Political Action
In 2019, PBDC unveiled a Political Action Process designed to allow club members to focus on the issues we care about most with the support and backing of the Club. These focused actions have had a positive impact by helping voters seeking information, by promoting the Club’s positions to elected officials, by keeping members engaged, recruiting new members, influencing the public at large, and getting the Club more involved in the community.
If you’re a PBDC member in good-standing, and there’s an issue/legislation you want to bring to the Club’s attention and also ask for its support in taking action, use the following steps:
1) Write your proposal. Click on the button above to download the Political Action Template. Complete it as instructed. (Check out the Archive at the bottom of this page for previous examples.)
Please keep in mind that we want to keep action items achievable and tangible, with 3 actions being the maximum requested. Some examples of action items are hosting postcard parties, asking expert speakers to come present at a Club meeting, asking members to attend a City Council Meeting with you, writing op-eds or letters signed by the Club, calling representatives, knocking on doors, asking the Club to endorse/oppose legislation, organizing fundraisers, or anything else you can come up with!
2) Email your completed proposal. Send your written Political Action Proposal to PBDC’s executive board at pbdc92109@gmail.com. PLEASE NOTE - The Executive Board must receive your proposal in electronic format via email to be considered.
3) The Executive Board will review and approve. The executive board will review your proposal in a timely manner and provide you with feedback. We’ll either approve it or ask you to make some tweaks so that we can approve moving forward with it.
4) Present your proposal. Once approved, we’ll work with you to schedule a time during an upcoming general membership meeting to present your proposal to the Club. Presentations are to be 10-15 minutes in length at most, including any Q&A. If your proposal is time-sensitive (i.e., there’s an upcoming vote on the legislation you’re asking the Club to endorse), please make that clear so that we can bump you up in scheduling.
5) Club votes to approve the proposal and action items. Once you present, the Club will vote by simple majority whether or not to support/endorse the presented issue and participate in the requested action items. If we vote yes, we’ll move forward with planning and members volunteering to complete these actions. You will be responsible for holding members/the Club accountable for assignments and timeline.
6) Do the work! Now that you have the Club’s support and the member engagement that you need, work to complete your action items.
7) Keep us posted. Let us know how things are going and provide us with updates. We’ll also want feedback on how you think the overall Political Action Proposal format and experience went.
In summary, PBDC is hoping this gives Club members an outlet to make change throughout the year, and keep the action going on issues that our members care about the most. Doing it this way gives us a standard format that can be replicated and evaluated for success.
Questions? Comments? Confused? Email us at pbdc92109@gmail.com or contact us via the “Contact” page.
Let’s get to work, PB Dems!
Proposal for Ordinances on Surveillance Technologies
9/3/20
Letter to PBTC Support Renaming PB Park 8/11/20
Feb. 7, 2019: Political Action Proposal on Criminal Justice in San Diego
April 8, 2019: PBDC Resolution on a Humane and Comprehensive Vehicle Habitation Ordinance