Tom Steyer

**Thomas Fahr Steyer** (born June 27, 1957) is an American hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, liberal activist, and fundraiser. He is the founder and former co-senior-managing-partner of **Farallon Capital** which manages over $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. Steyer served on the board of trustees at **Stanford University** from 2007 to 2017. In July of 2019 he announced his candidacy in the 2020 democratic primary.

## Beliefs

### **Immigration**

Steyer advocates for a progressive and Humane Immigration Reform. He believes that the current American immigration system doesn't mirror the values that Americans take pride in — compassion, hard work, family, openness, unity, and freedom.

Steyer is proud of his pro-immigrant track record which includes helping to establish a legal network that has provided services to over 1,600 immigrants and refugees, supporting 1,100 DACA applicants in their renewal application process, and helping to recruit 7,100 volunteer lawyers, interpreters, mental health professionals, and organizers to fight for immigrants’ rights.

As president, Steyer promises to reform the current immigration system which he sees as cruel by immediately enacting protections for vulnerable immigrant communities, restructuring the legal immigration system, reimagining the asylum and refugee system to address the millions displaced by the climate crisis, and encouraging community-led engagement and participation.

Former hedge fund manager also believes that illegal immigrants should be detained and transferred to the federal immigration authorities only if they are convicted of a violent crime. He is against such measures targeted at illegal immigrants with non-violent convictions.

Asked by the Washington Blade if trans immigrants in detention should be released, as a group of congressional Democrats recently urged, Steyer said “they should be released” if they can’t be held safely and given medical care.

“*Well, look I’m not in favor of these extended detentions for anybody,” Steyer said. “And I think that there’s no question that transgender asylum seekers have got to be treated, specifically differently to protect them and to make sure they’re OK, and if they can’t be protected, then they should be released.*”

### **Abortion**

While Steyer never gave a comprehensive response to the issue of Abortion, he has given signs he supports women's right to choose, “*I believe that ‘safe, legal, and rare’ is just old language that doesn’t reflect the current belief that abortion is health care and everyone should be afforded a right to health care,*” Steyer wrote in an email to the Washington Post, addressing the problem. He also acknowledged that abortion rights have come under unprecedented attack in states like Georgia and Alabama.

### **Gun Laws**

On the two-year anniversary of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, the deadliest in U.S. history Tom Steyer announced Tuesday a suite of proposals to tackle gun violence as president.

Steyer’s plan calls for instituting universal background checks, enacting “*red flag*” laws, closing several gun sale “*loopholes,*” banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and establishing mandatory waiting periods for the delivery of guns following their purchase.

Steyer would push for creating a gun licensing system, national assault weapons registries, and voluntary buyback programs for all firearms — not just assault weapons.

Steyer's campaign has stated that his administration would designate “*a special Office on Gun Violence Prevention*” to coordinate oversight efforts at the federal, state, and local levels of government.

His plan lists several “*structural reforms*” intended to curb the power of special interest lobbying. Among those measures, Steyer supports overturning the **Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling**, calling national referendums on issues related to gun safety, restructuring the Federal Election Commission, and expanding voter registration and voting access.

Steyer says he will “*invest in wraparound services that address the full spectrum of challenges faced by gun violence survivors … through targeted programs on mental health treatment, trauma care, drug treatment, voluntary self-prohibition, and mentoring.*”

Some of the programs Steyer wants to “*directly fund*” include law enforcement training efforts and gun violence research conducted by the **Centers for Disease Control and Prevention** and the **National Institutes of Health**.

Though it’s not immediately clear how Steyer would finance his reforms, he suggests that at least some of the initiatives would pay for themselves. His plan claims that “*gun violence costs each American roughly **$700 a year**, totaling **$229 billion** across the country.*”

California Billionaire promised to take decisive executive action if Congress doesn't pass his proposal: “*If Congress won’t take action, then I will use executive powers to orient the federal government to take action to address this public health crisis,*” Steyer said in a statement. “*It is past time that we take real action for families who have lost loved ones, the students that practice live shooter drills in their classrooms, and the communities across America torn apart by gun violence*."

### **Religion**

On the issue of faith Steyer said he believes America’s spirituality and religiosity is one of the America’s “*great strengths*”, he calls himself a Christian believer who embraced the idea of God through both his father’s Jewish and his mother’s Episcopalian traditions. In a recent interview with journalist Paula F,aris he revealed how he finally found faith in God at age 30 and infused it in his life. Steyer explained that at the time he decided to believe in God he was searching for something that would help him make sense of his purpose in life.

“*I think what I was searching for then and what I think is important to me, is feeling like there’s a connectedness to my life. And that, in fact, what I’m doing makes sense while I’m on the earth, there’s a purpose to it and the values that I believe in make sense in the context of the physical world and the other human beings on the planet in kind of a continuum of life on earth,” he said. “I want to feel as if I’m part of that continuum in a positive way and that my time here is not empty, but it’s in fact infused with value beyond myself.*”

Steyer believes that the separation of church and state is important but also strongly embraces religious freedom, freely stating that his faith impacts his worldview including government.

“*I think about my religion as giving me the values and the framework for thinking about everything including government. … I think everybody should be coming to questions of government with values in mind in trying to do the right thing. I say look, if you come that way, if you tell the truth and put the American people first in trying to do the right thing, if we disagree on everything, I’m fine with it … that’s called democracy,*” he said.

“*I think about religion as infusing you with the values you care the most about. But the reason the Constitution separates church and state, religion and government, is because if you bring it directly into the government where you say, I’m in contact with God, this is what I think because this is what God thinks, you really can’t have a conversation,*” he said.

His faith, he said, helps to drive the passion he has for some of the touchstone issues of his platform, such as climate change.

“*Let’s talk for a second about climate change. I said I would declare a state of emergency on day one. I would use the emergency powers of the presidency to deal with it on day one. I’d call on Congress to pass something like the Green New Deal the first 100 days. I’d make it the No. 1 priority of foreign policy because unless we do that — re-establish the United States as a moral and technological and commercial leader in the world — we can’t get it done,*” he said.

“*When you think about it in terms of faith, you’re thinking about two things. You’re thinking about protecting God’s earth. … You can’t do that and not in fact take care of the earth and watch it change in ways that can be devastating, not just for us but for everything on earth,*” he added.

### **LGBT Rights**

Steyer believes that the Trump administration has moved decisively to bereave the **LGBTQ** community of civil liberties, treating them as second-class citizens. If elected he promises to embrace and represent the vibrancy and diversity of the whole **LGBTQ** community — including **LGBTQ** youth, queer people of color, transgender folks, and intersex individuals — and defend equal justice under the law for every American. Former hedge fund manager wants to end what he calls the "*legalized discrimination of the LGBTQ Community*" by enacting the following set of measures:

* Passing the **Equality Act**. Currently stalled in the Senate, the **Equality Act** would extend Federal civil rights protections for housing, employment, jury service, credit, public accommodations to all, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

* Passing the Do No Harm Act to reform the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (**RFRA**).

* Reversing President Trump’s executive orders banning transgender individuals from serving in the military and barring the unmarried same-sex partners of diplomats posted in the U.S. from receiving visas.

* Providing a non-binary gender marker option on all Federal IDs and government forms.

Democratic Presidential candidate wants to enforce and defend **LGBTQ** individuals against violence and hate by:

* Appointing judges to the court system who will advance equality and protect LGBTQ civil rights.

* Fighting state laws that curtail civil liberties including laws that bar LGBTQ individuals from equal access to government services, housing, employment, education, or healthcare.

* Directing law enforcement to investigate and enforce against hate crimes targeted at the **LGBTQ** community.

* Resourcing crisis centers and community programs to provide shelter and resources for **LGBTQ** individuals facing violence and persecution, including providing for increased capacity for local organizations through the **New National Public Service Plan**.

* Expanding asylum options for **LGBTQ** individuals from other nations seeking a safe haven from violence and persecution to provide a safe harbor for those in danger at home.

* Passing the **Violence Against Women Act**. **VAWA** must be renewed as it provides key protections for victims of domestic crimes by providing access to policing, crisis centers, shelters, housing, legal aid, hotlines and counseling, education programs and support groups. **VAWA** ensures that access to these resources is not based upon sex, sexual orientation, gender identity ,or transgender status.

Steyer wants to ensure that every American has equal access to the services they need and an equal opportunity to thrive by:

* Directing the **Department of Justice** to enforce non-discrimination in employment, housing, government benefits, and society on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

* Providing federal poverty accommodations in equal measure to their need to the **LGBTQ** community, who are more likely than their straight peers to live below the poverty line.

* Fighting homelessness by providing LGBTQ-affirming affordable housing opportunities through the Department of **Housing and Urban Development (HUD**), especially for transgender individuals and youth. Programs should be HIV/AIDS inclusive and take into consideration intersectional factors such as race and socioeconomic status.

* Providing dignified and community affirming elder-care for aging LGBTQ individuals through **HUD** programs that provide housing and assisted living facilities for **LGBTQ** older adults who too often lack family support networks to take care of them since they might be cast out by their families or unable to have children.

* Enforcing the **Equal Access Rule** to allow transgender shelter-seekers to be accommodated in federally-funded homeless shelters according to their gender identity and providing specialized services to the transgender community, particularly trans youth, as they experience all too high rates of homelessness.

* Supporting the creation of loving families by barring charities that receive taxpayer funds from denying or discriminating the adoption or foster care applications from **LGBTQ** individuals and couples wishing to create a family.

* Ensuring non-discrimination and safety for **LGBTQ** individuals within the criminal justice system. In particular, incarcerating transgender individuals in prison placements that prioritize their safety and correspond to their gender identity.

Steyer wants to protect **LGBTQ** youth and give them every chance for a bright future by:

* Passing a nationwide ban of conversion therapy for youth. Today, thirty-five states have yet to ban abusive and discredited conversion therapy. These programs stigmatize **LGBTQ** youth and can lead to depression, homelessness, suicide, and other detrimental consequences. No young person should have to go through that.

* Supporting **LGBTQ** youth in public education from discrimination and bullying, including banning states from permitting school groups to discriminate against **LGBTQ** students for religious reasons.

California Entrepreneur wants to defend the right to affordable, high-quality, non-discriminatory healthcare for every person by:

* Guaranteeing the Right to Healthcare as one of the Five Rights for all, without bias or discrimination due to sexual orientation or gender identity. Reversing the Trump Administration’s actions to weaken and reverse the protections within **Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act**.

* Ensuring that transgender individuals receive the affordable medical care they need. Insurance plans, including the public option, private plans, Medicaid, and **Medicare**, should include coverage for hormone treatments and gender reassignment surgery when prescribed to a patient by their doctor.

* Barring states from banning gender-affirming surgery as a part of healthcare.
* Reversing the FDA ban to allow gay and bisexual men to donate blood.

* Ensuring that **PReP** is covered by all healthcare plans and that all individuals have access to the HIV/AIDS care they need.

* Resourcing the **CDC** and **NIH** to study and research the healthcare needs and solutions tailored to the **LGBTQ** community including robust data collection and ensuring that the medical community has core competencies around community healthcare.

Measures by which Tom Steyer wants to ensure that all voices have the chance to be heard and all people fully seen include:

* Empowering the **White House Office of Public Engagement** to foster connections with the **LGBTQ** community and grassroots activists to ensure that the best ideas and practices reach decision-makers and that all communities are seen, valued and respected by their government.

* Funding and supporting **LGBTQ** artists, creatives and community organizations through the National Endowment for the Arts and the **New National Public Service Plan**.

### **Wall Street Regulations**

Steyer prides himself with his work on the 2012 Californian ballot initiative known as Proposition 39, or the **Income Tax Increase for Multistate Businesses Initiative**. He co-chaired the grassroots campaign and contributed $30 million to get it passed, backed by a diverse, bipartisan coalition that he helped assemble.  Prop 39 passed in a landslide with 61 percent of the vote.

The loophole was allowing companies to choose a method of their tax calculation, and as a result - pay lower tax effective rate. Closing the loophole and redirecting the collected funds generated nearly 20,000 jobs in California, and put $1.7 billion toward necessary energy efficiency projects in the state’s schools, including heating and insulation upgrades, and solar panel installation. In total, it generated over $2 billion in new revenue through mid-2018.

If elected president, California Entrepreneur wants to ensure fair markets across all sectors and industries by aggressively enforcing existing antitrust regulations — and by enacting new antitrust regulations that hold big corporations accountable and break what he sees as a corporate stranglehold on American government.

He pledges to direct the **Department of Justice**, **Department of Health and Human Services**, and the Federal Trade Commission by appointing officials who believe strongly in consumer protection and a competitive marketplace. His Department of Justice will aim to enforce antitrust law across sectors, including in the agricultural sector, to end practices that put family farmers, food security, workers, environmental quality, and resilience at risk. And his Department of Health will ensure the health care system remains truly competitive and innovative and ensure a high standard of care for all Americans.

Nevertheless, Steyer has said he favors regulation over moving to greater government control over parts of the economy. “*I’m a progressive and a capitalist, but unchecked capitalism produces market failures and economic inequities,*”.

### **Estate Tax**

Steyer says he would repeal President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
and install a 1% wealth tax on those whose net worth is above $32 million. At 500 million, that would go up to 1.5%. And at 1 billion dollars, that number hits 2%. Over a decade, Steyer predicts the tax will raise around 1.7 trillion dollars in revenue — which he plans to spend towards fixing health care, creating new jobs in a clean energy economy, and funding education.

### **Social Security**

Steyer did not announced his position on Social Security. He has proposed to expand “*retirement security programs,*” but it is unclear which programs this proposal would affect.

### **Income and Corporate Taxes**

In January of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer rolled out proposals designed to provide tax cuts that would benefit most households.

Under the billionaire businessman's plan, families making under $250,000 and individuals making less than $200,000 would "*receive a 10% cut to their current tax rate,*" according to the candidate's website.

For example, someone in the 22 percent marginal tax bracket would see that bracket reduced to 19.8 percent, the campaign said.

Steyer's campaign also said that the candidate would push for the enactment of a bill supported by Democratic senators to expand the earned **income tax credit** (**EITC**) and the **child tax credit** (**CTC**) — two credits that benefit low-and middle-income households. The bill would make the **CTC** fully refundable, and provide an additional credit to families with children under the age of 6. It also would increase the amount he **EITC**.

The proposals are part of Steyer's broader plan to revitalize the middle class, which also includes proposals to invest in infrastructure and workforce-development programs and strengthen labor protections.

Steyer would pay for his proposals through a wealth tax, rolling back President Trump's 2017 tax law and taxing investment income at the same rate as wages and salaries. He is proposing to raise the top individual income tax rate from 37 percent to its pre-tax law level of 39.6 percent, and is proposing to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to its pre-tax law level of 35 percent.

### **Justice System Reform**

In January of 2020, Tom Steyer has proposed a criminal justice reform plan that would reduce the costs of incarceration by redirecting funds to education, community policing and rehabilitation in an effort to amend a system he sees as prejudiced against lower-income communities and people of color.

“*Racial bias permeates the system, really from policing to after they’ve been incarcerated,” Steyer told The Associated Press before the planned release of his proposal Thursday. “Shouldn’t we have a system that starts talking about preventing people from getting into this whole thing and then tries to rehabilitate them, for their own sake and for everybody in society’s sake?*”

In part, Steyer proposes a top-down change in federal law enforcement, creating what his plan calls “*a progressive Department of Justice,*” including revamping federal grant programs to fund state and local initiatives. He would also reverse Trump-era policies he sees as restrictive, restoring prosecutorial discretion in seeking lower sentences for some drug crimes.

Part of Steyer’s education effort focuses on reforming the juvenile justice system, where black children are five times more likely than white children to be incarcerated. Noting that many of the reforms he wants — ending solitary confinement for kids and ending truancy-related incarceration, among them — would take place at the state level, Steyer also proposes putting $600 million toward a **Bureau of Juvenile Justice**, which would work toward reducing the number of juveniles incarcerated and liaise with states to encourage reforms.

“*I can see a government that refuses to spend the money on young people so they can live up to their talents and their ambitions and their abilities,”*Steyer said Sunday during an NAACP program at South Carolina State University, characterizing the iniquities as “political violence.”

Like others in the democratic primary field, Steyer proposed an end to the cash bail system, which his plan says “*targets poor people and people of color.*” He would also create a commission intended to reduce recidivism by fully funding grant programs focusing on reentry opportunities and reinstate voting rights for “all formerly incarcerated individuals.”

In terms of policing, Steyer would establish anti-racial bias training for officers, as well as direct $500 million in funds for community policing programs. He would also create a task force on studying mental health and policing.

He hopes the reforms can ultimately reduce the nation's prison population by as much as half.

### **Environmental issues**

In a 2014 profile, Steyer's wife, Kathryn Taylor, said the couple became embarrassed in the mid 2000s that they were profiting from investments in oil companies while committing themselves to environmental issues. In 2012, Steyer stepped down from his role at the hedge fund, sold his personal fossil fuel assets, and got involved in electoral politics. In 2013, he devoted millions of dollars to candidates across the country, from the governor's race in Virginia to county council elections in Washington state, who promised to take action on climate change or oppose fossil fuel development.

He founded the nonprofit NextGen Climate the same year to build a political movement around climate action, working on voter registration and mobilization. Since then, he and Taylor have given nearly $240 million to federal candidates, parties and committees, placing them among the nation's top donors.

Last year, NextGen backed ballot initiatives in Arizona and Nevada that would require the states to get half their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Voters rejected the measure in Arizona, but approved it in Nevada. In Michigan, his group withdrew a similar initiative after two utilities agreed to buy 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2030.

Steyer's campaign published an extensive "Justice-Centered" climate plan that includes a commitment to declare climate change a national emergency and support for Green New Deal legislation. The plan aims for 100 percent clean electricity by 2040 and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 across all sectors, including homes and buildings.
Steyer says he would build a community-based network to inform his policies and a "Civilian Climate Corps" that would be funded with $250 billion in bonds over a decade and create 1 million jobs.
His plan would commit $50 billion to wages and benefits to help fossil fuel workers to "thrive in a cleaner, more inclusive economy."
Without mentioning a carbon tax, Steyer says he would eliminate "*all forms of government giveaways*" to fossil fuel companies, "*including unlimited and unpriced global warming pollution.*"
Steyer says he would commit $2 trillion over a decade to make infrastructure more climate-friendly and resilient, which he anticipates would mobilize an additional $4 trillion from non-federal sources. Half of the total would be focused on cleaner energy, industry and buildings, including modernizing the power grid and reducing methane emissions. About $775 billion would go into cleaning up transportation, including expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure, "electrifying every school bus in the country" and improving public transit.
His plan also aims to make communities and the military's infrastructure more resilient to climate change, while supporting efforts to improve disaster planning and response.
Our Take

While climate change was the primary focus of Steyer's money and activism for years, he has broadened his political scope since Donald Trump was elected president. He launched a new group in 2017 devoted to impeaching Trump, changed NextGen Climate's name to NextGen America and began promoting his idea of "5 Rights": to an equal vote, clean air and water, education, a living wage ,and health care.

## Sources

1. ↑ https://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/february14/trustees-021407.html
2. ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/09/politics/tom-steyer-presidential-campaign/index.html
3. ↑ https://www.tomsteyer.com/immigration/
4. ↑ https://www.isidewith.com/candidates/tom-steyer/policies/immigration/illegal-immigrant-detainment
5. ↑ https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/02/24/steyer-trans-immigrants-in-detention-should-be-released-if-not-given-care/
6. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/31/why-democrats-who-oppose-abortion-rights-are-finding-it-harder-remain-party/
7. ↑ https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/health-care/abortion-contraception/
8. ↑ https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/01/how-tom-steyer-would-tackle-gun-violence-014990
9. ↑ https://www.tomsteyer.com/we-can-end-gun-violence/
10. ↑ https://www.christianpost.com/news/presidential-candidate-tom-steyer-america-should-embrace-religiosity-spirituality-strength.html
11. ↑ https://www.tomsteyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/200214\_TS2020\_LGTQEqualityPolicy.pdf
12. ↑ https://www.tomsteyer.com/tom-and-the-people-vs-big-business-tax-loopholes/
13. ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/election/2020/candidate/steyer
14. ↑ https://www.tomsteyer.com/antitrust/
15. ↑ https://www.tomsteyer.com/wealth-tax/
16. ↑ https://edition.cnn.com/election/2020/candidate/steyer
17. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/business/social-security-2020-candidates.html
18. ↑ https://www.law360.com/tax-authority/articles/1235537/billionaire-tom-steyer-pledges-to-restore-35-corporate-tax
19. ↑ https://thehill.com/policy/finance/478647-steyer-proposes-to-cut-taxes-for-low-and-middle-income-families
20. ↑ https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-01-23/steyer-aims-criminal-justice-plan-at-taking-on-racial-bias
21. ↑ https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/479689-steyer-unveils-criminal-justice-reform-plan
22. ↑ https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30072019/tom-steyer-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile
23. ↑ https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/19/21030422/tom-steyer-fossil-fuels-2020-democratic-debate-candidate-billionaire