by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the Bush administration and national business groups, challenging a CA law that bans the use of state funds to "deter" their employees from joining a union. LAT:

The union-backed measure was approved by the state Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Gray Davis in 2000. Since then, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been attacking the law in the federal courts. Its lawyers say the measure conflicts with the "level playing field" set by federal labor law. As the Chamber sees it, union officials and management deserve the same rights to try to persuade their workers to vote for or against a union.

The California law "is part of a concerted effort to spur union organizing by silencing anti-union employer speech," the Chamber's lawyers said in their appeal to the Supreme Court. They said the law's impact would fall most heavily in industries such as healthcare, where the state subsidizes care for elderly and low-income persons.

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[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Greenlining Institute – a group very dedicated public policy advocates who are the voice for lots of folks who don’t have voices – sent this open letter to State Insurance Commissioner and 2010 Governor-Wannabe Steve Poizner today:

Dear Steve,

Given your supportive positions on other issues benefiting low-income and minority communities, we are surprised and disappointed in your decision to finance the opposition to the term limits initiative.

It appears you may not have had input from the low-income and minority communities that make up our constituency.

We are supporting the term limits initiative for several reasons. First, it will expand opportunities for our communities to have a voice in policymaking. Second, it will allow our communities to better compete with special interest groups by creating a level playing field for us in the legislative arena. Third, it will enable our community’s elected champions to develop additional expertise in one house of the legislature.

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