Special Exemptions Act

The Special Exemptions Act (also known as the Corporate Deception Power Grab) is a ballot measure designed to silence the voices of workers and strengthen the political influence of giant multinational corporations. This initiative has qualified to appear on the November 2012 general election ballot.

Proponents of the initiative claim it would rein in campaign contributions by both unions and corporations, but in fact, the deceptive wording of the initiative specifically targets union members, while a big loophole leaves corporate campaign contributions essentially unscathed and unchecked.

Attempts to enact a similar ban have failed in recent years, including a 2005 initiative backed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Get the facts about this initiative
In deceptively simple language, this initiative seems like it treats both corporations and workers equally and fairly. It appears to ban all “special interest money” in the future. It won’t. In reality, this initiative would put a chokehold on working families’ participation in the political process and further tilt the balance of power in favor of wealthy interests.

• It takes away workers’ right to pool our money together so we can have a strong voice in the political decisions that affect our jobs, families and communities. Working families have the right to be heard in the American political process. Without our voice, there would be no employer-provided health care, no vacation and sick leave, no minimum wage, no overtime pay and no job safety protections.

• Californians have twice rejected similar measures at the ballot box, so that’s why backers are pretending to limit corporate contributions this time around. But read the details: the only corporate contributions this measure bans are employee payroll deductions and direct contributions from corporations to candidates. However, that’s not how corporations make their political contributions.

• The devil is in the details. While unions and other worker organizations collect most of their political contributions through payroll deduction, corporations funnel most of their contributions directly from their mega-profits to political action committees (PACs)—and this initiative places no restrictions at all on those contributions! In the 2008 election cycle, corporations outspent unions by 19-to-1! Under this initiative, they can continue to relentlessly write fat checks to their PACs, which will then simply turn around and write fat checks to the candidates. Meanwhile, these deceptive measures impose an “extremely costly” and “significant” burden on a union’s political activities, according to the Washington Supreme Court, which declared a similar measure to be unconstitutional.

• It paves the way for more cutbacks in our standard of living. Especially in this economy, unions are among the only strong advocates for workers and the middle class against Wall Street, multinational corporations and unfair trade “partners” that have cost millions of Americans their jobs.

• Workers already have a choice. No worker can be forced to fund a union’s political and legislative activities. Workers who disagree with union political activities can choose not to pay the amount of dues that goes for those activities (this right is protected by law). Corporations, by contrast, don’t give shareholders, employees or customers any say in their political activities.

• The backers of this initiative are NOT “good government” groups. It’s being funded by billionaires and corporate lobbies who want to control our state without any opposition. The key backers are the same corporate groups that have been forcing a race to the bottom that lowers standards for everyone—slashing wages, outsourcing our jobs and eliminating benefits and retirement security. These are the same corporate interests that have poured millions of dollars into opposing Wall Street accountability while calling for the privatization of Social Security and even repealing the minimum wage!