The campaign for Prop. 15, the California Fair Elections Act, kicks off in San Francisco this Sunday afternoon. It’s an appropriate city to launch this effort, given San Francisco’s leadership on electoral reform, from our pioneering ranked choice voting system to our low political contribution limits to the public financing available in the races for mayor and the Board of Supervisors.
As I discussed in an article this week’s paper, the measure would create a pilot public financing program in the 2014 and 2018 races for the Secretary of State, funded by a $350 annual fee on lobbyists and their employers. It was placed on the ballot by legislation pushed primarily by Bay Area legislators Loni Hancock, Mark Leno, and Tom Ammiano.
Those legislators, along with Sup. Ross Mirkarimi, campaign chair Trent Lange, and California Nurses Association president Deborah Burger, are scheduled to speak at the event, with takes place at 1 p.m. outside the Main Library, 100 Larkin Street.