Three ballot initiatives have been filed with the City of Oakland and will soon be ready to begin signature gathering. These initiatives represent a message to the City Council and the ‘Housing Cabinet’ : half measures aren’t going to cut it. People need living wages without every wage increase being consumed (and more!) by rental increases. People need to know they aren’t going to be evicted without cause so real estate moguls can make even higher profits. People need to know they can walk down the street without fear of OPD executing them, and they need to know their tax dollars aren’t being wasted on lawsuit settlements caused by a police force that is still out of control.
Below are brief summaries of the three initiatives, and links to more information about them. The official title and summary for the Minimum Wage and Police Commission ordinances are further down the page.
Oakland-Minimum Wage and Fair Scheduling Initiative (as filed).
- Raise Oakland’s minimum wage to $14.00/hr in 2017, $16/hr in 2018, $18/hr in 2019 and $20/hr in 2020, adjusting upwards with inflation after that.
- Establish rules and pay scales for worker scheduling in certain retail industries, in companies with 20 or more employees in Oakland and 40 or more locations worldwide;
- Establish a Department of Labor Standards to enforce these new rules and investigate wage theft, with mandatory financing and staffing.
Police Commission Charter Amendment Initiative
- establish a Civilian Oakland Police Commission;
- All changes to the policies, procedures and customs of OPD subject to the Commission’s approval;
- establish a Community Police Review Agency to investigate all complaints of police misconduct;
- Require City to allocate enough money to pay for appropriate facilities, equipment, staff, and training.
Rent Stabilization Ballot Initiative Filing (title and summary not yet available)
Rent Stabilization Initiative Essay
Rent-Stablilization-Press-Release-03-16
- Extend protections under the Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance to thousands more Oakland rental units;
- Implement the currently unenforced Tenant Protection Ordinance;
- Reform the existing Rent Adjustment Program to limit rent increases to 60% of the Bay Area Consumer Price Index, barring appeal;
- Place an absolute 5% per year cap on rent increases;
- Place more rental units under rent control;
- Ensure a tenant-majority Rent Board.
TITLE AND SUMMARY FOR POLICE COMMISSION CHARTER INITIATIVE, AS PROVIDED BY THE CITY ATTORNEY.
A PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE OAKLAND CITY CHARTER ESTABLISHING AN OAKLAND POLICE COMMISSION TO OVERSEE POLICE DEPARTMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, INVESTIGATE COMPLAINTS OF POLICE MISCONDUCT, AND IMPOSE DISCIPLINE
This measure would establish an Oakland Police Commission (“Commission”) consisting of seven regular and three alternate members.
All changes to the policies, procedures and customs of the Oakland Police Department (“OPD”) would be subject to the Commission’s approval. The Commission or the Mayor could remove the Police Chief (“Chief”). The Mayor would appoint new Chiefs from a list of four candidates identified by the Commission.
The measure requires that the Chief submit an annual report to the Commission on police activities, including, but not limited to, in-custody deaths and injuries, law suits, uses of force, and the demographics of persons involved in stops, investigations and arrests. The Commission would publicly report the Chief’s findings, to the extent permitted by law, and information pertaining to OPD’s practices, policies, risk management, audits, crime trends, community relations and other relevant matters.
The Commission would establish a Community Police Review Agency (“Agency”), which would receive and investigate all complaints of police misconduct. The Commission and Agency would replace every City agency, board or administrator that currently investigates or adjudicates police misconduct. If the Agency sustained a complaint against an officer for misconduct, it would submit its findings and recommended discipline to the Chief. The officer would have the right to an. administrative appeal. If, after the administrative appeal, the Chief disagrees with the Agency’s finding or recommended discipline, the Commission would conduct an evidentiary hearing. ·If the Commission upholds the finding, it would impose appropriate discipline or delegate authority to the Chief. The discipline would be final and not subject to arbitration under the City Charter or any agreement between the City and any employee association made after this measure takes effect.
Commission members must be Oakland residents. No member could be a current or former police officer or an officer of an employee association that represents police officers. Members of the first group of Commissioners would serve two, three or four-year terms. Subsequent members would serve staggered, three-year terms, with a two-term limit.
A ten-member Selection Panel would appoint Commission members. Each District City Council member would appoint one member from the Councilmember’s District; the At-Large Councilmember would appoint one member; and the Mayor would appoint two members, one between the ages of 18 and 25. No panel member could be a current or former police officer or an officer of an employee association that represents police officers.
The City must allocate enough money to the Commission and the Agency to pay for appropriate facilities, equipment, staff, and staff training. At a minimum, staff would consist of a Commission Executive Director, a Policy Analyst (or Operations Support Specialist), and an Agency Director. The Commission would have a staff attorney and would not be represented by the City Attorney. Minimum staffing would include one Agency investigator for every 100 sworn officers. The Commission would have sole power to appoint and remove Commission and Agency employees. All staff would be civil service employees except the Executive and Agency Directors.
TITLE AND SUMMARY FOR MINIMUM WAGE / FAIR SCHEDULING BALLOT INITIATIVE, AS PROVIDED BY THE CITY ATTORNEY.
A Proposed Oakland Municipal Code Amendment Superseding Oakland‘ s Existing Minimum Wage and Enforcement Provisions, Increasing Oakland‘ s Minimum Wage and Requiring Notice of and Compensation for Scheduling Changes for Some Retail Employees
This measure would increase the minimum wage in the City of Oakland to $14. 00 per hour effective January 1, 2017. Minimum wage would increase to $16. 00 in 2018, $18 .00 in 2019, and $20. 00 in 2020. Thereafter, minimum wage would increase yearly on January 1st based on the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers for the Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA metropolitan statistical area. This measure would supersede the minimum wage and enforcement provisions in Oakland’s current minimum wage law, which voters approved in November 2014. Current minimum wage law established a minimum wage of $12.25 on March 2, 2015 and the rate increases each January based on increases in the cost of living.
This measure would require that retail employers with at least twenty employees in Oakland and forty or more locations globally provide the following rights to their employees: 1) a good faith estimate when they are hired of the anticipated minimum number of scheduled shifts per month, including the days and hours of those shifts; 2) two weeks‘ notice of employees’ work schedules; 3) with certain exceptions, additional compensation– for shift changes made with less than seven days’ notice; 4) compensation for on-call shifts; and 5) equal treatment for part-time employees and full-time employees at the same level regarding their starting hourly rate, access to employer-provided time off, and eligibility for promotions.
The measure would make it unlawful for employers to discriminate or retaliate against employees for exercising their rights under the measure. Employers could not reduce employees’ pay or non-wage benefits to fund increases in compensation required by this measure. Employers must provide employees written notice of their rights upon hiring, post those rights at the workplace, and retain records for three years.
This measure would create an Oakland Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement (“Agency”) in the City‘s Department of Human Resources Management. The City Administrator would appoint the Agency Director and the Agency would employ at least three full-time employees. Agency funds would come from the General Purpose Fund. The Agency would be responsible for implementing, investigating and enforcing this measure. The Agency could subpoena relevant records from employers, and would have access to all places of labor during business hours to inspect books and records and interview employees.
Upon an Agency determination of violation, the Agency could award back pay to the impacted employees, order reimbursement to the City for administrative costs, reinstate an employee and/or award any other relief allowed by law. The Agency could also assess fines and penalties against an employer, including $50.00 to each employee, per day that a violation occurred, $500.00 per violation for failing to maintain records or cooperate in an investigation, and $1,000 per day, per employee for retaliation.
Employees or the City Attorney could bring actions in court to redress violations of the measure. The measure provides that “the City could leverage business licenses and permits.”
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