The Gov Hub: June 26, 2023

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Gov Hub
June 26, 2023

Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®. This weekly pop of politics is designed to share action items, resources, and quick links to civic engagement tools and topics to inboxes far and wide.

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THE ACTION ITEMS

ACTION 1:

The Ask: Tell your [federal] reps to get on board with the Abortion Justice Act.

The Action: Sign this petition from UltraViolet in support of the Abortion Justice Act, then call your reps office to urge their support.

The Background: The fight for reproductive rights, freedom, and justice continues and is inclusive of a pushing for a bill introduced by Representative Ayanna Pressley. The bill i.e. the Abortion Justice Act, would do the following nationally:

  • Protect [abortion] providers and patients, including immigrants, from criminalization.

  • Increase access to medication abortion.

  • Invest in abortion clinic infrastructure.

  • Bolster training for future abortion care providers.

  • And ensure abortion care is covered by insurance.

ACTION 2:

The Ask: Tell Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act [WHPA]

The Action: Send this pre-written digital note to your [federal] rep.

The Background: The Women’s Health Protection Act would protect the right to access abortion in every U.S. state. Support for this legislation comes from Democratic Whip Katherine Clark who led the charge late last week in unveiling a discharge petition for the bill. By introducing a discharge petition, a vote on the house floor is forced aka required. It puts representatives on record on where they stand on reproductive freedom. To see who is in support, we recommend giving the press conference a view:

Looking for more action items? Check our library of past Gov Hub’s.

BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T

New bills, new BILLsh*t. A few bills of note:

  • FEDERAL: Over 60 Senators on both sides of the aisle have reintroduced this bill, which would expand telehealth access and make permanent a boatload of existing telehealth offerings. The CONNECT For Health Act began its journey in 2016 and has now been updated to include the following provisions:

  • Permanently remove all geographic restrictions on telehealth services and expand originating sites to include the home and other sites.

  • Permanently allow health centers and rural health clinics to provide telehealth services.

  • Allow more eligible health care professionals to utilize telehealth services.

  • Remove unnecessary in-person visit requirements for telemental health services.

  • Allow for the waiver of telehealth restrictions during public health emergencies.

  • Require more published data to learn more about how telehealth is being used, impacts of quality of care, and how it can be improved to support patients and health care providers.

The bill seems to be more popular than serving hotdogs at a Fourth of July BBQ, with support from these crews and a companion bill up and running in the House.

  • FEDERAL: We’re not the only ones perturbed by AI – these two senators from opposite parties are as well, and have introduced a bill that would address a piece of the AI pie. The bill is designed to make it clear as day that AI made works would not qualify for legal immunity under the Communications Decency Act, a law that largely protects internet and social media platforms from lawsuits over third-party content. Dubbed the ‘No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act’, the bill naturally goes after Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Specifically, it adds a clause “that strips immunity from AI companies in civil claims or criminal prosecutions involving the use or provision of generative AI”. If passed, this bill would also open the door to revising one of the laws that have largely let big time social media and tech companies treat the market like a wild wild west.

  • FEDERAL: Another bipartisan bill up and running with over 62 cosponsors is the FEND Off Fentanyl Act. According to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs, the act is designed to target drug traffickers by imposing sanctions and anti-money laundering guardrails. Included most specifically, the bill would:

  • Declare that the international trafficking of fentanyl is a national emergency.

  • Require the President to sanction transnational criminal organizations and drug cartels’ key members engaged in international fentanyl trafficking.

  • Enable the President to use proceeds of forfeited, sanctioned property of fentanyl traffickers to further law enforcement efforts.

  • Enhance the ability to enforce sanctions violations thereby making it more likely that people who defy U.S. law will be caught and prosecuted.

  • Require the administration to report to Congress on actions the U.S. government is taking to reduce the international trafficking of fentanyl and related opioids.

  • Allow the Treasury Department to utilize special measures to combat fentanyl-related money laundering.

  • Require the Treasury Department to prioritize fentanyl-related suspicious transactions and include descriptions of drug cartels’ financing actions in Suspicious Activity Reports.

  • NEW YORK: All this bill needs is a signature from NY Governor Hochul to become offishhh, and ban the dumping of radioactive waste into the Hudson River. The bill aka the “Save the Hudson” bill, passed a special sesh of the state Assembly and also the State Senate. The bill came to the forefront of minds and mentions after the owner of Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, Holtec International, announced in Feb that they would dump more than a million gallons of radioactive water into the Hudson. And to Holtec we say – odd way to celebrate the start of summer – bombastic side eye. The debate on what the safest option is + who has the jurisdiction – federal or state – have been a part of the discussion and will continue to be a part of it should the bill be signed into law.

  • FLORIDA: A glimmer of positivity out of Florida with this bill that’s now law from State Representative Christine Hunschofsky. The new law allows Floridians who leave the state to keep their current therapists and those that move to Florida to keep their out of state therapists. The continuity of care law brings the state into the fold of the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact and aims to reduce the strain on the mental health care industry.

SUMMERTIME SCANDALS

Putting the suss in suspect

  • Dudes with fish pics on Hinge are walking talking red flags, and apparently the same goes for Supreme Court Justices, who take #fishpics on luxury vacays with GOP fanboy billionaires that have had cases before SCOTUS.

  • Speaking of suss stuff, the No Labels Party really should be renamed the No Names Party because it refuses to disclose who is funding it. The usual suss-pects, Sinema and Manchin, seem to be in the closed door-style party.

  • The Hunter Biden scandal is more layered than a classic seven-layer dip. This timeline debrief defines the who, the what, the why, and the when.

  • While we’re on the topic of scandals, the wife of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [Angela Paxton], who happens to also play a role in Texas state government as a state senator, has been removed from her ability to vote/participate in her husband’s impeachment trial. This is after she refused to recuse herself - le sigh.

  • And then there’s these two – Zuckerberg and Musk who have turned their social media jousting into a challenge for a cage match. Sounds like a bad car accident that you just can’t look away from.

WEEKEND CATCH UP - THREE TOP STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

PUTIN’S FORMER CATERER TURNED MERCENARY CHIEF ALMOST CAUSES RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR: Career trajectories often aren’t a straight line, and that’s certainly the case for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the now head of Russian paramilitary org Wagner, who was once a convicted felon turned hot dog dog vendor turned caterer to Putin. Somewhere in there he went from cooking Putin’s meals to cooking up violence with his network of mercenaries/private army. In the midst, the Wagner crew became imbedded in the Ukraine war effort as part of Team Russia, but as of recently, the former caterer has been losing his sh*t as his pal Putin for what he apparently views as a mishandling of the war and a defense minister he doesn’t vibe with. Tensions got so high this weekend that Prigozhin and his crew launched a revolt, marching toward Moscow, tanks and all. Russia responded by mounting defense positions around the city and ripping up the highway to slow the caterer's crew. Somewhere between the “are we there yets” a deal was reached amongst all, sending Prigozhin[Wagner] to neighbor in arms and Ukrainian invasion, Belarus, providing exile but also removing him as the head of Wagner. In addition, charges against him for ordering a rebellion have apparently been dropped, his troops have been ordered back to their field camps, Putin’s camp has said they will not prosecute those that joined, and will offer contracts to those that didn’t join. Regardless of where this fully settles, it looks like there is truly nothing more fragile than a male ego.

SENATE DEMS OFFER PATH TO LET THEIR STAFF ORGANIZE: Following in the footsteps of a resolution passed last year in the House allowing employees to organize [unionize], 20 Senators have introduced a resolution that would do the same for Senate staff. The resolution would extend legal protections for Senate employees [ex: staffers] that wish to organize that they do not currently have – the federal labor protection framework that exists does not apply to Senate employees. Specifically, protections against retaliation are currently a bust for Senate employees who’d like to unionize their offices. Currently, the endeavor faces an uphill battle with the Senate’s current make-up, requiring either a 60 vote filibuster breaker or for it to become a line item in another bill. This one falls into the we’ll keep you updated bucket, but in the meantime, we recommend checking out what’s happening on the House side of things.

MEASURE TO BLOCK PISTOL BRACE RULE GIVEN THE AX: Late last week, Senate Dems voted down a JR [joint resolution] that had passed the House, which was intended to block a Biden admin rule that toughens regulations on stabilizing braces. The vote down protects the rule imposed by the ATF that requires gun owners to register their pistols with stabilizing braces, a change that makes the weapons more deadly and dangerous. As per ush, the GOP reps had their panties in a twist over the rights of weapons, but in this case, were countered by a party line vote from the Dems and an argument for common sense gun reform.

THREE MORE STORIES TO NOTE AND KNOW:

  • The rollercoaster that is SCOTUS is set to release its remaining 10 opinions this week.

  • Starbucks workers are striking over Pride decor and benefits.

  • Interstate 95 in Philly reopened in record time.

CANDIDATE WATCH ‘24

The following have said put me in coach for….

ELECTION SZN ‘23

NYC: Tuesday is primary day for NYC with 24 council primaries in 21 districts, along with DA races, some judicial races, and even some county committee races. This primary palooza will use Ranked Choice Voting, and voters can learn more about it all here. For candidate deats, where to vote, and more, head here.

OHIO: ICYMI the Ohio Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for an August 8, 2023 election, which will determine whether to make it harder to amend the state constitution or not. The vote will be on ‘Issue 1’ and if passed would require 60% of voters to enact new constitutional amendments instead of the current simple majority [50% +1] method. In addition, the issue would change the petitioning process to get an amendment on the ballot, with a whole new county requirement. The move has been regarded as a strategic attempt to stalemate this year’s abortion ballot measure in the state. To prep, text a friend, call a friend, and Facetime a friend in Ohio and tell them to vote no on Issue 1.

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JOB BOARD

NEW ON THE POD

The pod’s latest episode with Latino Victory’s Executive Director Sindy Benavides looks at the work Latino Victory has done to increase Latino representation throughout elected offices across the country – from the strategies to the goals ahead in 2024. Naturally, the current status quo is discussed, and where the many areas for growth exist of enhancing representation, protecting representation, and enhancing voter engagement amongst this nuanced demographic. Speaking of nuance, the eppy talks about the monolith myth and how pollsters get this varied and growing group oh so very wrong. For those listening that are considering a run for office, this episode is made for you – and that person in your life that you’ve asked several times to run for office, or to at least consider it – it’s definitely for them too. Give the interview a listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, and a watch on YouTube [ps don’t forget to subscribe].

PREVIEW: What’s coming to the airwaves Wednesday? An interview with Dawn Huckelbridge, Director of Paid Leave For All. The convo gets into what paid leave is and the movement behind making it happen for all.

ADD THESE LISTENS TO THIS WEEK’S ROSTER

  • Go in depth on this weekend’s Putin versus mercenary boss showdown with Renew Democracy’s latest episode of Winter Is Here.

  • As host Bridget Todd puts it, this episode of There Are No Girls On The Internet has a heavy musk of Elon, with conversation about him trying to make ‘cis’ a slur and other harassment that has come to flourish on the app.

  • With loads of chatter around ballot initiatives, this episode of Future Hindsight cuts through the noise and gets to the meat of why these democratic tools yield high rates of success.

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ALL THINGS GIRL AND THE GOV®

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