The Gov Hub Newsletter: July 1, 2024

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Gov Hub
July 01, 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 – GUN VIOLENCE

The Ask: Tell Congress to protect the “Engaged in Business Rule.”

The Background: The 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act took on the loophole that allowed unlicensed gun sellers at gun shows without running background checks. The ATF, through that legislation, finalized a rule that requires previously unlicensed gun sellers to become licensed no matter where they sell [gun show, online, etc] and thus run background checks on all potential buyers. This rule will save lives; Congress attacking it will not.

ACTION 2 – ABORTION

The Ask: Tell Congress to repeal the Comstock Act.

The Background: Circa 1873 in essentially the land before time, the Comstock Act was passed, which banned ‘lewd, obscene, or abortion-producing materials’ from being sent in the mail. While the law hasn’t been enforced in forever, the GOP is trying to bring it back from its legislative grave to ban abortion pills being sent by mail. It’s time to get rid of this archaic law ASAP – like, yesterday. 

ACTION 3 – VOTING

The Ask: Check your voter registration. 

The Background: Don’t wait ‘till it’s too late. Check your registration and remind a friend.

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

  • House Republicans are trying to block a new rule that would protect miners from Black Lung causing Silica Dust because there’s nothing quite as “pro-life” as saying no to protections that prevent people from dying. 

  • Somehow the people be gettin’ it twisted and are unaware that Trump is the reason that Roe was overturned. He is “the how we got here” and this video will catch you up [and anyone in your group chat that’s lost in the sauce].

  • Congresswoman Haley Stevens met with Michigan LCV to chat all the buzz about town on climate change related investments, and the energy is preventing us from needing another coffee. TYSM team.

GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]

BIDEN EXTENDS OVERTIME PROTECTIONS FOR 1 MILLION SALARIED WORKERS: Gorgeous, beautiful news out the White House x The Department of Labor today, with the announcement that the Administration is extending overtime protections to one million workers that make less than the media individual salary. That means that salaried workers making less than $43,888 per year will now be eligible for overtime benefits. The overtime extensions originate from a rule that was finalized earlier in the year as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. President Biden has promised to further expand the protections in 2025 according to The Hill, should he [and his Administration] be re-elected, keeping more money in the pockets of hardworking people from coast to coast.

OHIO CAMPAIGN FOR AN ANTI-GERRYMANDERING BALLOT MEASURE SUBMIT 700K SIGNATURES: Bad maps, unfair results is often the election year motto in Ohio, which draws its district maps via the Ohio Redistricting Commission, a body that’s made up of three statewide officeholders and four state lawmakers. We’ll leave it up to you – the reader – to ponder why that design may create a shitshow of results and hand the GOP in the state a huge advantage constantly. Now, back to the good news – a ballot measure campaign led by Citizens Not Politicians submitted over 700,000 petition signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State for review, that if approved for the ballot in November, would let Ohio voters decide yes or no on a new method for determining the political map. The system proposed in the BM would be an independent body selected directly by citizens, with the panel’s selected members having diversity of party affiliation and geography. In order for the BM to make it to the November ballot, 413,446 of the collected signatures must be verified. 

BIDEN PARDONS LGBTQ+ SERVICE MEMBERS WHO WERE CONVICTED FOR THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Amidst pride month, President Biden issued pardons for thousands of LGBTQ+ service members who were convicted of a crime under military law – and that crime? Their sexual orientation – literally. The move aims to right a historic wrong according to the Biden-Harris Administration that had been cemented by a six-decade long span for a military law that formally banned “consensual homosexual conduct.” Prior movement on the issue happened in 2014 via the decriminalization of same-sex relationships under the 2014 fiscal year’s National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA]. The decriminalization looked ahead, but it didn’t address who was left behind or harmed by conviction by the law. This move, which still does require impacted veterans to apply for the certification of pardon, can alter a veteran’s discharge status, opening approved veterans to benefits and possible backpay that they’d been denied.

HGW LISTENS

Hit play on these pods

  • This 24-year-old Gen-Z Dem is taking on an indicted GOP incumbent in a race for a Georgia state Senate race, and this episode of the newly launched NATIONLY Podcast features a sit down with Georgetown Law grad to know, watch, and tell a Georgia voting friend about.

  • Speaking of young Dems taking on GOP incumbents, Anna Thomas is doing that in PA for a state House seat that could flip the make-up of the PA leg, which is something she talks all about on this episode of Girl and the Gov, The Podcast.

ELECTION SZN 2024

Guides, chatter, who’s who

  • Speaking of post-debate reality, these major newspapers – ya know the ones that endorse candidates and often sway voters with such proclamations – have called for Biden to drop out of the race.

  • Meanwhile, the indescribable you just have to watch him do his thing guy, known as Jack Scholssberg, shared his own thoughts on the debate and things voters should keep in mind with Vogue.

MERCH ME UP

The Gov Club Merch Collection Drops New Additions

The Collection has been expanded from the classic Gov Club sweatshirt to include a cozy long sleeve t-shirt, a French terry navy crewneck, and a cutie lil’ crop top.

BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T

Bills, bills, bills 

FEDERAL: A bill that might light your fire and prevent one in the future for Lithium-Ion battery powered e-bikes and scooters, is the aptly named Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act. If passed – which it already did in the House b-t-dubs, it would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to wave its magic wand and create a consumer product standard for the rechargeable batteries and the products they power. 

FEDERAL: A bill that may cause you to DROP it not like it’s hot but because it’s too damn hot out all the damn time and impacting water supply, is this one. The Drought Related Overpricing Prevention Act – hence DROP for short – if passed, would have the FTC put together regulations that would ban the sale or leasing of water rights at excessive, extreme, and exorbitant prices in drought-stricken areas. Built into the bill are exceptions for local and tribal govs, with the target of the regulation being investors and hedge funders that are trying to take advantage of the dwindling necessary to literally live resource.

WAIT, WAIT UPDATE ME

ICYMI quick political news of note

SCOTUS RULES TRUMP HAS LIMITED IMMUNITY IN JAN. 6 CASE: Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated, SCOTUS? Well… that’s a deep dive for another time. In this particular case of complication, SCOTUS ruled that former President Trump has some immunity from prosecution in his federal election interference case. In a 6-3 [liberal justices dissenting] ruling, the Court determined that Trump has immunity for “official acts” as president and no immunity for “unofficial acts.” Okay, so what is offish and not offish? It’s like whether Ross and Rachel were on a break TBH, and SCOTUS threw it back to the lower courts to determine what then can be prosecuted and what’s out of contention. The decision means that the trial will likely be delayed and not happen before the November election – something that largely benefits team Trump.

SCOTUS OVERTURNS THE CHEVRON DOCTRINE; IMPACTS ON CLIMATE POLICY: Could SCOTUS stop ruining June? Is that too much to ask? Apparently because late last week, the highest court in the land said ‘toodles’ to the Chevron Doctrine, and thus vastly limiting the legal authority of federal agencies. The Doctrine has been the key pillar for regulatory law since leg warmers and shoulder pads were popular the first time around [the 80s] generally speaking, and as noted by Inside Climate News the principle has “held that a federal agency’s interpretation of the law should be honored, as long as it is reasonable, in cases where there is any question about the law’s meaning.” Overall the decision is set to make it harder for the federal government to regulate the environment [big polluting corps], public health [also big polluting corps], workplace safety [again, big polluting corps], and consumer protections [don’t make us say it again]. From our vantage point, it’s a win for corporate and special interests, and an uno reverse on progress.

OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS HBIC REQUIRING TEACHERS LEGIT TEACH THE BIBLE OR BE FIRED: Has anyone heard of separation of Church and State? Anyone? Ringing any bells? Definitely not for Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters who issued a memo directing all Oklahoma schools to teach grade 5-12 about the “Bible's influence on the nation’s founding and historical American figures. Schools will also be required to stock a Bible in every classroom,” as reported by NBC News. For teachers that fail to follow this mandate, Walter shared that there would be possible consequences, like losing one’s teaching license in the state, which would be ruled upon by the Oklahoma Home State Board of Education that he chairs. His ‘impose his religion on others in the public education approach’ is one that he believes will stand up to legal muster thanks to Trump’s conservative packed SCOTUS – literally the guy is thanking orange man for paving this path for Christian Nationalism in public schools. 

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KEY READS

Important stories from around the USA

  • Capital B News: The Growing Crisis of Heatwaves in America’s Prisons

  • AP: Should gun store sales get special credit card tracking? States split on mandating or prohibiting it

  • CNN Politics: Student loan payments are paused for three million borrowers. Here’s what to know

  • NPR: When little kids don’t have housing, it can affect their health later

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