The Fairness Project is a
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
501(c)(4)
charitable organization
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definitio ...
created in October 2015. They promote general economic and social justice throughout the US by the use of
ballot measures
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...
to circumvent deadlocks in law changes by the
legislative
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...
and
executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dire ...
branches of government. They act as a national body by supporting state organizations and campaigns with targeted funding rather than by direct campaigning. They support the gathering of signatures to meet the variable requirements to trigger ballots in states and then aid the campaigns with early financial backing, strategic advice, and various campaign tools.
The Project seeks to raise state
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
s, both through stepped annual increases and through elimination of the
tip credit exemption. It has expanded
Medicaid
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
coverage
Coverage may refer to:
Filmmaking
* Coverage (lens), the size of the image a lens can produce
* Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene
* Script coverage, a short summary of a script, wri ...
and provided funding in the most expensive ballot campaigns ever fought. Usually alongside their other campaigns, the Fairness Project has supported improving paid
sick leave
Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sic ...
coverage. Following ''
Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization
''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion. The court's decision overruled both ''R ...
'', the Project has also supported legalizing abortion via statewide ballot initiatives. The Project has supported 17 proposals in total, of which 16 have passed. Concerns have arisen about the lack of transparency of non-state organizations like the Fairness Project influencing local decisions.
History
The Fairness Project was created in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, on 22 October 2015 in the immediate run-up to the
2016 US presidential election
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...
.
It is funded by
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West
The SEIU United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is a statewide local union of the Service Employees International Union in California in the United States. In 2020, it had 97,000 members, down from nearly 150,000 in 2013.
UHW is headquartered ...
, a California health care workers union.
One of the major dispute points between Democratic and Republican candidates had been the issue of whether to raise the
federal minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
, set at $7.25 for most employees as of 2019.
The federal minimum wage was set in 2009 and therefore real-term values have dropped significantly since then; with no confirmed prospect of a federal increase, states gradually became pressured to raise their own minimum wage values.
However, there were also deadlocks within state governments, both within state legislatures and between the legislature and governors (who could veto changes),
which has led to an increasing number of local initiatives exercising their rights (either via law or state constitutions) to place proposals for statewide ballots to institute legislative change via
direct democracy
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...
.
The founding executive director, Ryan Johnson, had volunteered to aid a number of these initiatives in 2015, before realising that there was nationwide interest in increased usage. This led to the creation of the Project as a coordinating
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
that could fundraise on a broader campaign structure, educate electorates of their ballot rights, and focus financial and volunteer support where it was most needed. The initial focus was to use SEIU United Healthcare Workers West's strategy of placing ballot initiatives on minimum wage in the 24 states that allow initiatives.
Minimum wage increases
2016 ballots
The Fairness Project's focus for 2016 was a campaign to improve minimum wages. The campaign initially focused on three regions:
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and Washington, D.C., whose 2015 minimum wages were $7.50, $9.00, and $10.50 respectively. This provided a geographical mix and many difficulties – it was believed that while Washington and Maine would prove to be viable campaigns due to previous local votes for higher city minimum wages, California would pose a greater challenge due to a coalition of business interests that had killed the increase in the state legislature.
The proposed motions in Washington and California were fairly similar: they sought to implement an immediate small increase with additional annual graduated increases, leading to $15 in both states by 2020 and 2021 respectively. The target
of the campaign in Maine was $12 by 2020 – a comparable increase to the other proposals.
All three proposals were initially successful by gathering the minimum number of required signatures: 365,880 for California, 23,200 for Washington DC; and 60,000 in Maine.
In Washington and California, support for the proposals placed pressure on the city and state governments, which caused both states to implement legislation equivalent to that in the initiatives; as a result, the proposals were withdrawn. In Maine the vote proceeded and was approved by 55.5% of the voters.
After the vote there was a smaller campaign to reinstate the restaurant tip credit rule where tips could make up to 50% of staff wages, which would lower the effective minimum wage. , restrictions on using tip credit were not being enforced.
As the campaigns proved to be successful, the Project expanded their support to local initiatives in the states of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
, and
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
.
The proposals for Colorado and Arizona also sought to raise the minimum wage to $12 by 2020, from $8.31 and $8.05 respectively.
Washington, which already had certain areas with higher base wages, such as Seattle, settled on targeting $15.00 from $9.47 by 2020.
These additional propositions all remained on the ballot and were approved by their electorates.
2018 ballots
In 2018, the Project made additional efforts to support local groups advocating minimum wage ballots. This support was focused in Missouri, where, together with the National Employment Law Center, a combined $537,500 was donated by advocacy groups; as well as Arkansas.
Financial assistance was also granted in Michigan, where the proposal only narrowly satisfied the requirements one day before the deadline.
The Missouri ballot proposal aimed to increase the minimum wage from $8.60 to $12.00 by 2023 and eliminate the tip credit allowance.
The Michigan proposal sought to raise the minimum wage from $7.70 to $12.00 by 2022 for everyone except government workers. Both ballots were voted on at the 6 November 2018 elections.
Missouri voted in favour with a 61% majority. Michigan's legislature passed equivalent measures that removed the initiative from the ballot; these measures were repeatedly accused of enabling easier future amendments, as ballot-proposed law would require a three-quarters super-majority of each house to overrule.
The Arkansas proposal was a pure minimum wage setup crafted by David Crouch. It aimed to increase immediately from $8.50 to $9.25, with stepped annual increments ultimately to $11.00.
The Fairness Project donated $100,000, functionally all on the signature-gathering stage.
The proposal passed with 68% of votes in favour and was implemented.
Medicaid coverage extension
2017 ballots
![Medicaid expansion map of US](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Medicaid_expansion_map_of_US._Affordable_Care_Act.svg)
Starting in 2017, the Fairness Project redirected their primary focus to expanding
Medicaid
Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and pers ...
coverage, a joint state and federal program that covers some medical costs for those with few financial resources.
A Supreme Court ruling in 2012 declares that states do not have to utilize the provisions in the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
(commonly referred to as Obamacare) that expand Medicaid coverage,
which requires legislation (created by state legislatures or successful ballot motions) to increase the number of individuals receiving Medicaid assistance.
The first campaign in 2017 offered support by the Project was in Maine where there was strong support to expand Medicaid. The Fairness Project donated $375,000 to aid both the campaigns to have the proposal meet signature requirements and then campaign for its passing.
The proposal met the requirements to be added to the ballot and passed with 59% voting in favor.
However, Maine law gave the power to Governor
Paul LePage
Paul Richard LePage (; born October 9, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 74th Governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, LePage served two terms as a city councilor in Waterville, Maine, before being ...
to veto passed ballot proposals,
which he used seven times, stating that he "
ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames.
Notable p ...
go to jail before
eput
the state in red ink".
He argued that a clear funding stream must be designated and in place before he would approve the law. The state house voted in favour of implementing the proposal, 85 to 58, but failed to gather the two-thirds majority needed to override.
Janet Mills
Janet Trafton Mills (born December 30, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 75th governor of Maine since January 2019. She previously served as the Maine Attorney General on two occasions.
A member of the Democratic Party ...
, succeeding Lepage, signed an executive order implementing the change.
2018 ballots
In 2018, the Project expanded their support to three similar proposals in Nebraska,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. As of July 2018, the Utah proposal had satisfied conditions to be voted on in the November elections.
The proposals of Nebraska and Idaho also submitted a number of signatures they believed to satisfy ballot requirements, and despite challenges on verification, the proposals were accepted.
The Project's support was important in gathering the signatures in Nebraska where $338,000 was spent to support the campaign (primarily by paid signature gatherers) - making up 93% of the pre-ballot spending.
Further spending in favour of a yes vote dramatically escalated, with the Project providing over 90% of the $919,000 total campaign expenditure in Nebraska by May.
Support in Idaho was comparatively lower in size and proportion, though still significant, with expenditure slightly over half a million dollars, making up 50% of proposal expenditure. Support also needed to be more focused due to a
harder signature process in Idaho than most ballot states.
The ballots were successful in all three states. Idaho approved the ballot with a 61% majority, but the campaigns were tighter in Nebraska and Utah with a bare 53% vote share.
The Fairness Project remained the primary donor in the three races, spending a total of over $6,000,000. Funding shares remained fairly even – with the most controversial remaining the near-90% share of the Nebraska campaign budget.
The Project failed for the first time at the 2018 Medicaid ballots. A Montana ballot (that was added late to the Project's campaigns) motioned to extend the previously temporary expanded Medicaid provision and failed to pass.
The ballot set a record for the most expensive campaign ever fought in the US,
due to the funding provisions of the proposal, which placed additional taxes on tobacco products. As well as significant funding from the Project and other like-minded donors in favour, the tobacco industry spent $17,000,000 campaigning in opposition.
After a failed vote, a compromised version of the Medicaid expansion was passed in April by the Montana legislature to extend coverage until 2025.
2020 ballots
A primary remaining Medicaid expansion target for the Project is
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, with up to 445,000 citizens potentially to be covered.
Ballot measures can institute constitutional amendments but not new laws, and require over 760,000 signatures to take to ballot and a 60% vote to pass.
The Project is the primary financial backer for local group Florida Decides Healthcare ($380,000 as of June 2019),
enabling a first-stage target of 76,000 signatures to be met. This triggered a
state supreme court
In the United States, a state supreme court (known by #Terminology, other names in some states) is the supreme court, highest court in the State court (United States), state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of State law (United States), st ...
review of the language used and state economists to review the expected costs of the measure.
Concerns on the possibility of various additional deadlines being met ultimately led to the state campaigning committee to postpone the plan to the 2022 ballot.
Another targeted 2020 Medicaid ballot was in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. The Project supported Oklahomans Decide Healthcare, with the 178,000 signatures necessary to be added to the ballot.
Oklahoma has the third highest uninsured rate of any US state, with 5% of the adult population being affected if the state enacts Medicaid expansion.
A 2019 bipartisan legislative working group was formed to consider potential legislative versions of the expansion.
Campaigners met the signature requirement and submitted 313,000 signatures. The proposal is set to be voted on 30 June.
The other Medicaid expansion ballot targeted for 2020 was in
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. The Fairness Project provided initial seed funding of roughly $30,000 when the campaign was announced at the end of August 2019.
The campaign required 160,199 signatures to be provided by 3 May, with the local campaign "Healthcare for Missouri" submitting 341,440 valid signatures. After an unsuccessful legal challenge, it was confirmed to be voted in on 4 August during Missouri's presidential primary elections.
A successful vote is expected to cover roughly 230,000 additional adults, with the ballot also prohibiting additional constraints or requirements other than those already in place on those covered by Medicaid.
As of June 2020, the Fairness Project had contributed $206,295.
Abortion rights
2022 ballots
The Fairness Project contributed to the passage of
Michigan's Reproductive Freedom amendment and
Vermont's Reproductive Liberty amendment. Both amendments secured the
right to an abortion in each state's
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
. The project has supported similar initiatives in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Dakota for the 2024 election cycle.
Other issues
The principal other issue handled by the Fairness Project as of 2020 is paid sick leave. Although the topic was initially considered a goal for future election cycles,
several of the ballot proposals supported in 2016 also had paid sick leave aspects, specifically Washington state and Arizona.
A Michigan ballot proposal was completed with over 380,000 signatures (well over the required 252,000) demanding varying levels of paid sick leave, which depended on company size. The Fairness Project participated less in this signature drive, most likely due to an established local committee and significant local support willing to sign for the proposal.
An early sum of $100,000 was provided, with an additional $200,000 provided over the remainder of the campaign, and some minor in-kind aid, totalling 16% of campaign funds.
The Michigan legislature decided to amend the proposal before passing it, which only required paid sick-leave coverage from companies with over 50 people and placed a lower maximum cap of 40 hours per year.
Campaigns in Texas to implement paid leave have demonstrated increased complexity compared to other "normal" ballot proposals, as the Texan attorney general asserted that a state law preventing such a requirement overrides any city-level legislation that might occur, even if generated via ballot.
No statewide proposal has been offered; instead, various cities and areas have had local ballot proposals created, most notably in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
and
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
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, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
.
This has been driven by the decision of state capital
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
to legislate paid leave in February 2018.
The Freedom Project provided a loan of $383,813.
A Colorado proposal to implement paid family and medical leave is being supported by the Fairness Project to be placed on the November 2020 ballot. The Fairness Project provided initial funding for the local campaign group's (Colorado Families First) website. The proposal demands up to 12 weeks of leave as a standard, employment protections, and a funding set-up split equally between employers and employees. Signature gathering was disrupted by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, with the Project's executive director stating: "The very act of going to your neighbor and asking them to sign violates all the rules of social distancing." The signature gathering continued as the Colorado governor agreed to remote signature gathering, with a requirement to submit 124,632 signatures by 3 August.
In a significant variation, the Project gave a small amount of funding to help a Colorado ballot place firm restrictions on payday lending. The ballot sought to reduce the maximum interest rate to 36% from 200%,in an effort to reduce the rate of loan default from 25%. Compared to most campaigns, the Project's support was minor, with under $7000 contributed out of over $2 million, mostly donated by the like-minded PAC
Sixteen Thirty Fund. The proposal received clear support, with 77.25% of voters in favour.
Opposition and controversies
Transparency
Since the Fairness Project operates through local organizations or hires in-state groups, and is not required to disclose donor lists, there have been complaints that the project is using
dark money
In the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections where the source of the money is not disclosed to voters. In the United States, some types of nonprofit organizations may spend money on campaigns wi ...
to influence elections,
which leads to a lack of transparency with voters unable to know exactly which groups might be trying to influence an election. This is particularly viewed as an issue with Medicaid expansion where groups with a vested financial interest might donate to the Fairness Project to shield their involvement from public awareness.
There have also been concerns about the scale of influence that a national campaigning nonprofit can use in a state election, especially when the majority of a campaign's funding is provided by the Project, such as when it funded over 90% of the Nebraska campaign.
This has raised concerns about whether state voters are making a local decision by themselves. In a related complaint, there have been accusations that it is unfair for groups to support propositions that will not affect them.
Ballot usage
Primarily in reaction to the successful ballot proposals on increased minimum wage and Medicaid expansion, various states have either employed their rights to amend proposals in an aggressive fashion or, more frequently, moved to amend their laws to implement additional restrictions on ballot proposals.
The Maine government has used their right to implement changes to any proposals that receive the minimum number of signatures. The Maine governor used their right to repeatedly veto the proposal in order to continually delay the effect of the passed proposal expanding Medicaid provision.
Arizona lawmakers have proposed and brought in laws increasing technical requirements in signature gathering as have worked to repeal laws that prevent the repealing of passed ballot initiatives.
Idaho amended their ballot requirements in 2013 to include a geographical aspect: 6% of voters' signatures must also have 6% of registered voters' signatures in at least 18 of the 35 state legislative districts.
The local organization Reclaim Idaho and the Fairness Project were able to use teams of local volunteers and also targeted paid signature gatherers to cover missing districts but the change has handicapped additional efforts.
References
External links
*
*{{cite web, url=https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_Measures_overview, title=Detailed overview of individual state ballots, access-date=17 July 2018
Ballot measures in the United States
501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations
Welfare reform
Referendums in the United States
Medicare and Medicaid (United States)
Minimum wage law