle over Prop 32 reveals the absurdities behind the way political disclosure works. Unions will largely make up the bulk of the opposition to the proposition, and every dollar they spend against it will come with full transparency, thanks to California law and regulations put forth by the Department of Labor. But when it comes to the out of state interests spending against Prop 32, they’ll be able to use “social welfare organizations” as shells to spend millions of dollars anonymously.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Help us fight back against the influence of money in politics. Click here to join PCCC’s Take Back Democracy Campaign.

Posted on September 19, 2012 at 3:00pm by . Posted in , . 4 comments. Leave a response.