Quote of the Week:“I continue to believe that Trump’s success is not inevitable and that the future is largely in our hands. Something that President Biden said in the wake of the election has stuck with me, “Giving up is unforgivable.” We cannot give up on democracy, no matter how difficult it gets, because the alternative is unthinkable.” — Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse, March 13, 2025 Legislative Actions:The Key to Statewide Activism is Using TAN! If you're new to Take Action Network (TAN):
Sign in PRO/Support Schools Support SB 5192 (adjustments to school budget formulas to keep up with rising costs): Sign in "Pro" for House Appropriations's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 19 • 3:00pm Schools in Washington State are funded based off the prototypical school model which sets out the typical size of classes, size of schools, and the number of staff that the state will fund based on student numbers. This bill increases allocations for materials, supplies, & operating costs (MSOC) Support SB 5177 (Considering the needs of marginalized groups in school professional development): Sign in "Pro" for Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 18 • 3:00pm The Conservative Ladies of WA are coming after this bill which expands professional development topics to include various identities. Educators will be better equipped to create inclusive environments that reduce discrimination and support the mental health of students Healthcare Support HB 1114 (Support WA State entrance into the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact): Sign in "Pro" for Senate Health & Long-Term Care's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 18 • 9:30am Support HB 1114 for WA State entrance into the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact to help alleviate the respiratory therapist shortage and streamline licensure for military spouses. Support SB 5480 (preventing medical debt from affecting credit scores): Sign in "Pro" for House Consumer Protection & Business's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 18 • 12:30pm SB 5480 would protect consumers by removing barriers created by medical debt. Support SB 5498 (Ensuring easy access to birth control pills): Sign in "Pro" for House Health Care & Wellness's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 18 • 12:30pm Support HB 1090 to ensure easy access to birth control pills Environment Support SB 5284 (Producer Responsibility in the Management of Packing and Paper Products): Sign in "Pro" for House Environment & Energy Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 17 • 12:30pm This bill aims to utilize the extended producer responsibility in the reduction in packaging and through refill, reuse, recycling and composting of packaging. The bill also aims to increase recycling through education and access to services. Support HB 1923 (expansion of cost-effective, environmentally friendly passenger only ferries): Sign in "Pro" for Senate Transportation's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 17 • 3:00pm Our communities need HB 1923: WSF service disruptions will continue for years. Passenger only service helps solve problems now. Support sampling or testing of biosolids for PFAS Chemicals in biosolids (House: In Committee (Environment & Energy)) DEADLINE: Apr 2 • 11:00pm Thousands of PFAS chemicals are found in consumer, commercial, and industrial products. Many enter the environment via biosolids applied to soil. Studies show that PFAS chemicals may be taken up by plants from soil. Testing for PFAS is needed to minimize risk to public health and the environment. Justice Support SB 5098 (Restricting Firearms in Sensitive Places): Sign in "Pro" for House Civil Rights & Judiciary's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 18 • 9:30am Sign In Pro - Support Restricting Firearms in Sensitive Places Sign In "PRO SB 5714 (Declaring civil immigration enforcement as unprofessional conduct of bail bond recovery agents): House Consumer Protection & Business's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 18 • 12:30pm If a bail bond recovery agent uses their position to enforce civil immigration laws, they could face disciplinary actions from the Department of Licensing (DOL), such as license suspension, revocation, fines, or other corrective measures. Sign in PRO to support SJM 8008 (Rescinding Historical Article V Conventions) DEADLINE: Mar 19 • 12:30pm SJR 8008 rescinds prior applications for a constitutional convention to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Housing Support HB 1217 (Rent Stabilization): Sign in "Pro" for Senate Housing's Public Hearing DEADLINE: Mar 19 • 12:30pm Excessive rent increases are driving people out of their homes and communities while increasing homelessness. Annual rent and fee increases should be limited to provide stability and still allow landlords to make repairs, keep up with costs, and make a profit. Federal Actions:Thank Our Members of Congress for Voting Against the Toxic Republican-Backed Budget This week, 62 US Senators and 217 Members of Congress voted to pass a slush-fund continuing resolution budget which surrenders more power over federal funding to the very people who are already abusing the power they have to steal from their constituents. To quote Sen. Murray: “This bill is a green light for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to redirect funding to their own pet projects, force states and communities to abide by their directives, and slash, burn, and zero out programs that our families count on.” Rep. Strickland and Senators Murray and Cantwell all voted against this toxic budget resolution. They deserve our thanks. Action: Thank our Senators and Representative Strickland for voting no on the toxic continuing budget resolution.
Script: Thank you for your vote against the toxic continuing budget resolution. I appreciate your opposition to surrendering more power over federal funding to the very people who are already abusing that power. Don’t Let Trump’s Department of Education Erase Nonbinary People Source: John Kelly, Adobe The Department of Education announced February 4 that as an “improvement” to its Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, it is removing “nonbinary” from its gender identifications, saying “FAFSA forms will rightfully reflect the biological reality that there are only two sexes: male and female.” So if you’re nonbinary and want financial aid for college, you must misgender yourself. Action 1: Leave your public comment by April 7 on ED’s page. Here’s a script you can customize: Script: Removing “nonbinary” from the FAFSA gender options is a hateful attempt to force nonbinary people into invisibility. Declaring a myth a “biological reality” doesn’t make it true; ask any doctor: the 5th-grade-biology definitions of biological sex in the Executive Order don’t and can’t apply to all of us. Under the proposed rules, people who don’t fit into a mythical binary simply don’t count. That’s unscientific and un-American. Action 2: Copy/paste your comment into your members of Congress’ contact forms:
Take Three Actions for Snake River Restoration Photo Credit: Cacophony via Wikimedia Commons. Comments are now underway on the importance of having current data and research included in the environmental impact statement addressing salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin. And, also, there are efforts underway to obstruct changes to the status quo even though those changes could help salmon and orca and develop solutions for farmers, Tribes, and energy consumers. Actions:
If you are a TAN user you can take action here. Thanks for your work! WA State Actions:22nd Legislative District Town Hall Rep. Beth Doglio, Rep. Lisa Parshley, and Sen Jessica Bateman will be holding an online virtual town hall meeting next Tuesday, on the evening of March 18th from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. We’ve got a lot of important issues at the state level to work on – funding a responsible budget, building affordable housing, investing in education, protecting health care, and so much more – and your input and involvement is so valuable to us as legislators. It would be great to have you join. When: Tuesday, March 18 fro 6:30 to 7:30 Where: Streaming live to YouTube at this link – you don’t need to make an account to watch. Your Questions: We’ll have the chat open for questions and a staff person watching to pass your questions on to us, or if you’d like to ask a question ahead of time, you can do so here. Video: If you can’t attend live next Tuesday, the video of the town hall will stay up on YouTube so you can watch it later at that same link. Tell State Leaders No Cuts to the Safety Net! Source: Photo by Fikri Rasyid on Unsplash Background: WA Budget Cuts – Washington State House Democrats State budgets will be out soon (March 24th) so we need to urge action on this now before their final decisions. Action: Contact our local state Legislators and the Governor’s office and urge them to protect all existing social safety services for the most vulnerable, and consider new, progressive ways to fund these services! Contact State Representatives
Contact Governor Ferguson
Script for Legislators: My name is [NAME]. I am from [CITY, ZIP]. I urge you to oppose cuts to social safety net services in the state budget: they will hurt the most vulnerable among us when food and housing costs are high, and the federal government is threatening cuts. Please preserve health care, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), social services for the elderly and people with disabilities, housing and food assistance, and look at creative and non-regressive ways to finance these services. Script for the Governor: My name is [NAME]. I am from [CITY, ZIP] In your recent budget recommendations, you preserved funding for Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and housing. Thank you! Please keep all existing effective state social service programs, especially food assistance, even if funded with one-time federal funds. Food is just too expensive, and cuts will result in more costs to schools, hospitals, shelters, and jails and prisons. Please work with the Legislature to look at creative and non-regressive ways to finance these services. Have You Scheduled These Events?“March and Roll” Gather: March 24, 12:30PM, gather at 225 Columbia St. NW, Olympia Rally: March 24, 1:00pm, Percival Landing Park, 217 Thurston Ave. NW, Olympia Sponsors: Sound Alliance of Older LGBTQ+, Olympia Indivisible and others Rain or shine, bring umbrellas!! _______________ Olympia Master Plan Update Attend a slide-talk presentation on Saturday, March 22 from 10-11:00 a.m. on Zoom to learn more about the Olympia Airport Master Plan Update and its potential impacts on our community. The speaker is Ronda Larson Kramer, community activist and local attorney. Register for the talk here. You will receive a Zoom link and Call In number after registering. The program is presented by Olympia Indivisible’s Port of Olympia Action Team. _________________ Conflict Crash Course, April 12, 9:00am - 1:00pm Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation is offering a Conflict Crash Course on April 12, 2025 from 9 am - 1 pm at the Olympia Center. The course will be taught by a Certified Mediator from the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County, and the cost is $39. The interactive course introduces conflict resolution and practical skills to improve communication, enhance relationships, manage conflict and prevent escalation. These skills may come in handy at rallies, and in talking to those with whom we do not agree! Sign up HERE or call 360-753-8380. ___________________ Come to the Action Cafe! Every Monday at noon the Action Cafe provides a virtual space where OI members meet, make new friends, and take actions together. Every Cafe comes with a side order of live music and a heapin’ helpin’ of good cheer! Cafe patrons receive an email on Sunday with a sneak-peek at what we'll do at the cafe the next day. On Monday morning, Chef Lisa will send you a pdf "Menu" with links to the actions we'll take together at the Cafe. Action: Register HERE. Department of Good News:“Sip-In” at Local Starbucks Cafe OI’s Union and Workers Justice (UWJ) Team held a “Sip-In” at a local Starbucks last Tuesday, the day before Starbucks’ Annual Shareholders Meeting, to show local support for Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) unionization by baristas. Eight UWJ team members and friends spent an hour in the cafe to create a pro-union atmosphere and support the baristas in working toward union representation and a fair contract. Union contact information was distributed on-site to the baristas. More information about the SBWU can be found at Starbucks Workers United, __________ Reinstatement of Probationary Employees Federal judge in San Francisco has ordered, effective immediately, the reinstatement of all probationary employees who were fired at six agencies: Veterans Administration, Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and the Treasury. U.S. District Judge James Bredar orders thousands of probationary employees fired by Trump be reinstated. __________ North Dakota Senate Rejected a Resolution Against Same-sex Marriage North Dakota Senate rejected, 16-31, a resolution against same-sex marriage; it would have urged the US Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. The resolution was passed by North Dakota’s House 52-40, but failed after only ten minutes’ debate in its Senate. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
April 2025
At the bottom of the page lick the "<<Previous" link to see older posts.
|
RSS Feed
