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WV Citizen Action Group Action Alert |
March
29 2013 Alert Archive |
From
inside the Maelstrom
Gary Zuckett, garyz@wvcag.org
Well, it’s the middle of the afternoon on Friday and we’d hoped to pull
off a full newsletter. Considering that we’re all still up at the
capitol chasing around our bills (which are all still very much alive at
this point) we’ll have to punt and send out this as an alert. There are
events here that you all need to know about before we send out an
updated newsletter on Monday.
As I mentioned last week, next Wednesday is “crossover day” so any bills
not passed out of house of origin are considered dead. We’re up here
frantically trying to keep our bills alive by getting them voted out of
their assigned committees and out onto the floor to be (hopefully)
passed over to the other side – House or Senate. Since there will be
more than one floor session on Monday there is still a little time on
Monday morning or early afternoon to get some of the stragglers out of
committee and read a first time on the floor to keep them in the loop
for a mid-week passage. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Here are a few quick updates on our bills:
Energy Efficiency -- HB 2176 was killed today with an 11-11 vote in the
House Judiciary.
The Clean Election – Supreme Court Public financing bill was passed out
of the House Finance Committee this afternoon. This is the one we want
to move as the Senate bill was watered down to just extend the pilot
project for another election instead of making it a permanent option for
SC races.
As you may have heard our House Resolution HR9 on Citizens United vs FEC
passed yesterday. See links to media below!
There are still a ton of bad enviro bills moving so look to our allies
at the WV Environmental Council
www.wvecouncil.org for the latest details on these.
And thanks again for all those who have send in contributions to help us
pay for all of this crazy running around! Keep those checks coming into
1500 Dixie St. Charleston, WV 25311 – you’ll be glad you did!
One
Small Step
Thursday afternoon, following more than an hour of debate the West
Virginia House of Delegates passed HR9. The resolution called for a
constitutional amendment overturning the US Supreme Court’s infamous
Citizen United decision. Citizen’s United ruled
that corporations and unions were “people” and therefore entitled to
free speech under the first amendment. The decision in essence threw
out any limits on what a real person, corporation, or labor union
could spend on an election.
It will be a long and winding road but WV is now the ninth state to
send Congress the message of the need for the amendment. The vote
Thursday was 60 yeas and 39 nays. 8 republicans joined with all of
the House democrats to achieve this victory. Most of the speakers
against the resolution were teabagger wannabes from the eastern
panhandle.
We expect the Senate to pass a similar resolution next week. You may
remember from 8th grade civics class that it takes two thirds of the
states to ratify an amendment to the Constitution. This will be a
long journey but one that we must take to preserve democracy in this
country. Stay tuned!
W.Va. House Seeks Anti-Citizens United Amendment
WV House resolution seeks to overturn Citizens United
West Virginia House of Delegates Calls For Citizens United Constitutional Amendment
Expand Medicaid to Save Lives
If Governor Tomblin signs onto
the Medicaid expansion, that one act would give 120,000 of us
healthcare, nearly 7,000 of us jobs and put almost $7 million new
Federal bucks into our state’s economy. This should be one of those
“no brainer” decisions. If you think that the mountain state would
be better off with the Medicaid expansion, make a plan to attend the
Statewide Forum and Training on Medicaid Expansion. Please let us
know if you are planning to attend, we want to assemble a crowd that
will get the governor’s attention!
Sunday * April 7 * Charleston
Christ Church United Methodist, 1221 Quarrier
2:00pm – 3:30pm (Doors open 1:30pm)
At the forum, you’ll learn the “in’s and out’s” of Medicaid expansion, who gets covered, and what you can do to make sure this happens. In the meantime, let’s help them meet their goal of 1000 signatures before the April 7th Statewide Forum and Training on Medicaid expansion by signing on and sharing this petition.
“Peabody and Arch Have the Money to Make this Right”-Del Caputo
With a moving floor speech from Delegate Mike Caputo, the House
passed HR28 on Monday, condemning Peabody and Arch Coal for breaking
their promise to retired miners’, their families and their
communities. As Delegate Caputo put it, “obviously Peabody and Arch
Coal don’t give a damn.” But, we give a damn and always have. We’ll
be with them on Monday, standing up for their right to the
retirement and health benefits they bargained for. You should too!
Monday, April 1st
10 AM
Charleston Civic Center
Southern Appalachian Labor School Community Health Forum
Residents of areas close to surface mining, people who work on a surface mine, or those interested in learning more and connecting with other concerned residents of Fayette County, are invited to join the Southern Appalachian Labor School for their second Community Health Forum. The event will feature Dr. Michael Hendryx who is a leading scientist in uncovering the health impacts of large scale surface mining and mountaintop removal by correlating large databases of health records with mining information.
Monday April 8, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Historic Oak Hill School, 140 School St. Oak Hill, WV
Alert from Our Friends at
WV-FREE
Your calls, emails, and presence at the Capitol today slowed down
Senate Bill SB 405 which would take away insurance coverage of
abortion in private and public plans. Many of you turned out to fill
the Senate hallway this morning, and some of us were able to meet
with Senate President Kessler.
Be proud of yourself for making a difference! But don't stop now. Keep
the calls coming- and share this message with everyone you know who will
stand with women against these kind of attacks. There is no fixing this
bad bill-- it simply needs to be rejected.
Please call and email Senators Tucker, Palumbo and Senate President
Kessler. Tell them: "Please reject SB 405. There is no fixing this
dangerous bill. It hurts women."
Senator Tucker:
greg.tucker@wvsenate.gov; 304 357 7906
Senator Palumbo:
Corey.palumbo@wvsenate.gov; 304 357 7880
Senator Kessler:
jeff.kessler@wvsenate.gov; 304 357 7801
NOW is the time to take action. If for some reason you can't get through
on the phone, please call first thing Monday morning.
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