State Senator Rob Hogg
Action alert from Senator Rob Hogg
Keep speaking up to ask Governor Reynolds to veto or item veto legislation with which you disagree.
The 2019 legislative session ended Saturday, but your work is not done. There is still a chance that Governor Reynolds will veto or item veto some of the legislation that was passed.
You can contact Governor Reynolds by calling her office weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 515-281-5211.
You can also write her at “Governor Kim Reynolds, 1007 East Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50319.
“You can also send her a message at her official web site: https://governor.iowa.gov/constituent-services/register-an-opinion
Below are eight bills or sections of bills that Governor Reynolds could veto:
1. Protect the independence of Iowa’s separately elected attorney general. The Legislature added a provision to a budget bill that would require the attorney general to get the governor’s permission to sue in federal court or out of state. But the attorney general is separately elected to exercise independent judgment to protect and defend Iowans. This provision is contained in Section 24 of Senate File 615 that Governor Reynolds could line item veto.
2. Protect our fair, merit-based judicial nominating process. The Legislature added a provision to the standing appropriations bill that would allow the Governor to appoint an additional member to the judicial nominating commission, effectively giving political appointees a majority of the commission. This provision is contained in Division XIII of Senate File 638 that Governor Reynolds could line item veto.
3. Support local city and county control over their own budgets. The Legislature passed new procedures for and restrictions on city and county budgeting that the Legislature itself does not follow. These procedures could be used to reduce essential public services, like police, fire, hazard mitigation, streets, and disaster recovery, and harm public workers including their retirement and other benefits. This bill is Senate File 634 that Governor Reynolds could veto.
4. Stop discrimination against transgender Iowans. The Legislature added a provision that restricts payments for medical services for transgender Iowans. This provision is contained in Division XX of House File 766 that Governor Reynolds could line item veto.
5. Allow Planned Parenthood and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to do family planning and sex education. The Legislature added provisions that ban organizations that perform abortions from eligibility for federal funds for family planning and sex education programs. These provisions are contained in Division XXIII of House File 766 that Governor Reynolds could line item veto.
6. Stop the registration tax increase for electric and plug-in vehicles. The Legislature passed a bill to impose an additional surcharge on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, even those these vehicles already pay higher registration fees than comparable gas-powered cars. This will hurt Iowans who want to buy gas-saving technology and will hurt jobs in the clean car industry that is already under attack from the Trump Administration. This bill is House File 767 that Governor Reynolds can veto.
7. Support voluntary utility energy efficiency. The Legislature added a provision to the standing appropriations bill that prevents utilities from voluntarily spending more than two percent of all revenues on energy efficiency. This contradicts the state’s energy plan written by Governor Reynolds to encourage more energy efficiency and will result in more energy costs for Iowa consumers. This provision is contained in Division IX of Senate File 638 that Governor Reynolds can line item veto.
8. Support private land conservation, clean water, and flood mitigation. The Legislature passed a bill that prohibits private entities from using the State Revolving Fund for lower interest rates to buy land from willing sellers to transfer to county conservation boards and other public entities for clean water and flood mitigation purposes. This bill is Senate File 548 that Governor Reynolds can veto.
You can review these and other bills at the legislative website, www.legis.iowa.gov.
I know there are other pending bills, but these are eight bills or sections of bills that Governor Reynolds could veto. She needs to hear from Iowans as she considers whether to sign them. Please speak up as soon as possible.
In the coming weeks, I hope to provide a longer summary of the 2019 legislative session.
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to email me at rob.hogg@legis.iowa.gov or write me at P.O. Box 1361, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406.
Rob
Senator Rob Hogg
Cedar Rapids
www.robhogg.org
Bill Maher takes on the idea that both parties are the same. “It’s the central fraudulent idea that allowed Donald Trump to get elected.” This is important because many people take refuge in the idea that “both parties are the same” or “both parties are equally responsible.” It allows them to stay above the fray (and not participate). In the real world, blame is not always equally distributed. Sometimes, probably most of the time, one side is more at fault or entirely at fault. One side may not be perfect, but there is usually an instigator that is causing the problems. This Bill Maher segment encapsulates the truth of why it is so ridiculous to say that both parties are equally responsible for where we are now as a country. And it’s funny, despite how much you don’t want to laugh.
“A war being waged against Democracy by only one side.”
photo: Politico.com
NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo will host the first 2020 presidential primary debate in June of 2019. This is the third in a series of BFIA’s coverage and commentary of the announcement speeches by the declared Democratic candidates for president for 2020 in no particular order.
Cory Booker announced his candidacy for President of the United States at a rally in his home town of Newark, New Jersey April 13. Watch the full video. Full text available on C-SPAN.
Campaign website “Where there is unity there is strength.”
It was a big speech. It was part inspirational and part Democratic red meat. It was values and policy. He opened with a nod to his mother and closed with a quote from MLK. He spoke of justice, progress, common ground, coming together, the urgency of now, and love.
“Our sense of moral urgency comes from the most demanding of all values; it comes from love. Love of our families, community, country and each other… Love, courageous love, defiant love, the kind of love that works through heartbreak, pain and betrayal. The kind of love that keeps on going and never gives up, the kind of love that sacrifices and is essential to achieving justice.”
But mostly it was about justice.
“I believe.. we will bring our country together and will make justice real for all people and that is why I am running for President of the United States of America.”
And about how historically, our country’s progress happened when groups of citizens refused to wait for justice.
“We won’t wait for more thoughts and prayers for communities who have been shattered by gun violence…we will bring a fight to the NRA like they have never ever seen before. And we will win… We won’t wait to meet the challenge and crisis of climate change because we have no choice..”
He spoke of policy issues mentioning health care (he supports Medicare for all starting with lowering the eligibility age), women’s rights, gerrymandering, dark money in politics, homeless veterans, jobs, immigration, public education, criminal justice system and legalization of marijuana. It was a sad statement of modern-day politics that he had to say this: “We will fully fund public schools.”
He spoke of what it means to be a progressive and said we must not let ourselves become divided.
I know and you know that we don’t have the privilege to wait for what fits into someone else’s narrow view on what it means to be a progressive. Our first priority must be to make peoples lives better. We must move forward as best we can and as fast as we can.
“Those folks that are closest to the pain and closest to the struggle should have an active hand in defining how we confront it. A real progressive movement refuses to stall out in righteous indignation.”
He closed with a quote from Martin Luther King:
For years now I have heard the word wait. This wait has almost always meant never. We come to see that justice too long delayed is justice denied.
Some quite interesting news around the world as other countries move away from fossil fuels and toward renewables for their energy.
From Africa we get news that the country of Zambia is celebrating a unique achievement – the elimination of power outages by ditching fossil fuels and moving to almost all renewables such as hydraulic and solar energy.
”Using its verified Twitter account @AfDB_Group (note: African Development Bank), the bank tweeted on Saturday: “Power cuts are now a thing of the past in #Zambia! A major boost in electricity production – thanks to a robust hydraulic and solar power generation industry – means the country is now self-sufficient in energy.”
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“And, there is even better news for citizens of the South African nation — electricity production could soon be in surplus,” the bank said.
Zambia generates practically all its energy production from its own primary resources: biomass, coal and hydroelectricity, with flagship plants such as the power station near the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam, in the south-east of the country, taking centre stage.”
The article goes on to describe what other steps Zambia is taking to add to its energy portfolio with solar and other renewables.
Stories like this from around the world are encouraging especially the once progressive United States trapped into using fossil fuels by a Republican Party which is a seeming subsidiary of the fossil fuel industries.
For us to make the steps we need to end our dependence on fossil fuels, we need to elect visionary leaders who can galvanize the country around the need to move beyond fossil fuels for the good of the country, planet and the people.
Renewable power and climate change must be central to the next election.
Thanks to babylonsister over at democraticunderground.com for this memory:
“Senator Ervin then called on the president’s closest top advisers to appear. The president said they could not. They were protected, as he constitutionally is, by executive privilege. Senator Ervin immediately called a press conference and began with a line from Julius Caesar, ‘What meat doth this Caesar eat that he grows so great? And I say to you, what meat do these White House aides eat that they grow so great? We abolished titles of nobility in the long ago and if these men refuse to come down here, I shall instruct the sergeant-at-arms in the Senate to go to the White House and fetch ’em. They are as subject to questioning as any other citizens. The president calls it executive privilege. I call it executive poppycock.’”
May the spirit of Sam Ervin inspire the committees investigating our lawless, arrogant wannabe monarch.
Will Dear Leader be able to Barr the investigation?
Robert Reich discusses myths concerning taxing the rich (8 minutes):
Answers:
Robert Reich says America has already fired Dear Leader (3 minutes):
“You are threatening my life” says constituent
Looking fully like the old fool that he is, Chuck Grassley tries to employ a dance to make it seem like he is all in favor of the ACA and covering pre-existing conditions when the reality of his positions (anti-ACA) is all over the internet:
Remember that Ernst’s position is little different than Grassley’s. She will pretend she approves of the ACA while trying to kill it.
Meanwhile Ernst Tap Dances Around Trump’s Bad Tariff Deals
Looking about as lost as those asking her questions, Joni Ernst tries to tap dance around the bad tariff deals that the administration has doled out. She says she is “cautiously optimistic.” That pretty much means nothing when you have products you can’t sell.
Kind of sounds like Ernst and her Republican colleagues are moving their “hope and prayers” dodge from gun violence to cover their total incompetence in trade.
We need to replace Ernst and her “cautious optimism” with someone who deals in reality with competence.
Thanks to those who attended the forums and asked questions to hold Iowa’s lawmakers to account for their votes.
If you haven’t heard, Iowa’s lawmakers Republican lawmakers have done their best to become the next Wisconsin or Kansas while making Mississippi look like a progressive bastion.
We still have the horrible and insane privatized Medicaid system. Lawmakers have hog tied Iowa’s Attorney General so future AGs must get permission from the governor to join lawsuits. They are still looking at further voting suppression aimed at Johnson and Story counties. If only they could make “voting while Democratic” could be outlawed they would be happy.
And as has often happened, Republican were able to do some middle of the night maneuvering to put the hurt on some working people. This year it was a backdoor attack on IPERS for city and county workers. More on this after we list the final forums. A big thanks to infonetiowa.org for the weekly listings. As always click on the location to get the specific address of the forum:
04/27/2019 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Town Hall – Marshalltown
04/27/2019 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM Eggs & Issues – Fort Dodge
04/27/2019 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Legislative Forum – Davenport
04/27/2019 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Legislative Forum – Carroll
04/27/2019 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Talk with Officials – Urbandale
04/27/2019 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Town Hall – Cedar Rapids
04/28/2019 2:45 PM – 3:30 PM Connect with Congress – Indianola
04/29/2019 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Coffee with Marti-Des Moines
04/30/2019 9:00 AM – 3:30 PM STEM Education + Workplace Partnerships Summer
May 2019
05/03/2019 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Office Hours – Ankeny
About those back door cuts to IPERS. – from an email from Monica Kurth (D – Davenport) received on Thursday:
I’m fed up. After months of promises to protect our public pensions, House Republicans launched a middle-of-the-night attack on the retirement security of our police officers, firefighters, first responders, and other public employees.
At 3 am, the majority party passed Senate File 634 on a party line vote after hours of debate. This bill pits the ability of cities to provide the basic services we expect against the retirement security of the very workers who provide those services.
In the last year, we heard over and over again from Republican lawmakers and Governor Reynolds that IPERS wouldn’t be touched and that our our neighbors who depend on IPERS and other pensions for a secure retirement had nothing to worry about. Apparently, under GOP leadership, they do.
This bill is an end-run attack on retirement security of the workers that keep our cities and counties running.
Being a good listener is important to me. I’ve listened to my community and I know that this is wrong for Iowa and wrong for the people I serve at the Statehouse.
My colleagues and I weren’t able to stop the Republican’s latest attack on our retirement security.
These pensions are strong and secure. They help hundreds of thousands of Iowans retire with dignity.
Democrats need to take back the majority in 2020 – and we have to start today
Action Alert from CCI:
It was a powerful and inspiring Earth Day at Sheslow Auditorium on Drake campus on Monday. We partnered with youth-led Sunrise Movement to put on one of their 9 city “Road to the Green New Deal tour” stops, where we told stories of stopping climate change and creating millions of good jobs and a liveable future in the process.
450 people packed the space and heard from Sunrise Movement’s executive director, Varshini Prakash, about the urgency of the climate crisis and the path forward. We also heard from Iowa grassroots leaders who talked about the the crises we face and the hope of the Green New Deal. You can see beautiful photos from the event here.
Now we begin to plan for how we make the Green New Deal work for Iowa.
Our next step is to hold our first strategy meeting on what the Green New Deal means for Iowa’s communities and how we can achieve it. We will be meeting at the Iowa CCI office on Thursday, May 16 at 6:30pm. RSVP HERE
Our struggles are all connected, and now is the time to ride the momentum to build a movement big enough to win the changes we need to save the planet. Join us on May 16!
P.S. You can watch the livestream from the event HERE.
Medicare for All has been modernized to include dental and vision but the new Bill is a little different from the famous John Conyers bill introduced nearly twenty years ago. Congressman Mark Pocan explains how the new modern Medicare for All is an improvement to the bill from 2003.
