March 2024 California DSA State Council Meeting Report
On March 9th, 2024, CA DSA’s State Council met to discuss the state of California DSA, hear from our committees and working groups about current efforts, and deliberated on two items for adoption.
Keynote Speakers
TJ Holsman, Co-Chair of DSA San Francisco’s Palestinian Solidarity Working Group talked to us about the work being done by the chapter in support of anti-Zionism. DSA SF has passed resolutions, hosted decompression circles for member discussion, participated in mass actions, and worked with Supervisor Dean Preston to introduce a ceasefire resolution which passed. This work has also been connected to Bay Area Labor for Palestine.
Henry Salazar, a member of Inland Empire DSA and United Auto Workers LOCAL 230, talked to the council about his participation in the UAW "Standup Strike" of last year.
Reports
One of our Co-Chairs, Tal L, talked to us about some of the strengths of California DSA, including our newsletter, building and managing our network between chapters in California, and assisting in statewide labor organizing. We’ve also adopted a legislative endorsement framework, are beginning the effort of integrating with the National Electoral Commission, running a CA DSA Solidarity Dues Drive, and a CA DSA 101. Tal also discussed the difficulties our statewide organization has been facing due to a large administrative burden, administration of our PAC, and an inability to engage members across their state who are engaged with work in their local chapters. Members of our delegation were asked to think about what work is vital to CA DSA and should continue to be administered, and which work could be reduced in adapting to our currently small volunteer pool.
Nickan F discussed the work that has been accomplished by our Ballot Measure (BMWG) and Voter Guide (VGWG) Working Groups. The BMWG created a proposal for deliberation at our meeting to support a housing ballot measure slate and the VGWG created a statewide voter guide for state and federal seats.
Fred G told our delegates about the challenges our Labor Committee has faced, particularly the lack of capacity and attendance due to large amounts of volunteer engagement in their local chapters.
Our Communications Committee has been publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, California Red, which often gets sizable engagement from our members. Volunteers are needed to maintain this newsletter and keep our operation growing. You can sign up for the Comms Committee here.
The Ecosocialist Working Group discussed their meeting in January, their support of DSA national in building for power, ecosoc for Palestine, and the oil referendum that will be on the ballot in California in 2024.
Resolutions
The CA State Council voted on two resolutions presented to the delegation. The first was a resolution from members of the Inland Empire DSA chapter on Anti-Zionism. This resolution established issue-based guidelines for barring certain endorsements and removal of delegates. Upon a vote by the delegation, this resolution failed.
The second proposal was a submission from our Ballot Measure Working Group called The Affordable, Rent-Controlled Housing (ARCH) Campaign which would center around three statewide ballot initiatives in the 2024 general election in California. These measures are seeking to lift limitations on rent control by repealing Costa-Hawkins, lift de facto bans on publicly-funded and publicly-owned housing through a repeal of California Constitution Article 34, and the reduction of the infrastructure funding supermajority threshold. This proposal was approved. If you’d like to get involved with this campaign, you can sign up here.
