At SRVDC’s July 23 2020 meeting, we endorsed the Resolution:
The Corporate Perpetrators Responsibility Act
Whereas: Unsafe products and services provided by corporations that harm the physical, mental, and financial health of our society are approved and promoted by company leaders, but are punished by fines—not commensurate with the profits gained— paid by corporations and ultimately customers with no consequences for those responsible. AND
Whereas: Corporate fines have not been sufficient in changing the criminal behavior of corporate decision makers because they have not been held personally and criminally responsible for their actions. (Examples abound.) AND
Whereas: A corporate created opioid epidemic destroys lives, PPE price gouging during a crisis, insufficiently trained airline pilots crash unsafe planes, vaping is marketed to kids, our private information is sold to those who rig our elections, defective car airbags maim, neglectful PG&E caused fires killing 84 Californians, banks commit mortgage fraud leaving kids to live in cars – they all have two things in common: No one went to jail and corporate executives put profit before our health, safety, privacy or the environment. AND
Therefore be it resolved: The DPCCC calls for the creation of legislation that will hold corporate individuals criminally responsible for decisions that endanger the public whether they be deliberate or through negligence. Punishment including incarceration shall be patterned after sentences for other illegal and harmful actions that one individual inflicts on another. AND
Therefore be it resolved: The DPCCC will communicate to the Democratic Party, state and federal lawmakers its support for criminal penalties for executives who chose profits before health, safety, privacy or the planet. Further, the final laws should apply to all countries doing business in the U.S. If our state, California, adopts appropriate legislation, it should apply to all companies doing business in California should Californians be harmed.