PhRMA Secretly Funds Campaign to Kill Rent Control, per Justice for Renters

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has learned from campaign finance reports that PhRMA, the drug industry lobbying group, contributed to a California political action committee (PAC) which in turn funded another PAC opposed to the Justice for Renters Act, a statewide ballot initiative that would remove California's rent control ban and give local communities the right to stabilize rents and make apartments more affordable for low and middle-income renters.

This latest move is part of an ongoing shell game carried out by PhRMA and the pharmaceutical companies it represents to avoid public scrutiny, including that of the press. The Justice for Renters Act is sponsored by AHF, the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, which has been a relentless champion for patients, using advertising, advocacy campaigns, and protests to call attention to greedy drugmakers who put profits before people.

"This is a shining example of how corporate greed puts both patients and tenants at risk," said Susie Shannon, campaign manager for Justice for Renters. "At a time when low-income seniors complain that they have to make the difficult choice between paying their rent and buying life-saving medications, the two entities responsible for their suffering - the anti-tenant California Apartment Association and the anti-patient PhRMA are teaming up to make life even worse for them in California. It is unconscionable that corporate landlords and Big Pharma would attack and attempt to silence the one nonprofit providing life-saving patient care and low-income housing in California, all in the quest to amass unbridled profits off the backs of poor people."

PhRMA has a PAC called the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America California Initiative Fund. That PAC contributed an initial $10,000 to the California Business Roundtable PAC, which in turn contributed $250,000 to Californians to Protect Affordable Housing, a PAC opposing the Justice for Renters Act. Contributors to the PhRMA PAC include 13 major pharmaceutical companies.

The Californians to Protect Affordable Housing also receives funding from the Issues PAC of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 46 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.