Updated 10.12.12
CIPL Supports Props 37 and 39
Although it is among the lowest-profile measures on the Golden State ballot this fall, Proposition 39 has gained the support of a leading California faith-based organization.
“California Interfaith Power & Light supports this important proposal because it aligns with our mission of caring for Creation and reducing global-warming pollution,” said The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, the organization’s founder. “God also calls on us to serve our neighbors, and Prop 39 will create good jobs for Californians.”
In 2009, California lawmakers began allowing companies based out of state to calculate their California income tax on one of three factors of their choosing, including number of employees in California. This created a billion-dollar-a-year hit on California’s general fund and provided incentive for corporations to move jobs out of the state.
Prop 39 would require these out-of-state-based businesses to pay taxes the same way California-based companies do, based on the percentage of their total sales they make in California. It would also create a Clean Energy Job Creation Fund and direct up to $550 million each year for five years into energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on public buildings like solar panels on school roofs.
CIPL has also endorsed Proposition 37 on California’s November ballot. Prop 37 would require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered food.
“California Interfaith Power & Light supports Proposition 37,” said Bingham. “Our Cool Harvest campaign is dedicated to ensuring that everyone has safe food that is produced in a way that preserves and protects Creation. We are seekers of the truth, and that includes complete transparency and disclosure about the contents of the food we consume.”
Prop 37 would require that, if raw or processed food for sale is made from plants or animals with genetically altered material, then that food must be labeled as such. It would also prohibit such food as being labeled “natural.” Exemptions exist, such as food sold for immediate consumption (as in restaurants), food processed with or containing only small amounts of genetically engineered ingredients, and food made from animals that have not been genetically engineered themselves, but that may have been injected with genetically engineered material.
California Interfaith Power & Light is part of Interfaith Power & Light, a national campaign of The Regeneration Project, with affiliates in 40 states. IPL is mobilizing a religious response to global warming, the key moral issue of our time.