A ballot initiative, sponsored by the California Hospital Association (CHA), to require healthcare labor unions to inform members annually how member dues are being spent on political activities, specifically spending on state and local ballot measures, and require a majority of members to approve such expenditures qualified for the November ballot on June 5. The November ballot will also feature two ballot initiatives proposed by the SEIU-UHW, which would be affected by the CHA initiative, to establish a compensation limit for CEOs, executives, administrators, and managers of healthcare corporations and prohibit healthcare clinics, specifically federally-qualified health centers and related organizations, from spending less than 90% of their annual revenue on mission-related purposes.
The secretary of state reported in the final random sample count for the CHA initiative that 78% of signatures were projected to be valid, equivalent to 726,969 of the 931,534 submitted. To qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot in California, petitioners needed to collect signatures equal to 5% of the votes cast in the prior gubernatorial election (546,651 signatures).
The initiative would apply to all healthcare unions in the state with more than 50,000 members. This would include unions such as SEIU Local 2015, California Nurses Association, and SEIU-UHW.
