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April 2003

In recent months, the GPAC County Council has endorsed the following:

Senate Bill 17, introduced by Senator Martha Escutia (D-Montebello), that would reassess property taxes on corporations every time there is a change in the ownership of the corporation. Passage of this bill would begin to close the current loophole that allows corporations to underpay, and as a result would have an immediate positive effect on the funds available for Oaklandıs students. As a result of a Proposition 13 loophole, corporations now pay half of what they paid in property taxes thirty years ago. Property taxes are the major source of school funding.

Senate Bill 921 Health Care for all Californians, introduced by Senator Keuhl (D-Santa Monica). The GPAC will work with the authors and sponsoring organizations to ensure that SB 921 fulfills GP principles, meets the mandate to eliminate private market health insurance, and establishes a one tiered comprehensive benefit package guaranteed to all Californians, including undocumented residents, and that the campaign will promote grassroots organizing and popular education about single payer health care.

A Planned Wildlife Refuge at Alameda Point managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The site of the proposed Alameda Wildlife Refuge is inhabited by over 100 species of birds; hosts the worldıs most important nesting colony of the endangered California least tern; and is San Francisco Bayıs only night roosting site for the endangered California brown pelican. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested that the Navy transfer 565 acres of land and 390 acres of Bay waters to create the new refuge; but the Navy has recently asked that the USFWS withdraw its request for the site. The Navy believes that it can give the land away to a non-profit conservation organization (Realty Restoration Gift Fund) and reduce its costs for hazardous material and toxic waste clean-up. The Green Party of Alameda County strongly supports the prompt federal-to-federal transfer of the uncontaminated portion of the property to the USFWS and opposes the transfer of the proposed refuge to the Realty Restoration Gift Fund. The Green Party of Alameda County is sending letters articulating our position on this issue to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior Craig Manson, U.S. Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and Representatives Lee and Pelosi. (For more information about the Refuge, contact: Arthur Feinstein, afeinstein@goldengateaudubon.org or http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/, phone: (510) 843-2222).

Urban Roots Gill Tract proposal (see story)

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