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The Gov Hub Newsletter: August 5, 2024

The Gov Hub Newsletter: August 5, 2024

Gov Hub
August 05, 2024

Welcome to The Gov Hub Newsletter by Girl and the Gov®. This weekly pop of politics is designed to share action items, resources, & quick links to civic engagement tools & topics. Find a typo? Congrats, today is your lucky day!

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THE ACTION ITEMS

Get ‘em done from your phone

ACTION 1 – SCOTUS REFORM

The Ask: Tell Congress to pass the High Court Gift Ban Act.

The Background: SCOTUS has become notorious for a long list of things, and most recently its Justices taking in loads of gifts, like casual rides on PJs. The High Court Gift Ban Act would take aim at combating this well-wrapped type of corruption, by banning Justices from receiving gifts valued over $50.00, and an aggregate limit of $100 annually. So basically with the price of things these days, they can get two iced lattes. YAY.

ACTION 2 – PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY

The Ask: Tell Congress to pass a constitutional amendment restoring presidential liability.

The Background: ICYMI SCOTUS confused the color of their robes for the royal color of purple, vibing with making presidents kings immune from liability. For those in favor of keeping the whole point of the Revolutionary War in tact, may we recommend sending a note to Congress.

ACTION 3 – VOTING

The Ask: Make a voter plan and get prepped ahead of November.

The Background: Take the guesswork out of election day and head in prepared – like well ahead of time – by making a voter plan.

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

FULL SEND…TO A FRIEND

Just about guaranteed to make it to the group chat

Simone Biles won gold with her routines and her tweet reply taking a jab at Trump.

The bar for weird really can’t go much lower, but here we are, with RFK Jr. admitting that he dumped a dead bear in Central Park alongside a bike, spurring a huge mystery in the city about ten years ago. He told this to Roseanne Barr, which makes it bother weirder yet incredibly on brand. Oh, wait one more weird thing – the New Yorker expose he was trying to “get ahead of” has a pic of him posing with the dead bear carcass.

The hot ticket of the weekend was a fundraiser on Fire Island headlined by Chasten Buttigieg and the Second Gentleman, Doug Emoff – albeit hosted while this tea was defrosted and brought to the scandal forefront.

NJ Rep. Andy Kim and candidate for U.S. Senate shared this pic to IG of him and his kids playing Pokémon together. One could surmise it might be in reaction to this cringe JD Vance podcast clip making its round.

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin posted this pic worth a thousand words in the battle over childless cat ladies.

In the crowning example of a “they did not think this through” moment, Trump/Vance rally goers were holding “you’re fired” signs behind Vance giving a speech. So, yea…

And in a bit of wedding news, Senator Tim Scott got married to what on the campaign trail had been the “is she real?” girlfriend.

GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]

BIDEN SIGNS BIPARTISAN VICTIMS’ VOICES ACT: President Biden signed the bipartisan Victim’s VOICES Act into law last week, ensuring the those that act on behalf of victims of crimes are afforded restitution care for costs that happen during a criminal court case, such as necessary transportation or child care. Those eligible, such as a legal guardian or family member of the victim, will be allocated that restitution via the convicted defendant. The new law builds on a 1996 federal mandate that requires those convicted of specific crimes to pay restitution to their victims for costs incurred during the investigation or prosecution of the defendant.

MICHIGAN STATE SUPREME COURT RESTORES MINIMUM WAGE & SICK LEAVE: Uno reverse has become one of our favorite phrases to use in the political sphere because it truly applies to something at least 3x a day. One of the uno reverses of the last week, was the Michigan state Supreme Court saying toodles bye to a GOP state leg move from years ago that had stopped an increase in the state’s minimum wage, revised rules for how it works for tipped workers, and sick leave requirements. In other words, the court overruled the past state legislature in a game of legal rocks, papers, scissors. As a result of the 4-3 decision, a new wage schedule adjusted for inflation must be determined by the state treasurer, and moved on into effect by next Feb. Lower minimum wage standards for tipped restaurant workers will gradually say see-ya as well, and sick leave provisions will also go into effect.

HGW LISTENS

Hit play on these pods

The normalist guy in Congress is a fan of bagels, legos, and democratic reforms that build back trust with voters in New Jersey. The normalist guy is Rep. Andy Kim who is running for US Senate and joined this episode of Girl and the Gov, The Podcast.

Attacks on birth control and abortion have reached a fever pitch, and this episode of the newly launched podcast, The Gynarchy gets into it via two OB/GYNS - Dr. Kirti Patel and Dr. Diane Horvath.

Out n’ about tomorrow, Tuesday the 6th, I’ve Had it Podcast’s interview with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear will be avail, and we’re sure filled with juicy tidbits on the election year that keeps throwing curveball after curveball.

Couch guy 2.0 gets his time in the spotlight a bit longer than the original TikTok couch guy with this episode of Appodlachia discussing JD Vance and a whole range of other political tidbits.

**BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T**

Bills, bills, bills

FEDERAL: The No Kings Act would not in fact ban everyone’s favorite drinking game. It would do three main ~ things ~ the first being that it would ‘reaffirm’ that U.S. Presidents and VPs, whether they’re sitting or former, don’t have immunity for actions conducted that violate U.S. criminal law. In that piece of the puzzle, it would also clarify that Congress has the power to determine who federal laws apply to not SCOTUS. The bill would also make these changes and add these guardrails.

FEDERAL: The 340B drug pricing program has come under bipartisan scrutiny as of late, and has resulted in a ‘clean-it-up, add transparency and improve the program’s functionality’ bill being introduced. The 340B ACCESS Act aims to facilitate public reporting, make enforceable rules around the program, nix for-profit middleman trying to profit or take advantage, and ensure prescriptions are offered to patients at the discounted rate.

FEDERAL: NY’s Senator Kristen Gillibrand introduced bipartisan legislation to address the mental health needs of first responders. Naturally, the legislation has been dubbed the First Responders Wellness Act, and would create a grant program that would be focused on establishing and bolstering professional level mental health services for law enforcement offices. It would also create a national mental health hotline for first responders.

ELECTION SZN 2024

Guides, chatter, who’s who

As of Friday, VP Harris secured enough Democratic delegate votes to offish get the presidential nomination at the upcoming convention.

Tuesday is another B I G primary day, and these are some of the key races to watch as voters (that could be youuuuuu!) head to the polls in Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, and Washington state.

Republicans for Harris are making moves and asking for more GOP voices to come forward endorsing Kamala. One voice they’ve got on their ‘Say Something’ radar (not to be confused with the Justin Timberlake version) is Mike Pence.

On the debate end of things, VP Harris went with the “say it to my face” approach and Trump went with the “I’ll only debate you if we do it on FOX, which got sued for spewing 2020 election conspiracy theories” approach. Guess we’ll see what happens…?

The Cowboy steak State aka Wyoming is gearing up for a GOP primary battle royale – “moderates” versus “freedom caucus” across Congressional, State Senate, and State House races. These guides will give you the who/what/where/when.

Team tech and VCs have jumped behind Kamala’s campaign with a big splash. This is who has said yes to the dress campaign.

In the world of ballot measures, voters in North Dakota will decide this year whether or not to ax property taxes, which fund local/municipal services like water, sewer, teacher salaries, etc – these are the full deats on the yay or nay.

KEY READS

Important stories from around the USA

The Hill: Oklahoma schools in revolt over Bible mandate
Politico: Senate blocks bipartisan tax package
USA Today: Colleges keep closing. Are regulators doing enough to warn students?
AP: Recreational marijuana sales in Ohio can start Tuesday at nearly 100 locations
ProPublica: Federal Law Thwarted Chicago’s Attempt to sue Gun Makers. But now it has a new strategy.