URGENT Gun Safety Legislation

From Bill Kuch at state messaging team:

Message team:

I am resending this message, with a few minor changes, because of its urgency. And sending it to everyone. Some of us have acted already. Thanks!! But we need to do more.

We need to support the legislation in the Senate and soon to be in the House.

S.6 and S. 221.

Because of the urgent, immediately-this-week nature of the support we need to provide LTEs are not suitable right now. After the break will be the time for letters. We can certainly write and send them now but phone calls and social media posts are more immediate.

Also; for anyone who needs it you can find your Representative(s) and Senator(s) at https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/search/2018

Also talking points. Take anything and post on Facebook, Tweets, etc. 

Also— a list of these senators and their contact info. Send them emails or call them. And the phone number of the Sargent-at-Arms at the State House. Leave a message for any of these legislators. 802-828-2228

Here are the three original bills.
Senate Bill S.221: Extreme Risk Protection Order This bill proposes a procedure for law enforcement to obtain an extreme risk protection order… that would prohibit a person from possessing a firearm for up to one year if the Family Division of the Superior Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the person poses a significant danger.

Senate Bill S. 6: Background Checks: This bill proposes to require that a background check be conducted on the proposed transferee before a firearm may be transferred…. unless the transfer is between immediate family members. This may be attached to another bill.

House Bill H. 422: Remove weapons from person cited for domestic assault This bill proposes to require a law enforcement officer to confiscate a dangerous or deadly weapon from a person who is arrested or cited for domestic assault.

422 & 221 have been combined.

Talking points

•    helping those at risk of misusing their guns

•    helping those who might be hurt by that misuse

*    help to prevent domestic violence

•    reducing the number of guns diverted to illegal markets, and
•    providing relief to the rest of us who honor the responsibilities that gun ownership
      demands.

•     An overwhelming majority of Vermonters support increase gun safety laws

Six senators said they would vote against it: 
Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) jbenning@leg.state.vt.us
Brian Collamore (R-Rutland)  bcollamore@leg.state.vt.us
Alice Nitka (D-Windsor) anitka@leg.state.vt.us
John Rodgers (D-Essex/Orleans) jrodgers@leg.state.vt.us
Dick Sears (D-Bennington) rsears@leg.state.vt.us
Bobby Starr (D-Essex/Orleans)  rstarr@leg.state.vt.us

Five senators said they were undecided. Some of those said that they had not yet read the bill, known in its current form as S.6, or that they wanted to see if there would be other proposals attached to the measure. Those senators included: 
Randy Brock (R-Franklin)  rbrock@leg.state.vt.us
Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia)  janek45@hotmail.com
Dick Mazza (D-Grand Isle) 802) 863-1067  (802) 862-4065
David Soucy (R-Rutland) dsoucy@leg.state.vt.us
Richard Westman (R-Lamoille) rawestman@gmail.com

Guidelines for Talking about the President

Child Care Solutions

Calling for upvotes/downvotes, comments on this article.

https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/16/chloe-learey-ways-businesses-can-support-child-care/

Talking Points:

• Child care as an economic investment & development activity
• High-quality affordable child care is not a luxury, it is a necessity for a healthy, prosperous economy.

The Vermont Premium - Commentary

Please consider adding a comment or upvoting/downvoting comments!

https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/21/steve-may-vermont-premium/

Talking points:

• Quality of life is what brings labor and companies to Vermont:
• Quality education
• Accessible and affordable healthcare (potential)
• Higher wages means higher revenue for the state to be able to:
• Provide services to those in need
• Kickstart revenues in the private sector
• Attract labor to Vermont

Pew: Guns in America - Attitudes, Data, Demographics

Thanks to Bob for sharing this.

Any letters to the editor, sharing on social media, etc.

Pew Research Center's reports on Guns in America

Some choice quotes:

• "Two-thirds of gun owners say protection is a major reason they own a gun."
• "Roughly one-in-seven adults who own or have owned a gun (15%) say they have fired or threatened to fire a gun to defend themselves, their family or their possessions."
• "Many gun owners with children say at least some of their guns are kept unlocked and loaded. In fact, 30% of these gun owners say there is a gun that is both loaded and easily accessible to them all of the time when they’re at home."

Solid majorities of both gun owners and non-owners favor limiting access to guns for people with mental illnesses and individuals who are on the federal no-fly or watch lists (82% or higher favor among each group). In addition, strong majorities favor background checks for private sales and at gun shows (77% among gun owners and 87% among non-owners).

The groups are more divided when it comes to three other policy proposals: creating a federal database to track gun sales; banning assault-style weapons; and banning high-capacity magazines. Even so, significant shares of gun owners are open to these proposals. Roughly half of gun owners (54%) say they would favor creating a federal database, and 48% favor a ban on assault weapons. Some 44% of gun owners favor banning high-capacity magazines. Support for these proposals is much higher among non-gun owners, with about three-quarters or more saying they would support each of these proposals.

Three Common Sense Gun Measures Moving through VT Legislature

Sign and share!

http://www.vtdemocrats.org/gunsafetynow

S53 Universal Primary Care Action Needed

Please help Claire Ayer get UNiversal primary cate bill out of the senate this week

Thanks

Bob

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Deb Richter, VT Health Care for All" <vthca@sover.net>
Date: February 19, 2018 at 6:44:10 PM EST
To: zeliff@gmavt.net
Subject: S53, the Universal Primary Care bill, needs a show of support this week!
Reply-To: vthca@sover.net

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Dear Friends,

 

We have an urgent situation in the Senate. S53, the Universal Primary Care bill, needs a show of support this week! Please call or email your senator or senatorsas soon as possible and urge them to support S53. Even those who have signed onto the bill need to hear from you as soon as possible so that it can both pass out of committee and be supported on the Senate floor. 

 

For key talking points, see below. Please also include any personal stories of your own or of people you know who have suffered because of high out of pocket costs and lack of access to primary care. To email or call, please click here.  

Senator Claire Ayer, chair of Senate Health and Welfare is trying to get this through committee, so if she is your senator, you can thank her for her hard work and urge her to bring it to vote in her committee.

TALKING POINTS FOR UNIVERSAL PRIMARY CARE BILLS

1. Universal publicly financed primary care would reduce the need for expensive hospitalizations and emergency room visits by preventing disease and treating conditions earlier.2. It would lower health care premiums for all! (Vermont law does not allow premium rates to reflect services private insurers do not pay for).3. Primary care could be financed for relatively little.  A state 2016 study estimated it would cost under $175 million per year, and this would include both substance abuse and out patient mental health. That is not much more than the cost of a proposed new hospital building at Fletcher Allen.4. Financing for the bills would be taken up next session, but these bills would create a road map to universal publicly financed primary care. They would keep us on the road to health care as a public good set out in Act 48.5. If we don’t invest in primary care, it won’t be there ten years from now. We will be left with specialists, and this will not only be bad for public health, but also vastly increase costs!

6. Almost 1/3 of all privately insured Vermonters under age 65 are now underinsured. It is even more striking with the young; 63% of those aged 18-24 with private health insurance are underinsured. Underinsurance means people do not access care when they need it due to financial barriers. Primary care for all with no fees at point of service would help ensure access to care.

7. Of Vermonters who went to the doctor once in the previous 12 months, most (61.6%) did not visit a specialist at all. Primary care is where most of us access care most of the time!8. Only about 10% of privately insured Vermonters get their insurance through the Exchange. So, even if we bolster the Exchange, this does nothing for almost 90% of privately insured Vermonters, a substantial number of whom are underinsured, and who would typically access the health care system through primary care.    

 

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Vermont Health Care for All | PO Box 1467 | Montpelier, VT 05601 | (802)-595-2820

No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Bill

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Geoffrey Gardner<uppervalleyaffinitygroup@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Feb 18, 2018 at 2:54 PM
Subject: Urgent! Act Now to Support the No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Bill Now!
To: 

No More Pipelines In Vermont!

Not Ever – Not Anywhere!

The No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Bill Is Now In Committee

We Have Just Two Weeks to Get This Bill Out To The Whole Legislature

The Time For Us To Act Is Now!

     A little more than a week ago, Representative Mary Sullivan of Burlington introduced H.746 to the House Energy and Technology Committee. Patrick Flood from the 350VT Board and Rachel Smolker from Protect Geprags spoke to the committee, urging them to hear more on the bill and then pass it along for consideration by the whole House. Their testimony is here: https://youtu.be/qU_KLIfVkwM. 

     The Committee has more than 50 bills under consideration. It has only till March 2nd to decide which bills it will send along to the whole House. This means that as many people as possible will have to call the members of the Energy and Technology Committee, their own representatives and members of the Legislature’s Joint Climate Solutions Caucus to urge them as strongly as we can to support moving this bill out of committee. 

     Attached you will find contact information for members of the Committee and a list of the Climate Caucus members. You can find contact information for your own Representative and Caucus members here:  https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/. 

     

     It is always better to phone than email, but if you email be sure your subject line says: Support H.746 or Support the No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Bill. Also attached is a one page summary of what the bill will do. Please share all this information with your family, your friends and your neighbors and send it to all your networks. 

On Tuesday February 27th At 11:15 AM

A Press Conference In Support Of H.746 

In The Cedar Creek Room At The State House 

     This press conference will be an opportunity to get the news about H.746 and the urgent need for this legislation out to the media and the public. It is critically important that the largest possible number of people be present at this press conference to show that support for the 

No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Bill is wide and deep. We know that a weekday/workday morning is a hard time for most of us to take time off, but please try to do all you can to be there for the press conference. If you can come out for only one event, between now and March 2nd, to support the move away from fossil fuels and in favor of the transition to renewable energy, please let that one event be this press conference.

We must get this bill moving by March 2nd!

Contact the Committee Members and your Representatives today!

Come To The Press Conference At The State House on February 27th At 11:15 AM!

For more information you can write to us at uppervalleyaffinitygroup@gmail.com

School Funding Formula Public Hearing

Event: Feb 21, 2018, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

The Vermont House Ways and Means Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday 2/21 between 4pm and 6pm in room 11 at the Statehouse. The subject is the reform of the public education funding formula. All members of the public are welcome to learn more and give your input.

From Rep Fred Baser

How to Effectively Communicate Progressive Messages

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1885967214778553&id=165643503477608

I cannot emphasize enough how important George Lakoff's message about framing is. Long video, but a good introduction to him if you're new to him.

I highly recommend "Don't Think of an Elephant".

Ethnic Studies Bill H794

Via CTVSURJ  & VT Solidarity Network

This Ethnic Studies bill H794 just submitted to the Vermont legislature is an important effort. The Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools (VCESES) is led by people of color in Vermont, with lots of support from white allies in the state. Montpelier and Burlington High Schools are taking significant steps to change the culture and educational content of their schools. This campaign expands and deepens the effort and has the potential to affect every school in the state.

Visit the Vermont Ethnic Studies website where you can read more about H.794. http://ethnicstudiesvt.org/

Facebook page for the Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools. https://www.facebook.com/vemontcoalitionforethnicandsocialequityinschools/

H. 794 directs the Agency of Education to convene an independent, majority people of color Advisory Board comprised of advocates from diverse ethnic and social groups, experts in ethnic studies, and representatives of Vermont education agencies and associations. The charge of the Advisory board is to develop statewide ethnic studies standards for adoption into existing statewide standards for public kindergarten through grade 12. The bill would require the department to publish annual reports on the implementation of standards in public pre-kindergarten through grade 12 studies. This bill which was drafted by VCESES and Representative Kiah Morris and introduced as H.794 by Representatives Morris of Bennington, Christie of Hartford, Colburn of Burlington, and Rachelson of Burlington.

It would also identify standards that:

increase cultural competence of studentsincreases attention to the history, contribution and perspectives of ethnic and social groupspromote critical thinking regarding the history contributions, and perspectives of ethnic and social groups;commit the school to eradicating racial bias in its curriculumprovide access to curriculum that enables students to explore questions of identity, racial equality and racismensure that basic curriculum and extracurricular programs are welcoming to all students and take into account parental concerns about religion or culture.

Private Prison Funding Concerns

https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/14/pearce-raises-serious-concerns-financing-prison-proposal/

Proposed School Funding Overhaul

Call for comments, shares, letters to the editor.

https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/08/property-taxes-slashed-proposed-school-funding-overhaul/

Equal Pay, Voter Protection, Consumer Protection

Call for Letters to the Editor, Tweets, Facebook Posts, Calls to Legislators

From Bill at State Level Messaging:

Message Committee:

This is from Jill Krowinski, House majority leader. We need to get on this quickly! Any Facebook posts, Tweets etc and of course letters to the editor. Jill has provided talking points to use. Please pass this on to your county teams. 

Thank you!

Bill

From Jill:
Just a heads up that we have three important bills on the floor Thursday and Friday this week. Also, Rep Morris was on Vermont Edition and did a tremendous job talking about the Black Lives Matter resolution vote and some of the racial justice legislation that's being worked on. Any support on social media and letters to the editor are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jill

Voter Protection-H.624

In a democracy, the right to vote is a fundamental freedom. 
It's important we have protections in place for Vermonters’ sensitive and personal data contained in the statewide voter checklist. 
This legislation will protect Vermonters privacy while ensuring the freedom to vote.
The outpouring of contacts to the Secretary of State’s Office from Vermonters was by far the greatest for any issue seen since Secretary Condos has taken office. Virtually every contact was asking that their individual data not to be shared, or that VT not comply with the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity’s request for the voter checklist data.


Equal Pay-H.294
Topline Message: For many hardworking Vermonters, the economy is a broken.  Workers are struggling to earn enough to sustain a family.  Making paid family leave part of every job, gradually raising the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for women improves the lives of Vermont’s working families and puts more money into Vermont’s small businesses. 

On the bill: Let's continue to work to close the pay gap.  “This bill proposes to prohibit employers from requiring an applicant to disclose his or her salary and benefit history and from seeking an applicant’s salary history without his or her authorization.”
 
This is the deceptively simple statement of purpose in H.294 as introduced. But what does it really mean?
 
If passed into law, H.294 will be another positive and complementary piece of legislation that continues our work in making sure women and men are paid equally for equal work. Historically, women have been paid less than men and, as they move through their careers, this wage gap becomes greater, especially if employers are basing their salary offers on an applicant’s current salary. This gap also results in, at the end of one’s career, reduced retirement benefits for the woman. 
 
Practically speaking, the bill prohibits requiring an applicant to disclose prior to a job offer — but if the information is offered voluntarily it may be used. The bill does not prohibit asking an applicant for salary expectations, nor does it prohibit an employer from posting a salary range.
 
Employers on our committee expressed dismay that we would throttle an employer’s desire to know this information, but most of the business organizations — the State Chamber, the Lake Champlain Chamber, VBSR, the Grocer’s/Retailers, and MSA-VT, which combined represent over 5,000 businesses in the state — support this bill as amended.


Data Brokers-H.764
In exercising its police powers, the legislature in this bill seeks to protect Vermont consumers through requiring companies trading in their personal information to register in Vermont and comply with data security standards. The bill would apply only to companies that do not have a direct relationship with Vermont consumers

Private Prison Proposal Op-Ed

Call for shares, comments, letters to the editor, message to legislators & Gov Scott.

Here is the powerful Opinion piece by Tim Burgess on the huge prison proposal.

https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/13/timothy-burgess-stop-mega-prison/

Bill

Senate Leadership Priorities this Session

S. 289 From Committee on Finance
Link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2018/S.289
Status: Passed the Senate, in House committee
● Net Neutrality bill goes directly against the FCC’s orders
● First of its kind in the nation
● Ensures a free and accessible internet for all

S. 40 From Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs
Link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2018/S.40
Status: Favorable report in Econ Dev committee, has moved onto Committee on Appropriations
● Hours of testifying on either side
● Raises minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024
● Tip wage is half of the regular minimum wage

S. 175 From Committee on Health and Welfare
Link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2018/S.175
Status: Favorable report in Health and Welfare Committee, has moved onto Finance Committee
● Wholesale importation of prescription drugs from canada
● Requires health insurers to provide impact of prescription drug spending on premium
rates
● Drug manufacturers must provide notice before introducing high-cost drugs to the market

S. 164 From Committee on Health and Welfare
Link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2018/S.164
Status: Favorable report from Health and Welfare Committee, about to have third reading on the
Senate floor
● Establishes Unused Prescription Drug Repository Program
● Program accepts unused prescription drugs and supplies and donates them to Vermont
residents who meet eligibility standards
● Bill outlines standards of prescription drugs

S. 105 From Committee on Judiciary
Link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2018/S.105
Status: Favorable report from the Judiciary Committee and about to be on the Senate floor
● Prohibits forced arbitration of consumer disputes
● Consumer protection enforced
● Defines this as an “unfair and deceptive practice”

Drug Testing for Benefits?

Calls for letter to the editor, tweets, calls out to legislators, etc.

Edited from an email thread from state team:

House Republicans are advocating for a bill that would require Vermonters on reach up to get drug tested, you can read about it here.  This is a horrible proposal and we should spread the word that this is what the R's are pushing.  Does the Governor support this policy?  Letters to the editor and calls into radio shows would be really helpful here."

 Bill is H866.

Although something similar has come up in the past quite a few times, most recently with S.120 in 2015, these legislative stabs at providing an added layer of accountability are completely misguided. 

Similar legislation has been found unconstitutional in Florida.

A similar piece of legislation was a flop in Arizona, saving the state only $4,000 instead of the $1.6mm it was projected to save while requiring an extremely disproportionate amount of bureaucracy and resources. 

These programs are meant to help Vermonters when they are at a low point. The last thing we want to do is kick someone when they're already down. We aren't going to help an addiction crisis by plunging people who are already using and need help further into poverty and hopelessness.

It will ultimately prevent parents from being able to put food on the table and the negative effects will be put directly to the children in a way that is unacceptable. 

Fortunately, Reach Up and Reach Ahead have already been functioning as a connection to addiction recovery for many recipients without any kind of mandate.

It doesn't work legally, it doesn't work financially, and it doesn't work morally. 

While the motivation for the bill might not be economic, arguing that the bill will not help Vermont economically certainly counts amongst the reasons that we should not even consider such legislation.

Get Out the Vote

Action Item from Northeast VT On Guard

Hello, Patient Activists,

We have a first action for our 2018 focus on the mid-term elections: register high school students to vote (see below). 

Action:  Ask your high school to help register students

Election Day is November 6, 2018 in Vermont.

ACLU People Power is leading a movement in Vermont and around the country to convince school boards to facilitate voter registration among eligible high school students.  Our high schools can put young Vermont voters on a path to a lifetime of civic participation by making it as easy as possible to register.  Vermont has a statewide High School Voter Registration Program, through which registration materials are made available to students.  However, local schools implement the program, and the commitment varies.

Call the president of your school board or attend a school board meeting to find out what your high school is doing to encourage voter registration.  If they’re not doing it already, urge the board to adopt programs to facilitate youth registration, for example:

(1) distribute registration forms to all eligible 17- and 18-year-olds in each school, at least once per semester

(2) establish a clear system for collecting completed registration forms (if not done online);

(3) invite town clerks annually to visit schools and address students.

Thanks,

Lynne Lawson

Time Has Come for Primary Care

Call for comments, shares, letters to the editor -

Every health professional I know can give dozens of examples of patients who delayed care and suffered the health consequences.   Read Here: https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/07/deb-richter-time-come-primary-care/

From Linda in Bristol.

Clean Water Going Nowhere Fast

Call for Comments/Shares

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/treading-water-vermonts-pols-are-going-nowhere-fast-on-clean-lakes/Content?oid=12461263&utm_source=Seven+Days+Email+Newsletters&utm_campaign=0fce62f659-KnowItAll&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_24eb556688-0fce62f659-308437621

State Proposes Health Benefit Cut

Call to Write Letters/Share on Social Media/Comment

Here is the link to the piece:
 https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/04/state-proposes-health-benefit-cut/

From Vt Digger:
“The Department of Vermont Health Access wants to eliminate the state’s cost-sharing reduction benefit, which lowers deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket expenses for income-qualified residents who are buying silver-level health plans through Vermont Health Connect.

Cutting the state benefit for fiscal year 2019 could significantly drive up health care costs depending on a resident’s income and level of coverage: One plan’s deductible would nearly quadruple, while another deductible would double, according to state documents.”

Use these points to write letters/Tweets, etc.

• Eliminating the state’s cost-sharing reduction benefit and driving up health care costs is negligent and teems with incompetence.

• If the State needs to cut costs they need to take a good, hard look elsewhere.

• We cannot allow the GOP at any level – National, State, County, or Town – to erode the well-being of our friends, family members, and neighbors.

• Increasing the out-of-pocket healthcare costs of Vermont individuals and families is inhumane and ineffective 

• The benefit of saving $827,175 over 6 months by eliminating this cost-sharing benefit does not outweigh the harm it will do to the Vermonters enrolled in the program

• Scott is trying to take credit for fighting Trump’s subsidy cuts on one hand with the “silver solution” that the legislature just passed, while at the same time cutting those very subsidies. He should be ashamed of trying to have it both ways.

Health Care Advocate Releases Affordability Report

Call to Share, Letter to the Editor, Comment on Article

News Release -- Vermont Legal Aid February 7, 2018 Contact: Mike Fisher | Chief Health Care Advocate Office of the Health Care Advocate Vermont Legal Aid mfisher@vtlegalaid.org 802-383-2232 This morning the Office of the Health Care Advocate (HCA) released a report demonstrating the affordability crisis that Vermonters face when purchasing health insurance and health care. In the paper, The Cost of Health Insurance: Quantifying the Vermont Affordability Crisis, the HCA assesses the affordability of health insurance on Vermont Health Connect and shows that many Vermonters cannot afford health insurance. The HCA’s paper demonstrates that unaffordability is both quantifiable and measurable, and  Read Here: https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/08/health-care-advocate-releases-affordability-report/

Bill to Import Prescription Drugs from Canada

Call for Comments, Sharing, Letters to the Editor

A bill that aims to slash drug prices through a wholesale importing scheme was approved by the Senate health committee, but still faces a long road toward federal approval.  Read Here: https://vtdigger.org/2018/02/07/lawmakers-move-forward-plan-import-drugs-canada/