Our Platform
The official Platform of the California Young Democrats, which outlines the core beliefs and values that we hold as an organization, was last amended on October 25, 2025, by the CYD State Leadership Committee at Monterey, under CYD President Giovanni Chavez and CYD Platform Committee Chair Xavier Nunez-Sundara.
Preamble
We, the California Young Democrats, in order to form a more perfect union of the people, by the people, for the people, will fight for the rights of all Californians to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We shall fight the enemies of these natural rights – authoritarianism, corporate greed, bigotry – wherever and whenever we may encounter them.
Economic Justice and Opportunity for All
Our economy makes mere survival a challenge.
We advocate policies that empower workers, invest in the people’s wellbeing, and promote a sustainable planet.
Supporting Workers and Families
Expand labor protections and meaningfully support workers, including increasing the minimum wage to a living wage with annual cost of living adjustments (COLA).
Enshrine the worker’s right to organize unions and restrict the ability of employers to interfere with unionization efforts.
Support strikers by expanding unemployment qualifications and by ensuring public safety measures protect strikers’ physical safety and comfort.
Increase paid leave opportunities and access to affordable childcare.
Fight to end housing and food insecurity by expanding affordable housing availability, access to free meal programs, and CalFresh eligibility.
Support labor organizing efforts by loosening restrictions on strikes and boycotts and by increasing penalties for employer labor violations.
Expand the current federal Child Tax Credit so that families can afford to have children.
Advance universal childcare and paid family leave.
Create a system of postal banking so that all Americans can have access to basic financial services.
Investing in Education
Increase Pre-K-12 spending by viewing Prop 98’s requirements on educational spending as a floor, not a ceiling.
Eliminate interest on student loans, eliminate student debt, and reduce the cost of tuition, with the ultimate goal of tuition-free public education and trade/vocational training.
Advocating for legislation that creates or supports financial literacy programs/coursework in Pre-K-12 public schools.
Secure sustainable, dedicated funding streams for higher education.
Increase the number of teachers by reducing barriers to obtain credentials.
Improve teacher retention by funding training programs, increasing allowances for classroom expenses, and reducing class sizes.
Promote equitable payment in our education system by decreasing the pay gap between administrators and non-tenured educators, postdocs, grad students, school aides, adjunct professors, and non-academic, non-administrative staff.
Protect the labor rights of all academic workers – including international students and postdocs – to engage in protests, organizing, unionizing, striking, reporting misconduct or adverse workplace conditions, and all other forms of activism.
Support programs to expand internet access, such as free public wifi, subsidies for rural high-speed internet, and programs offering laptop and cell phone loans.
Support the formal representation of international students and non-citizen students on decision making bodies within the CSU, UC, and CCC systems.
Transitioning to a Green Economy
Expand subsidies, incentives, and public investments for green jobs training, protect and support workers during transitions to green jobs, and fund state and federal programs that provide students with resources to explore green jobs and careers.
Incentivize, subsidize, and invest in the research, development, and implementation of water recycling programs, programs to reduce agricultural water use and waste, and renewable energy solutions; and stop incentives and subsidies for nonrenewable energy sources, such as fossil fuels.
Redirect government subsidies from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (often called factory farms) to sustainable livestock management.
Support national efforts to expand organics recycling, as well as statewide efforts to increase the accessibility of organics recycling programs, especially for renters.
Support a climate superfund, similar to those adopted by Vermont and New York, which will force corporations to pay their fair share while concurrently investing in transitions to green energy, climate disaster response, and / or mitigation of the impacts of the climate crisis.
Support measures to expand public EV charging networks, particularly Level 2 Chargers in public parking lots.
Ensuring our Government Serves Young People
Corporate interests and growing right-wing extremism are waging war against democracy in our country. We strive to build a government that serves all voices, a more perfect union of the people, by the people, for the people.
Upholding a Free, Fair, and Representative Democracy
Protect elections and electoral processes at the local, state, and national level, including independent, transparent redistricting processes at all levels of government.
Enfranchise more voters, such as by removing barriers to registration, protecting mail-in ballot access and ballot drop boxes, increasing polling locations at and around college campuses, increasing the languages that ballot materials are available in, and reducing poll wait times.
Reform municipal and statewide lobbying, through means such as enacting anti-corruption measures, increasing constituent access to politicians, and empowering constituents to influence decision-making.
Reform our state and national legislatures by expanding the number of seats.
Enact legislation against the corrupt practice of stock trading by legislators and their immediate associates.
Fight for ranked-choice ballots at all levels of government.
Support programs and initiatives that will better enable young people to serve as elected officials, such as fund-matching in local races.
Fight against political and electoral misinformation on social media by enacting a standard of content moderation.
Protect freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and free speech, including the ability of students and minors to criticize their schools or the state.
Work to overturn Citizens United and push for greater transparency and financial disclosures of political campaigns, PACs, and political advocacy nonprofits.
Establish term limits and age limits for local, state, and federal offices nationwide.
Expand Youth and Civil Rights
Pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
Expand expungement and reentry opportunities, including progressive expungement policies for formerly incarcerated individuals.
Replace cash bail with evidence-based and equitable pretrial systems. Ban child marriage and establish 18 as the legal minimum age of marriage nationwide, with no exceptions.
Push for investments in “wraparound services” such as permanent supportive housing, interim supportive housing, mental and physical healthcare services, job training and placement, and outreach programs that address the root causes of homelessness while ensuring that unhoused individuals are treated with respect.
Call for reparations for descendants of enslaved people and other communities harmed by systemic racism.
Support, defend, and protect marriage equality nationally.
Repeal Proposition 209 and other barriers to enacting affirmative action.
Lower the voting age to 17 for individuals who turn 18 during the election year, and to 16 in school board elections.
Include discrimination against youth in policies to combat ageism.
Require policymakers to collect and consider youth testimony when considering issues that disproportionately impact young people, such as education reform, healthcare privacy rights, and policy that impacts the global climate crisis.
Prohibit activity that infringes on minors’ right to self-determination, including the sentencing of minors as adults, LGBTQIA+ “conversion” camps, the “troubled teen” industry, and the marriage of minors.
Enshrine the privacy rights of LGBTQIA+ children and students to withhold information about their gender identity or sexual orientation from their legal guardians.
Ensure access to gender-affirming healthcare, housing, education, jobs, and civic participation for trans and non-binary people.
Providing Us with Resources to Defend the Environment
Support the free speech rights of young people working to end the global climate crisis.
Recognize that access to clean air and water are human rights and are important to the dignity and quality of life of all Californians, and that young people are disproportionately affected by pollution and the global climate crisis.
Encourage elected officials at all levels of government to declare the global climate crisis an emergency, to use the full extent of their powers to address this pressing crisis, and to join international efforts to combat the global climate crisis, such as the Kyoto Protocols and Paris Accords.
Require educational programming on global climate change, humanity’s role in accelerating it, and environmental literacy in all California Pre-K-14 schools, including the creation and promotion of resources for teachers to incorporate climate curriculum in class.
Advocate for the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2035 working with local and state officials to provide transition plans for any and all local and state economies dependent on non-renewable energy.
Prioritize an intersectional understanding of environmental justice and affirmatively oppose the development of sacrifice zones, recognizing that marginalized communities often bear the brunt of the climate crisis.
Support the Green New Deal framework, which prioritizes systemic justice and a holistic understanding of climate justice
Support the ecological restoration of local fish species and natural habitats through dam removal.
Create a Climate Superfund to make corporations pay for the environmental damage they cause in the development of generative AI models and to require them to reinvest in the communities where they are building.
Ensure AI development and deployment, including strong oversight and regulations, particularly regarding privacy, surveillance, child protection from deepfakes, and environmental impact.
Require financial modeling to assess the labor, environmental, and privacy impacts of AI and data centers, including energy and clean water usage—mandating closed-loop cooling systems where possible.
Prioritize an intersectional understanding of environmental justice and firmly oppose the creation of sacrifice zones, recognizing that historically marginalized communities often bear the brunt of the climate crisis.
Solving our Housing Crisis
California’s deep-seated housing crisis can be solved through policy changes that will improve the sustainability and affordability of our cities and towns. We support policy changes that will increase the amount of attainable housing, expand public transit use, and prioritize affordability.
Increasing Housing Availability and Affordability
Build or repurpose housing to increase the amount of market-rate, affordable, and permanent housing for all community members, and take measures to accelerate the availability of transitional housing for unsheltered individuals.
Reform CEQA so that it may only be used to protect wildlife, not suburbanization and other environmentally hazardous uses of land, unless there is reasonable concern that historically marginalized communities can be negatively impacted by any development projects.
Support policies that prioritize urbanization in transit-oriented communities, especially over policies that subsidize the existence of suburbs and exurbs in wildlife zones.
Accelerate housing creation by upzoning and cutting red tape, while integrating equity and anti-displacement measures and preserving environmental protections.
Remove barriers to building housing, such as through non-fiscal incentives for private developers.
Thoughtfully amend building codes to increase density, promote infill development, and improve access to light and green space in multi-family, family first, and intergenerational homes.
Adopt regulations encouraging multi-room units.
Guarantee that all public colleges and universities provide housing to all students and teachers in need, either through building on-campus housing or through subsidized partnerships with local housing providers, ensuring no student is left unhoused or housing-insecure.
Enact stronger rent stabilization laws and expand tenant protections, including but not limited to legal representation for tenants facing eviction and affirmative defense rights, “no fault” eviction protections, and good cause evSet clear rules and regulations limiting tenant abuse and restrict corporate ownership of housing.
Support the development of worker cooperatives and community-owned housing models.
Amend Proposition 13 to ensure corporate property owners pay their fair share through split-roll reform.
Advocate for the development of affordable housing specifically targeted to educators.
Support the authority of the state to build public housing.
Building Communities that Serve People, Not Cars
Strive to provide residents with access to shops, schools, jobs, parks, entertainment, and healthcare within a 15-minute radius by foot or bike.
Support the development of pedestrian-only commercial streets and protected bike lanes.
Rapidly increase public transit use by building bus rapid transit lanes, comfortable bus stops, convenient rail and subway options, and statewide high speed rail; and by discouraging the expansion of private transit through subsidies and car lane expansion.
Ensure transportation is a safe option for all riders through community safety initiatives that integrate healthcare workers, behavioral specialists, social workers, and housing providers.
Prioritize public transit over private transit in all spending requests and allocations including by supporting efforts to raise revenues for public transit operations and capital infrastructure, and active transportation investments at the local, state, and federal level.
Invest in pilot and permanent programs for “fare-free” transit, especially for students and other young people.
Stand against environmental racism that undermines the physical, economic, and mental health of communities of color through the placement of freeways, landfills, oil wells, and other environmental hazards.
Push agencies to work with local institutions to develop job training programs to build and maintain public transit systems and support collective bargaining for these workers.
Support embedding climate resilience measures in all forms of urban planning to protect our communities.
Create pocket forests in schools and municipalities through funding and zoning changes, prioritizing grants to build them in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and areas with little access to green space.
Prioritizing People over Profit
Create a universal tenant bill of rights that includes a right to organize a tenants union and a universal right to free counsel in housing court.
Protect renters’ right to a safe and habitable living environment with stable rent, access to legal help when needed, and protection from discrimination and unjust evictions.
Create a statewide Social Housing program that benefits renters and first-time buyers.
We support putting an upper limit to the number of homes/real-estate that any individual person or entity can own.
Exempt wealthy corporations from Prop 13’s tax benefits.
Reduce and stabilize the cost of electricity, such as by investing in renewable energy sources, increasing regulator transparency, increasing public ownership, and supporting smart grid technology.
Support progressive taxation, wealth taxes, and vacancy taxes on commercial and residential properties.
Building Safe and Healthy Communities
When basic necessities for a healthy life are out of reach, we have failed to build a just society. There is enough wealth in our state and country for everyone to prosper. We support policies that prioritize health, safety, and the well-being of all Californians.
Promoting Healthcare Access and Equity
Ensure all Californians maintain, at minimum, the healthcare they have by defending and funding Medicare and Medicaid.
Expand insurance affordability and access through the national or statewide creation of a single-payer healthcare system or other universal healthcare system, increased outreach to underinsured communities, and cultural competency training.
Ensure Californians with limited English proficiency are being served equally by increasing the availability of clinics and healthcare workers with bilingual proficiency and the proliferation of bilingual documents.
Reduce the cost of completing degrees, training programs, and certification for healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and therapists.
Ensure people’s bodily autonomy by ensuring affordable and convenient access to services such as abortion, birth control, and sexual health education.
Mandate the inclusion of dental, vision, and hearing in health insurance, including spending allowances for glasses, contact lenses, and hearing aids.
Support recovery from substance use disorder through policies and programs that increase supportive housing, safe consumption space, increased access to naloxone (Narcan) and fentanyl testing kits, needle exchange programs, and peer support networks.
Fund programs to address misogyny, racism, transphobia, and other biases in healthcare, such as by correcting underrepresentation in published research, racial disparities in health outcomes, and the ability of marginalized groups to access healthcare professionals who share their background.
Ensure underserved and rural areas can access healthcare, including efforts to prevent the closure of healthcare facilities.
Improving Public Safety Equity
Fund community and nonprofit programs that improve the security of spaces serving marginalized communities.
Promote restorative justice, economic assistance, and social programs that reduce crime.
Create a transparent system for the collection and reporting of hate crimes and incidents in order to more effectively promote education and outreach initiatives to protect minority groups.
Remove barriers to collecting and analyzing data on gun violence.
Support efforts to end intimate partner violence, including the funding of educational initiatives and expansion of protections for victims and survivors.
Reduce crime through safety-focused urban planning, such as improved sidewalk lighting and housing with street-facing recreational space.
Expand resources for holistic public safety, focusing on unarmed responses to minor issues and mental health responses.
Increasing Access to Nutritious Food
Increase funding and access for grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and other sources of fresh produce in food deserts, as well as for programs that encourage the purchase of local produce like CalFresh Market Match program.
Incentivize the creation and funding of urban farms and co-ops, free seed programs, and other efforts to make growing food more accessible for all.
End means-testing so that free school meal programs are more accessible.
Make school meal programs more accessible by encouraging schools to serve food that reflects their students’ culinary traditions.
Provide accessible, culturally-competent nutritional education programs and resources to uplift communities and areas experiencing health disparities related to nutrition.
Support urban planning and public services that are aligned with environmental justice principles by increasing the accessibility of food without using cars.
Supporting Disenfranchised Communities
We understand that “equal rights for all, special privilege for none” means we must uplift those parts of our nation that have been historically disadvantaged. No matter who you are, where you come from, or who you love, your rights matter. We will work to uplift and represent all communities.
Standing Against Hate
Respond to hate incidents in a timely, specific, and direct fashion – and hold elected officials and community leaders accountable for doing the same
Engage with community leaders to ensure we support efforts that uplift Black, Latine, Indigenous, Asian, MENA (Middle East and North African), Jewish, Muslim, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and other vulnerable communities
Require Democratic Party spaces to provide anti-harassment training and enforce codes of conduct, and to meaningfully incorporate antisemitism education within the party’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility efforts and anti-bias initiatives
Require social media companies to be transparent about their moderation criteria for hate speech
Invest in multi-lingual, anti-hate, and anti-racist education and bystander trainings to serve communities with members who are not fluent in English, so that they are also equipped with knowledge and information to stand against hate
Require the Democratic Party to increase the diversity of its staff to be representative of the state of California.
Supporting Indigenous Rights
Acknowledge we stand on stolen, unceded land and commit to supporting equitable restorative justice with our tribes through voluntary land taxes, land back, and more.
Invest in efforts to preserve languages, record histories, and promote revitalization among Indigenous peoples.
Oppose language that erases or promotes harmful stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, as well as attempts to deny or distort the genocide of indigenous peoples by the United States and California.
Promote efforts to ensure public works and education do not glorify the genocide of indigenous peoples, e.g. curriculum standards, place names, etc.
Support efforts to end the epidemic of violence against indigenous women – commonly referred to as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).
Welcoming Immigrants and Asylum-Seekers
Provide a clear path to citizenship for all those who wish to contribute to our country.
Ensure every Californian has equitable access to public services.
End public charge inadmissibility.
Ensure all government documents and benefits for immigrants and migrants are in multiple languages.
Ensure the safety of immigrant communities by ending state and municipal cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Condemn the use of ICE and the National Guard in concerted efforts of mass intimidation.
Increase the number of immigrants and asylum seekers granted green cards annually and reduce wait times for green card holders to become citizens.
Protect the rights of immigrants to earn a living free from exploitation due to their immigration status.
Promote the well-being of immigrants by creating a statewide system for mutual aid.
Hold immigration workers and ICE agents accountable for abuses of power and promote measures to protect the safety and wellbeing of those who have, or are trying, to immigrate to the U.S.
Oppose trafficking of migrants and provide support for victims of trafficking.
Enact stronger regulations protecting H2A visa farmworkers from exploitation.
A Good Neighbor on the World Stage
The United States must use its resources in foreign policy to be a good neighbor to other nations. Wherever possible, we must support emerging democracies against authoritarian regimes and uphold the values of global peace.
Opposition to Wars of Aggression and Support for Global Peace
Hold that all nations have a right to their sovereignty.
Hold that all wars of aggression and wars considered to be justified by self defense, create fertile conditions for crimes against humanity, genocide, and other atrocious human rights abuses.
Therefore, we condemn all the wars of aggression currently raging in the world, and we specifically condemn the wars of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine; Hamas against the state of Israel; and by Israel against the people of Palestine and Lebanon.
We call upon all nations to band together to embargo these rogue nations who disturb world peace.
Call for the strengthening of the War Powers Act to limit the President’s ability to use lethal force against civilians.
Hold that the United States government must cease the arming of nations currently engaged in genocide.
Support Humanitarian Efforts Abroad
Call for the restoration of the United States Agency for International Development as a means for coordinating the United States’s efforts to support emerging nations.
Call for an expansion of United States investments in emerging nations, to support the development of their infrastructure.
Call for an expansion of the United States’s contributions towards disease eradication programs.
Advocate for an expansion of our Peace Corps.
Promotion of Democracy and Accountability Everywhere
Advocate for the strengthening of the United States’s alliances with democracies around the world in order to combat the rising tide of authoritarianism.
Support the targeted sanctions of authoritarian countries.
Call for the United States to defend the rights of nations and peoples to self-determination and to popular sovereignty.
Call upon international organizations to hold their members to their founding principles.