miactionlist, 5/9/2017

Politics don’t just happen in Washington, DC! The purpose of this weekly newsletter is to promote progressive policies in the State of Michigan by contacting our state representatives and state senators directly.

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We put a lot of time into carefully researching these actions; but we can make mistakes. If you find a mistake, please let us know! (miactionlist@gmail.com)

First Steps

Look up your state representative and state senator and put them in your phone book for all future calling.

Tips for Calling

We recognize that calling your representatives and senators can be intimidating. For the pieces of legislation we highlight each week, our goal is to provide you with some basic data, analysis, and talking points for you to steer the conversation, but we encourage you to personalize your message in ways that make sense to you. When applicable, it’s particularly powerful to share your personal experiences and expertise related to given legislation.

If you reach voicemail, we encourage you to leave a message and your phone number; you should receive a call back. Make sure to include your city or town so that the office knows you are a constituent.

The more you call, the easier it gets!

This Week’s Actions

~When calling your representative and senator, also ask them about upcoming coffee hours!~

1.   Stop state-sponsored funding of anti-choice groups

Senate Bill 163 proposes that the Secretary of State issue fundraising license plates to benefit the Choose Life Michigan Fund. This bill was featured in our April 11 newsletter. Unfortunately, the senate passed the bill and it is now onto the house, referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Let’s work to stop this bill in its tracks so that it never comes up for a vote in the house.

Talking Points:

• Money in this fund will be distributed by Right to Life of Michigan to organizations that provide abortion alternatives. We fully agree that abortion alternatives should be promoted. But the way to reduce abortions is through education, access to birth control, and affordable healthcare. As this bill is written, funds collected may go to propaganda and media campaigns run by groups that don’t even provide health services.
• Taking the conversation away from the emotional topic of abortion: the state should not serve as a fundraising vehicle for ideological groups. Period. This bill sets a dangerous precedent for this.
• "Let's not put political speech on our license plates. Buy a bumper sticker," - Rebekah Warren
• Finally, this committee should be focused on fixing our roads, not supporting state-sponsored ideological speech.

Talking points adapted from this concise one-page summary of the problems with this bill.

Take Action:

If your state representative is on the Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure, call them to oppose this bill. If not, contact the committee chair by phone, email, postcard, or in person.

The Honorable Triston Cole
State Representative
State Capitol
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Phone: (517) 373-0829
Fax: (517) 373-1841
E-Mail: tristoncole@house.mi.gov
Website: www.reptristoncole.com
Office: Room S-1389, Anderson Building

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure:

Recent Press on the Subject:

May 1, Jack Lessenberry (Michigan Radio) Michigan's Choose Life license plate misleading with political motives

(2) We support no-reason absentee voting!

Last week Democrats reintroduced a “Voters’ Bill of Rights” that would amend the state constitution to include “allowing no-reason absentee ballots, allowing people to vote in-person absentee up to 15 days prior to an election, automatic voter registration, and automatically sending military and overseas voters a ballot at least 45 days prior to an election.” While we strongly support all of these ideas, amending the state constitution will take a ⅔ majority and many of these ideas are flat out no-gos for republicans. One piece of this proposal--no-reason absentee voting--does have some republican support, namely the support Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, Governor Rick Snyder, and quite a few Republican legislators. We’re choosing this narrow focus for this week, with the hope that this important piece of improving and moderning access to voting in Michigan might be soon achievable. Bills to allow no-reason absentee voting have already been proposed this session in both the house and the senate. Both sets of bills are currently sitting in committee.

Talking Points:

• Voting is a right guaranteed by the constitution. As such, all constituents must have access to voting regardless of occupation.
• A constituent who votes absentee is a more informed voter. While it’s true that the ballot is available for anyone to see, having a physical copy in hand while making selections certainly leads to better research by the voter.
• This is a great place to share personal stories. If you have or have had a job or commitment that kept you from the polls, please share it! Or if you have had to take unpaid time off to vote, keep in mind: that was akin to a poll tax.

Take Action:

(1) Contact the House Committee on Elections and Ethics in support of Bills 4033-4035

If your state representative is on the committee, contact them directly. Otherwise, contact the chair of the committee by phone, email, postcard, fax, or in person. When you speak to someone (or if you leave a message), ask them what the current status of the bills are and when they will come up for a floor vote.

The Honorable Aaron Miller
State Representative
State Capitol
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909

Phone: (517) 373-0832
Fax: N/A
E-Mail: AaronMiller@house.mi.gov
Website: http://gophouse.org/representatives/southwest/miller
Office: Room N-993, Anderson Building

House Committee on Elections and Ethics:

(2) Contact the Senate Committee on Elections and Government Reform in support of Bill 55

(Note that Bill 117, introduced by republicans in the senate, is similar to Bill 55, but has stricter voter id rules built into the bill.)

If your state senator is on the committee, contact them directly. Otherwise, contact the chair of the committee by phone, email, postcard, fax, or in person. When you speak to someone (or if you leave a message), ask them what the current status of the bill is and when it will come up for a floor vote.

The Honorable David Robertson
State Senator
State Capitol
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536

Phone: (517) 373-1636
Fax: (517) 373-1453
E-Mail: SenDRobertson@senate.michigan.gov
Website: http://www.senatordaverobertson.com
Office: 201 Townsend Street Suite #6500

Senate Committee on Elections and Government Reform:

(3) Call both your Representative and Senator

If you haven’t already called them as part of the above committees, contact your own state senator and representative and let them know how important these bills are to you. Ask them, specifically, what they’re able to do to help make sure the bills (HB 4033-35 and SB 55) get a floor vote.

(4) Finally, if you have time: thank the bill sponsors!

HB 4033: Robert Wittenberg - (primary), Jim Ellison, Abdullah Hammoud, Henry Yanez, Jeremy Moss, John Chirkun, Erika Geiss, Kevin Hertel, Jewell Jones, Tom Cochran, Sheldon Neeley, Patrick Green, Donna Lasinski

HB 4034: Jim Ellison - (primary), Robert Wittenberg, Abdullah Hammoud, Henry Yanez, Jeremy Moss, John Chirkun, Erika Geiss, Kevin Hertel, Jewell Jones, Tom Cochran, Sheldon Neeley, Patrick Green, Donna Lasinski

HB 4035: Abdullah Hammoud - (primary), Robert Wittenberg, Jim Ellison, Henry Yanez, Jeremy Moss, John Chirkun, Erika Geiss, Kevin Hertel, Jewell Jones, Tom Cochran, Sheldon Neeley, Patrick Green, Donna Lasinski

SB 55: Steven Bieda - (primary), Tory Rocca, Jim Ananich, Hoon-Yung Hopgood, Curtis Hertel, Ian Conyers, Vincent Gregory

Some Press on the Subject:

May 7, 2017. MLive, House Dem wants 'voter bill of rights' added to the Michigan Constitution 

May 4, 2017.  Michigan Radio, Democrats in Lansing once again call for a Voter Bill of Rights

September 18, 2012. The Atlantic, Voting: Right or Privilege? The Constitution mentions "the right to vote" five times. Judges, and voter ID law proponents, don't seem to be getting the hint.

Current Michigan rules on absentee voting (from the Secretary of State)

Suggested Reading

Each week we share some recent media we’ve found worthwhile. We’ll keep it short! We know many of you already have long reading lists.

“Resistance School is a free four-week practical training program that will sharpen the tools we need to fight back at the federal, state, and local levels. Our goal is to keep the embers of resistance alive through concrete learning, community engagement, and forward-looking action.” All four April sessions are now available to stream.

Other Actions

While the focus of this newsletter is “armchair activism” we’ll also share a featured in-person action each week for those interested and able.

There have been “pop-up” actions across the country in response to immigration raids and deportations. If you are interested in knowing about such actions in your community, one source of information is to sign up for #OurResistance Alerts.