The Gov Hub Newsletter: March 11, 2024

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Gov Hub
March 11, 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

Make change from the palm of your hand

ACTION 1 – BANKING REFORM

The Ask: Tell your senators to pass the RECOUP Act.

The Action: Hit send on this note here.

The Background: Introduced following the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the RECOUP Act was designed to bring accountability into the banking building by doing the following…

  • “Strengthening the banking agencies’ ability to remove or prohibit senior executives who did not appropriately oversee and manage the risks and governance of their banks.

  • Requiring banks to include governance and accountability standards in their bylaws.

  • Providing the FDIC with the authority to clawback certain compensation from senior executives at failed banks, including profits made by selling the bank’s stock.

  • Increasing and strengthening penalties against bad actors.”

ACTION 2 - ACCESS TO THE OUTDOORS

The Ask: Tell you [federal] reps to pass the EXPLORE Act.

The Action: Hit send on this note here.

The Background: The bipartisan EXPLORE Act is a package of bills that aims to enhance access to the outdoors for all. Specifically, it includes the Outdoors For All Act, Military Veterans in Parks Act, and a reauthorization for the Every Kid Outdoors program. It would do so by…

  • “Improving public land access for sportsmen and women.

  • Modernizing technology to improve visitor experiences, like increasing broadband connectivity and creating digital passes.

  • Streamlining the permitting process and reduce fees for small businesses that depend on public land access.

  • Protecting rock climbing in iconic places and create new long-distance bike trails.

  • Restoring campgrounds and modernize infrastructure.

  • Supporting gateway communities by addressing housing shortages and outdated infrastructure.

  • Improving accessibility for military service members, veterans, individuals with disabilities and kids.”

ACTION 3 –  REPRO RIGHTS

The Ask: Pledge to be a repro freedom voter [and get your friends to sign the pledge too].

The Action: Take the pledge here.

The Background: Taking the pledge is a way for you to keep yourself accountable when voting up and down the ballot. It also provides a productive way for you to open the convo with friends and fam on how they’re voting this fall – putting reproductive rights at the forefront of that chit chat. 

PS & BTW: Don’t miss our Q&A series with Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom For All, which kicked off over the weekend with this Q on IVF.

ACTION 4 - BROUGHT TO YOU VIA EVERGREEN ACTION

The Ask: Tell the Biden-Harris Admin to take on pollution emitted from household appliances [*cough gas cough stoves cough*].

The Action: Sign the petition here from Evergreen Action.

The Background: The natural gas industry that’s been rebranding gas [stoves] for decades to seem safe. Unfortunately, the newsflash is, they’re not. – they’re responsible for 13% of all childhood asthma. Huge yikes. In addition, fossil fuel appliances emit more pollution from nitrogen oxides (NOx) than all gas power plants in the US combined. Double yikes. It’s time to take on the stoves.

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

  • This roundup of discoveries made by women that people still credit men for is the ‘correct the motherfuckin’ record’ that we all need to start our weeks with.

  • ICYMI Alabama Senator Katie Britt’s SOTU rebuttal served creepy tradwife equipped with all the Duggar family bells and whistles set in the place the GOP prefers women to be – the kitchen. A strategic position that Britt’s Senate colleague literally said out loud. And to make the community theater audition tape even worse than what it was from the jump, it turns out the SA story that the Senator told to attack Biden’s border policies, happened to a victim in Mexico [not the US] and under the latest Bush administration [not Biden’s]. 

  • GOP candidate for governor in North Carolina can be seen here saying “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote.” And before you go, “but where would he even get the support for that?” Try this voter [because yes, people like this vote], who shared he wouldn’t vote for Nikki Haley because ‘she doesn’t have no balls to scratch’ and a tirade of other insane misogynistic reasons. When you ask yourself “should I vote?” - remember that they do.

  • What’s Joe Biden’s plan for making housing more affordable? Making this multi-point plan happen, which includes a down payment assistance program for first-generation homeowners.

  • Will this bill ban TikTok, if passed? This gives the ring around the rosy on the bill and the characters involved, which includes Kellyanne Conway, who is advocating for TikTok on The Hill.

GOOD NEWS BEARS

Positive political wins [yes, those do exist]

AZ GOVERNOR HOBBS CANCELS $2 BILLION IN MEDICAL DEBT FOR RESIDENTS: Following in the footsteps of other Democratic governors, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs unveiled a plan that will cancel $2 billion in medical debt for Arizonans. The program [the Affordable Arizona: Tackling Medical Debt for Working Families] that will enable this relief comes via a partnership with non-profit RIP Medical Debt and the use of $30 million of COVID relief funds. Arizonans with debt owed that earn less than 400% or below the Federal Poverty Line or who owe more than 5% of their annual income will be eligible for the program’s debt forgiveness.

CONSUMERS TO SAVE $220/YEAR WITH NEW, FINALIZED CREDIT CARD LATE FEE RULE: Via the Biden Administration’s leadership, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] has finalized a rule that reduces credit card late fees from the current rate of $32.00 to $8.00. That reduction is set to save consumers $10 billion a year with “or an average savings of $220 per year for more than the 45 million people who are charged these late fees annually.” The new rule tackles a loophole that allowed companies to go haywire on the fees they’ve been serving customers. Going forward, in 60 days from the day the rule was published, it will… “lower the immunity provision dollar amount for late fees to $8, end the abuse of automatic annual inflation adjustment, and require credit card issuers to show their math.”

VOTER PREP X BOOKMARK IT

Don’t lose the link, bookmark it

Planned Parenthood Action’s Congressional Scorecard: Curious where your reps stand on repro rights legislation? Also curious about where reps from other states stand? Take a search through Planned Parenthood Action’s Congressional Scorecard. Search, scroll, and bookmark it.

Human Rights Campaign Scorecard: Where is your state when it comes to laws that impact LGBTQ+ people and their loved ones? The Human Rights Campaign can tell you with their annual State Equality Index, giving you the scoop on where a state is or isn’t on achieving equality legislatively. Check your state’s score, then bookmark it.

Key Dates - 2024 Presidential Election Edition: Primaries, caucuses, and conventions, and debates galore – 2024 is a busy one. See what dates you need to keep your eye on and why with this quick and cute USAFacts run through. Bookmark it here.

FWD, SUBSCRIBE

Inbox musts and mentions

  • HOT MIC’D: Tea and POV’s are the bread and butter of Girl and the Gov, The Podcast’s newsletter, Hot Mic’d. Get up on what the hosts are saying/thinking/doing/observing beyond the pod, by adding the newsletter to your inbox here.

  • WOMEN RULE BY POLITICO: What happens at the intersection of women, politics, and power? The Women Rule Newsletter from Politico will tell you. Peruse the archive and add the newsletter to your inbox here.

BACK ON OUR BILLSH*T

Bills, bills, bills

VIRGINIA: A bipartisan bill was signed into law in Virginia that nixes legacy admissions practices at the state’s public colleges and universities. In other words, student applicants will not be given preferential consideration based on their legacy status or familial connection to a donor to the public higher education institution they’re applying to. The idea is to even the admission playing field for all.

WEST VIRGINIA: A bill headed to the Governor’s desk is one that if signed will eliminate vaccine requirements for WV students that attend public schools virtually. It also allows private schools to create their own vaccination standards… meaning they can make their own exemption or non exemption-based policies. The fine print is that parents can’t sue private schools for saying yay or nay to exemptions if the [private] school provides a notice of their policies annually. Perhaps the best gut check on how bad this bill is conceptually is the fact that GOP Senate Health and Human Resources Chair Mike Maroney, who also is a doctor, was quoted saying that not only was he not going to vote for the bill, but that it’s “an embarrassment.” 

FLORIDA: The Florida state leg passed HB433 which stops local governments [ex: county] from passing local workplace requirements that would protect outdoor workers. Specifically, local ordinances could not be passed to require that workers have access to drinking water, cooling measures, and recovery periods. It also nixes the posting or distribution of materials that would provide workers with the 411 on how they can protect themselves. To put it simply - one of the hottest states in the country, in the midst of dealing with rising temperatures [shoutout climate change] and an increase of heat related deaths = passing a law that would endanger workers by denying them access to breaks, water, and shade. 

NEW ON THE GATG POD

SOTU by the numbers with USAFacts President Poppy MacDonald

There’s little cutie speech that the president gives called the State of the Union Address or as the wonks like to shorten it to, SOTU. Sounds kind of like a fun drink in our opinion, but it’s literally a look at from the president’s eyes the state or status of the nation at the juncture that they give said speech. This one was a banger. Between the speech, the rebuttal, the outfits, and more, we had questions galore – which is why we had USAFacts President Poppy MacDonald on to walk us through the things that really matter – the DATA, the numbies, the 411 on what’s been going on in the USA. We walk through key subject areas and get into this USAFacts report. Debrief your SOTU and prepare for this election szn by tuning in via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and by watching on YouTube.

HGW LISTENS

Hit play on these pods too

  • LEFT, RIGHT, CENTER: This episode of the podcast looks at SCOTUS’s unanimous decision that said that Colorado could not remove Trump from the ballot. It’s giving analysis 101. 

  • THE DAILY PUNCH: This nine-minute episode of the podcast provides quick insights into Trump’s TikTok ban reversal and how that may impact the big bad bill on Capitol Hill. 

  • DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: This episode with Congressman Jamie Raskin discusses the threats posed by a second Trump presidency. It’s giving wake-up call.

KEY READS

Important stories from around the USA

  • AP: This 21-year-old Republican beat a 10-year incumbent. What’s next for Wyatt Gable?

  • The Hill: Battle for the House: 9 races that will determine the majority

  • Politico: Biden says he regret using the word ‘illegal’ during State of the Union

  • CNN Politics: Oregon governor to sign bill re-criminalizing possession of certain drugs into law

ATLAS

Stories from around the globe

  • CNN: At least 287 school children kidnapped by armed gunmen in northwest Nigeria

  • Axios: U.S. military airlifts embassy staff from Haiti due to heightened violence

  • AP: Moldova faces multiple threats from Russia as it turns toward EU membership, foreign minister says

  • ABC: Turkish police detain 33 people accused of plotting attacks ahead of local elections, official says

BEFORE YOU GO….

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