CEJA Action is proud to release our 2022 Environmental Justice Voter Guide!
CEJA is proud to announce our 2022 Ballot Measure Voter Guide ahead of the November election. Informed by our member-leaders and a commitment to the health of working class Californians, we share these recommendations to help inform your voting this November. These are important measures which will have a direct impact for communities of color. We encourage California to commit to resourcing all economically, socially and environmentally vulnerable communities.
We are proud to endorse Proposition 1 and the right to critical reproductive health care for all Californians. We support increasing funding for arts education in public schools (Proposition 28); and increased medical supervision of dialysis clinics (Proposition 29); as well as a ban on flavored tobacco products (Proposition 31).
We offer a neutral position on Proposition 26, a ballot measure led by California tribes, which would legalize sports betting for tribal-owned casinos, and Proposition 30, a ballot measure heavily funded by ride-share company Lyft, which would create a millionaire’s tax to fund electric-vehicles and charging stations in low income communities, and prevent wildfires.
For the health of California communities, we recommend voting no on Proposition 27, which would legalize online and mobile sports betting.
We know there are many voter guides you can turn to this year. Thank you for choosing our set of recommendations to represent how to vote with your values and visions for your communities on November 8th.
Download the 2020 Environmental Justice Voter Guide here in Spanish and here in English!
California Environmental Justice Action is proud to endorse the following candidates:
Dave Jones (SD-8) – As a community lawyer, former Assemblymember and California Insurance Commissioner, Jones has a long history of leading groundbreaking policies to protect working families, expand equal and quality healthcare, and safeguard the environment. Learn more and support Dave Jones’ campaign here.
Aisha Wahab (SD-10) – As a current Hayward City Councilmember, Wahab has led on wide victories for working families in Senate District 10. Wahab spearheaded the removal of nuclear energy as an option for the East Bay Community Energy Plan, pushed for fossil fuel free development and opposed a proposal for an Amazon warehouse expansion to protect residents living along commerce routes. Learn more and support Aisha Wahab’s campaign here.
Steve Padilla (SD-18) – As a former California Coastal Commissioner, and former Mayor and current Chula Vista Councilmember, Padilla led the approval of the city’s landmark Climate Action Plan to implement community choice energy. Councilmember Padilla has spearheaded the expansion of new parks, housing and community spaces serving communities of color. Learn more and support Steve Padilla’s campaign here.
Caroline Menjivar (SD-20) – As the East Valley Representative for Los Angeles Mayor’s office on gender equity, green new deal, and LGBTQ+ issues Menjivar led efforts to inform residents of services during the about COVID-19 pandemic. As a former therapist, emergency medical responder, and public servant, she understands the needs of communities in the San Fernando Valley and is committed to supporting working families. Learn more and support Caroline Menjivar’s campaign here.
Lola Smallwood Cuevas (SD-28) – As a co-founder of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center and current Project Director at the UCLA Labor Center, Smallwood Cuevas works at the intersection of racial justice, labor, and equity. She has been nationally recognized for her work to increase access to quality jobs, reduce employment discrimination, and improve industries that employ Black workers in safe family sustaining jobs and workplace unionization. Learn more and support Lola Smallwood Cuevas’ campaign here.
Sara Aminzadeh (AD-12) – As a California Coastal Commissioner and Vice President of Partnerships and Senior Advisor of the US Water Alliance, Aminzadeh has championed efforts to improve access to clean water and protect frontline communities from extreme weather and wildfires. Learn more and support Sara Aminzadeh’s campaign here.
Liz Ortega (AD-20) – As the first Latina Alameda Labor Council Executive Secretary Treasurer, Ortega has spent years empowering union members and working families. Throughout her career as an organizer, advocate, and labor leader she has fought for protections for frontline workers and their families as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our communities. Learn more and support Liz Ortega’s campaign here.
Gail Pellerin (AD-28) – As Santa Cruz County’s chief elections official for over 20 years, Pellerin expanded voting accessibility to ensure that our democracy includes everyone, including non-English speakers and system-impacted voters. Learn more and support Gail Pellerin’s campaign here.
Gregg Hart (AD-37) – As former Planning Commissioner, City Council Member and California Coastal Commissioner, and current Santa Barbara County Supervisor Hartis an experienced leader and policy maker. He has advocated for public transportation and clean energy projects for the central coast. Learn more and support Gregg Hart’s campaign here.
Assemblymember Steve Bennett (AD-38) – As a current Assemblymember and former Ventura County Supervisor, Bennett spearheaded the creation of California’s first farmworker resource center, serving Spanish and Mixteco speaking frontline agricultural workers. Asm. Bennett continued his leadership for California’s most under-resourced populations by authoring Assembly Bill 941 to expand these vital resources for farm workers across the state. As a legislative champion who partners closely with environmental justice organizations, he has worked to stop expansion of oil and gas extraction in the district. Learn more and support Asm. Bennett’s campaign here.
Pilar Schiavo (AD-40) – As a labor leader for over 20 years, Schiavo has built broad coalitions between labor and community organizations to advocate for economic, social, and racial and environmental justice victories. Schiavo spearheaded and won county-wide healthcare services for uninsured residents and is a tireless advocate for working families, and communities of color. Learn more and support Pilar Schiavo’s campaign here.
Christy Holstege (AD-47) – As Palm Springs Mayor and community lawyer, Holstege has been a lifelong advocate representing farmworkers, domestic violence survivors, workers, people with disabilities, and tenants. While in office, Holstege spearheaded the adoption of community choice energy, enrolled all residents and businesses in fossil free power, expanded local access to renewable energy to bring energy and water rate certainty for customers, created local jobs, and reduced city emissions. Learn more and support Christy Holstege’s campaign here.
Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes (AD-50) – Elected to the Assembly in 2016, Majority Leader Reyes has served as a principal author of numerous environmental health policy. She has been a trusted partner with environmental justice organizations partnering to win crucial victories for frontline communities. Learn more and support Asm. Eloise Gómez Reyes’ campaign here.
Rick Chavez Zbur (AD-51) – As a former environmental lawyer and most recently as Executive Director of Equality California Chavez Zbur has been a statewide expert in environmental and civil rights litigation. His expertise in the foundation of environmental policy and human rights will advance intersectional environmental and climate justice policy that uplift California’s low income and communities of color. Learn more and support Rick Chavez Zbur’s campaign here.
Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (AD 61) – Assemblymember McKinnor has served the public as a former staff of the legislature and California Democratic Party, and a longtime faith-based social justice organizer. McKinnor has spent her career advocating for policies to improve the lives of low income and communities of color. Learn more about Asm. McKinnor’s campaign here.
Fauzia Rizvi (AD- 63) – As a longtime community leader and current elected member of the Western Municipal Water District Board of Directors, Rizvi is a committed advocate for safe and reliable water for all. Sheis also the co-founder and president of the For the People Task Force, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to COVID testing, mask distribution, and addressing food insecurity throughout the Inland Empire. Learn more about Rizvi’s campaign here.
Fatima Iqbal-Zubair (AD-65) – An educator, community advocate, immigration and environmental activist, Iqbal-Zubair is committed to improve air quality, create sustainable affordable housing, and bring good green jobs to residents of the South Bay of Los Angeles. If elected, Iqbal-Zubair will fight for environmental justice for working families. Learn more and support Fatima Iqbal-Zubair’s campaign here.
Assemblymember Chris Ward (AD-78) – As a current Assemblymember and former San Diego City Councilmember, Ward has led alongside regional and statewide environmental justice organizations to combat climate change. Asm. Ward served as a co-author of Senate Bill 467 to establish health and safety buffer zones from oil drilling in neighborhoods. Learn more and support Asm. Ward’s campaign here.
Georgette Gómez (AD-80) – Former San Diego City Council President and life-long community organizer, Gómez has advocated for California’s formative environmental justice policies and resources. She led the implementation of the city’s landmark Climate Action Plan to initiate cross-agency collaboration to reduce emissions and transition to clean renewable energy. Learn more and support Georgette Gómez’s campaign here.
Advancing Environmental Justice Principles
Each of our endorsements is driven by the candidate’s commitment to our guiding principles of environmental justice. By advocating for these values, and endorsing candidates with a commitment to putting them into practice, we can build a more environmentally just California.
They are to:
- Do no harm: decisions must do no further harm to environmental justice communities.
- Prioritize and value human health and improved quality of life: human health and well-being should not be overlooked for business interests or “cost effectiveness.”
- Prioritize environmental justice communities: confront the tragic, historic legacy and ongoing disproportionate polluting sources in communities, as well as the trend of disinvestment in those neighborhoods.
- Meaningfully engage with impacted communities: decisions are informed by residents of environmental justice communities. Decision-makers must be proactive and culturally relevant in soliciting input on actions to improve health, be responsive to community concerns and be transparent in their work to ensure continued engagement and accountability for decisions.
- Be proactive: decision-makers should not wait for communities to approach them with solutions, but proactively reach out to impacted community groups for ideas and feedback.
- Take intersectional approaches: environmental justice communities are systematically disenfranchised and experience the impacts of patriarchy, racism and state violence. To be more inclusive, we must partner to advance intersectional solutions that creatively address the multiple crises Californians are facing.
- Be responsive: Decision makers need to be responsive and accountable to community concerns when addressed. Offices should make continued discussion a priority, working on an issue until it is resolved.
- Respect community expertise: frontline residents are experts in their communities, and know the solutions they want to see. However, too often community voices are ignored for lack of “verification” which prevents or delays effective harm reduction. Decision-makers should turn to community leaders for input and trust what they learn to inform more equitable policy.
CEJA Action is the only statewide, people of color-led alliance with deep expertise on environmental and climate justice issues faced by communities on the frontline of long-term pollution, systemic racism and regulatory negligence. We are the only alliance that builds the political power of environmental justice communities with strong infrastructure focused on mobilizing voters on candidate races. Our Primary Voter Guide reflects our Alliance’s deep-rooted community organizing – and we’ve endorsed candidates who will advance critical policies to improve the health and quality of life for communities of color.
Ad paid for by CEJA Action PAC, sponsored by CEJA Action a project of Tides Advocacy. Not authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.
Ad paid for by CEJA Action PAC, sponsored by CEJA Action a project of Tides Advocacy.