WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PRIORITY BILLS?

Yesterday (May 16) was do-or-die day in the legislature with the occurrence of the much anticipated #SuspenseFile hearing. The suspense is now over; the following bills will live to see another day (aka. will be headed for floor vote imminently):

• AB 392 (Police use of force, non-fiscal and didn’t go to approps)
• SB 29/ AB 4 (Health4All)
• SB 200/ AB 217 (Clean drinking water)
• AB 32 (Ban private prisons)
• AB 1217 (Issue ad disclosure)
• SB 47 (Ballot disclose act, this actually skipped suspense)
• ACA 6 (Free the vote, though this likely won’t start moving until mid-June because it’s a constitutional amendment that’s exempt from deadlines)

ACTION: INDIVISI-CALL IN WEEK NEXT WEEK

Now that we know what is headed for a floor vote, it’s time to let our legislators know how we want them to vote! ALL of our legislators will be voting on all these bills (except ACA 6) in the next few weeks. To pack the biggest punch, we’re coordinating a call-in week next week to drive calls about a different bill every day.

I’m also excited to announce that we now have a patch through number to the legislature that will send you to your state legislators after entering your zip code. This will allow us to track how many calls we all make so please use it for calls! We have everything you need for call-in week in this TOOLKIT including call scripts, sample tweets, and graphics! CALL IN WEEK TOOLKIT!

LAST CALL FOR LOBBY DAY SIGN UP Indivisibles will be there live in Sacramento during one of the most exciting times of the legislative session for our Indivisi-Lobby Day on May 29th! This is the last call for sign-ups! Please RSVP by Monday, May 20th! RSVP for May 29th Lobby Day

Last week the national Indivisible organization launched an “Indivisible Pledge” and invited both grass-roots activists and Democratic presidential candidates to sign it.  As Rachel Maddow noted Monday, this has particular significance for the candidates, who must pledge to run constructive, issue-driven campaigns and actively support whoever emerges with the nomination (no sour grapes, 3^rd party threats, etc.).  But local activists who sign the pledge are also asked to “Do the work to beat Trump. We’re the grassroots army that’s going to power the nominee to victory, and we’ll show up to make calls, knock doors, and do whatever it takes.” It looks like this, rather than endorsing any one candidate (which most Indivisible chapters—including ours—rejected), is how Indivisible plans to impact the primary process.  Hurray!  Here’s the message from the national team:

Take the #WeAreIndivisible pledge. We’ve got 11 candidates and nearly 10,000 grassroots activists signed up. But this simple ask will take all of us to uphold. So, if you haven’t already, take the pledge and add your name. And if your local group is ready to commit to our weekend of action in July 2020, register your event on the map here.

Other Actions: We’re also asked to ask our member of Congress to support Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All Act and H.R. 1046, Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s bill aimed at bringing down drug prices, but Barbara Lee is already a co-sponsor of both. If you’d like to be heard on another bill she’s co-sponsored, there’s a link for a call asking her to resist pressures to water down  H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act!

There’s also a plea for cash, which the national effort will certainly need: “We’re doing everything we can to launch successful 2020 campaigns and advocacy nationwide. But phonebanking, organizing, training, and more take resources that are far from free — and we need your help to afford them. Please: we need you to chip in $30.00 or more to support Indivisible now and into 2020.”

The following urgent request is from Jiggy Athilingam, Indivisible Senior State Policy Manager. Note: Item 3 has been taken care of.

California’s clean energy future is at risk. Last year, we passed SB 100 to accelerate our renewable energy portfolio standard to 60% renewable by 2030 and 100% renewable by 2045. Now, special interests are trying to carve out loopholes and exemptions to weaken the law.

SB 386 (Caballero) would exempt two irrigation districts and allow them to count large hydro power toward the 60% renewable standard. If these two districts are allowed to count large hydro, they will have absolutely zero incentive to produce real renewable energy. What’s worse is that this sets a very dangerous precedent — it won’t be long until every district demands this exemption, which would completely undermine our path to a cleaner energy future.

SB 386 passed the Senate Energy Committee this week with the votes of moderate Dems and Republicans. It does not have to go to Appropriations and there is fear that it may get fast tracked to the Senate floor, as early as next week.

The SB 100 coalition is on emergency alert and needs our help.

Here is what you can do:

1. Call your state Senator. Since this could be headed to the floor, every Senator needs to hear from us. Look up their number here. Here is a call script:
   “Hello, my name is <NAME> from <TOWN>. I’m calling to express serious concern about SB 386, a bill that would effectively gut the renewable energy goals set forth in SB 100 by allowing large hydro dams to count toward the 60% renewable by 2030 standard. Climate change is an emergency and I expect California to lead the way in environmental reform, not undermine our own progress. Can I count on Senator <NAME> to vote NO on SB 386 on the Senate floor next week?”
2. Drop-in to your Senator’s office. If you have the time, grab a few of your group members and spontaneously stop by your Senator’s district office on Monday in person to ask them to vote NO on SB 386.
3. Sign your group onto the coalition opposition letter. The SB 100 coalition is submitting an opposition letter (text at the bottom of this email). To sign on, please email your name, group name, and group logo to djacobson@environmentcalifornia.org
4. Tweet about this to raise awareness. This bill has been moving quietly and we need to raise awareness about its dangers. Use the sample tweets in this toolkit and the graphics below. Sample social

This bill could move as early as next week so time is of the essence. Thank you for your activism!

In solidarity,

Jiggy

All of us have been consumed with learning every [unredacted] thing about the Mueller report this week.  Many of us probably agree with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who tweeted on the 18^th:   “Doing nothing when we are seeing blatant disregard of the United States constitution, to our ethical norms, is dangerous.” It’s not only up to Congress to hold Trump accountable, it’s our job to do so. #InvestigateNow #TimetoImpeach At this point Barbara Lee does not appear to be a co-sponsor of Tlaib’s resolution. We might help change that.

From Indivisible’s national team:

Congress must investigate now.

It’s our turn to put in the work to urge Congress to use their oversight powers to investigate Trump. Members of Congress (especially those who sit on relevant committees like Judiciary or Intelligence) should continue using their subpoena power to uncover the full Mueller report, as well as pursuing investigations related to Trump’s corruption, both during and before his time in office. There are a few ways we’re going to do that:

1. Call to support Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s impeachment resolution. Make a call to your MoC and tell them to co-sponsor Rep. Tlaib’s resolution (H.Res. 257) and begin investigating whether Trump should be impeached.
2. Send an email to support Rep. Tlaib’s impeachment resolution. Write up an email (or use our suggested text!) and we’ll send your letter to your MoC urging them to co-sponsor Rep. Tlaib’s resolution.

In case you missed this email from Indivisible partner MoveOn and might want to join tomorrow’s protest rallies in El Cerrito or Oakland, I’m posting it here: Last night, Donald Trump’s hand-picked attorney general, William Barr, missed the deadline set by Congress to release the full Mueller report. 

That’s why tomorrow, Thursday, April 4—at nearly 300 events around the country—the Nobody Is Above the Law coalition is joining together to demand that Barr immediately release the full report and supporting evidence. 

Click here to check out a map of the actions and RSVP to join a “Release The Report” event near you tomorrow, Thursday, April 4.

As Rachel Maddow reported live on her show Monday night, these #ReleaseTheReport actions will be critical to getting the backs of congressional Democrats who are subpoenaing the full report and underlying evidence and pushing back against Barr and Trump’s stonewalling.

Light note passed along on the CA Indivisible Slack channel: lassner@andylassner on twitter: “I’m not saying it would be hilarious if folks in Fresno showed up to this event just to moo. I’m not saying that at all. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2IAxJtU4AEuk1Q.jpg”

Response on the Slack thread: “A number of folks are renting cow costumes and are planning a big protest outside the venue.  Please go!”

As the Democrats’ big anti-corruption/voting-rights bill H.R. 1 slides into the GOP Senatorial black hole, the grass-roots activism behind it may need a new home. One option is the non-profit group RepresentUs, which has a cool new video narrated by Jennifer Lawrence: Unbreaking America: A NEW Short Film about Solving the Corruption Crisis.”   Described in the Washington Post as “a 12-minute lecture … that’s part civics lesson and part rallying cry,” it’s worth watching.

RepresentUs has been working to building a non-partisan movement around The American Anti-Corruption Act, which “sets a standard for local, state, and federal laws that fix our broken elections, stop political bribery, and end secret money.”  RepresentUs has spearheaded over 100 anti-corruption acts and resolutions across the country, including big wins around gerrymandering and campaign finance.  It can’t match the immediate effect of a tipped election, but by enlisting Republicans and independents in anti-corruption activism, its long-range impact could be greater. (And it might be a way to engage your more centrist relatives!)

From California Indivisible’s 3/6/19 statewide call, two actions came across as immediate priorities:

1. Supporting Assembly Bill AB 392 (the California Act to Save Lives), which would change police use of force policies so that officers would have to de-escalate however possible before resorting to lethal force. There’s a call script at https://act.indivisible.org/call/ca-act-save-lives/

2. Opposing Senate Bill SB 230, the police counter bill that would require agencies to make their use of force policy accessible to the public but would set use of force to be okay when officer “reasonably believes” there is a threat.  No call script, but it’s important that Senator Skinner understand our opposition.

Contact Assemblymember Buffy Wicks at (916) 319-2015  or (510) 286-1400

Contact Senator Nancy Skinner at (916) 651-4009 or (510) 286-1333

A full list of  CA Indivisible’s 10 legislative priorities covering healthcare, immigration, prison reform, voting and the environment is at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I2hRmYVbxWOmcKHL4jPK-Z-uAa4IKqkdivCjTP32OHQ/edit

Indivisible and the presidential primaries.  Rather than obsessing over which candidate to support, Indivisible at the national level is urging local chapters to focus on ensuring that the platform and campaign strategy of whichever candidate emerges with the nomination will reflect Indivisible’s priorities, with saving our democracy at the top of the list.  On this topic, two documents worth looking at on the national Indivisible website are the newest IndivisiBlog from National Political Director María Urbina and a new explainer on primaries and ways to get engaged.