By admin 
Roughly 1,000 delegates of the California Federation of Labor voted Tuesday to endorse Proposition 40, a one-time, 5% wealth tax on billionaires aimed at addressing looming healthcare cuts.
Read more California ag board: No letter to Newsom asking for packaging bill delay. Why not?
The backing from the Labor Federation, an umbrella group representing more than 1,300 unions, is a major win for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, Prop. 40’s sponsor. It comes on the heels of a similar endorsement by the California Democratic Party’s executive committee on Sunday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and his potential successor, Democrat Xavier Becerra, have come out against the measure. Skeptics have said Prop. 40 endangers the state’s long-term financing, which relies on high-earners’ income taxes, because billionaires might flee the state.
That argument has been echoed by both business groups and some Labor Federation members, including the California Teachers Association, the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and United Domestic Workers.
In an interview, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan sought to marginalize those critics Tuesday, noting both the Democrats and Labor Federation require supermajorities to win an endorsement.
“Labor is unified, and the Democratic Party is unified,” Regan said. “And anybody who says different just isn’t paying attention to what’s happening.”
The “Yes on 40” campaign said a dozen people spoke in favor of the measure and received applause, while two critics were booed or met with silence. The vote occurred by voice.
Read more Elk Grove residents’ Flock camera data shared with thousands of groups, audit finds
Regan described the mood as “joyous” and said he’d been inundated with text messages from union leaders asking how they could help. Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez said the group would almost certainly be outspent by billionaires but said Prop. 40 enjoyed a moral advantage.
“At the end of the day, they still just are representing their interests, and we’re representing working people,” Gonzalez said.
While the Labor Federation meeting was closed to the public, California Democrats’ weekend gathering in San Diego showed rifts within the party’s executive board. The endorsement initially failed to clear the 60% threshold it needed to pass before two people switched their vote.
Skeptics stressed that they shared the goals of the measure, but said it was poorly conceived policy that had been crafted in isolation by Regan and SEIU-UHW.
“CTA has a no problem taxing the wealthy,” the union’s associate executive director, Teri Holoman, told Democrats at a meeting Saturday. “The reason that we oppose Prop. 40 is because we do believe in sustainable progressive tax, and this isn’t it. It’s a one-time tax that won’t provide relief not just for schools, but for communities, for firefighters, for other people who depend on general fund and state dollars, that’s the reason why we oppose it.”
The Labor Federation’s endorsement could come with money and manpower, although Gonzalez and the federation’s leadership will have to decide how to allocate those resources among competing congressional and legislative races. The nod from California Democrats means official party materials in the November election will indicate the party supports the tax.
Read more Folsom’s Harris Center for the Arts announces star-studded season for 15th year