A few words of caution to any Californian approached by someone asking for your signature on a petition: Read carefully before you sign.
Most of the clipboard-wielding people you encounter outside grocery stores and shopping centers are not volunteers trying to change a policy because they deeply believe in the cause. They are workers who are paid for each signature they gather. And they might be misleading you about the petition they want you to sign.
Reports popping up around the state allege troubling instances of signature gatherers giving false or misleading descriptions to persuade people to sign petitions seeking to overturn two good laws Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed. One petition is sponsored by the fast-food industry to overturn a law to set a higher minimum wage for fast-food workers. The other is sponsored by fossil fuel companies to overturn a law banning new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes and schools.
A complaint the Service Employees International Union filed with the attorney general about the fast-food campaign says that a signature gatherer in Los Angeles repeatedly told people they were signing a petition “for the minimum wage to go up” — even though, in reality, the petition seeks to overturn a new law that could result in higher wages for fast-food workers. Another signature gatherer in Stockton claimed the petition would “raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to 22 bucks an hour,” the complaint says.
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