As there has been increased mobilization and opposition to punitive local law enforcement measures including 287g programs, advocates, elected officials, and local law enforcement are joining together to discuss pragmatic and humane approaches to public safety. Progressive States Network held a conference call with state legislators, advocates, and former police officials to discuss timely law enforcement issues as they relate to immigration policy. Local law enforcement policy alternatives were discussed including community policing, anti-racial profiling measures, and civil liberties protections. The former Sacramento Chief of Police shared what an increasing number of law enforcement officials believe should be common sense immigration reform policies, while a national advocate outlined the community perspective and a state legislator shares their rationale for protecting immigrant victims.
On October 6, 2009, a bipartisan group of five state legislators leading efforts for federal health reform discussed the announcement today (see below) that more than 1000 state legislators in all fifty states have signed letters to Congress asking for real health reform, including a public health insurance option, strong affordability protections, and shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government for health care costs.
They also discussed plans on October 13th and 14th for state legislative leaders, along with mayors from around the country, to come to Washington, D.C. to bring this message of state support for reform to Capitol Hill and the White House.
Speakers on the call included:
* Washington Senator Karen Keiser
* Arizona Representative Kyrsten Sinema
* New Jersey Assemblyman Herb Conaway
* Maine Representative Jim Campbell (R)
* Iowa Senator Jack Hatch
* Nathan Newman, Executive Director, Progressive States Network
More than a Thousand State Legislators Support Real Health Reform;
State Legislators Coming to D.C. Next Week
1057 legislators from across the country show overwhelming support for health care reform
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Progressive States Network, a group representing state legislators across the country, announced today that 1057 state legislators from all fifty states have signed letters to Congress asking for real health reform, including a public health insurance option, strong affordability protections, and shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government for health care costs.
State legislative leaders, along with mayors from around the country, will be coming to Washington, D.C. next week to bring this message of state support for reform to Capitol Hill and the White House.
“State legislators have been on the front lines of health care reform for decades,” said Texas Representative Garnet Coleman, co-chair of Progressive States Network, “Most proposed elements of federal reform are based on ideas already debated and in many cases enacted in the states. So state legislators know what is needed to make reform work.”
In addition to these letters showing broad-based state legislator support for reform, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in August voted to support federal health care reform, including a public health insurance option. The vote at the annual NCSL conference was overwhelming, with representatives of 38 states supporting the resolution. As Iowa State Senator Jack Hatch (D, Des Moines), who introduced the amendment, said at the time, “We sent a very clear message to people dragging their feet in Washington: the time to act on health reform is now. We need a public health insurance option to make sure working families and small businesses are free to choose the best health care available at a price they can afford.”
“Talk radio and television may generate a lot of noise,” said Nathan Newman, PSN’s executive director, “but the over 1000 legislators in all fifty states supporting affordable, quality health care for all Americans, including a public insurance option, reflects the voices of communities across our nation. These legislators are asking to fix a broken health care system and improve both individual lives and the economic competitiveness of our nation.” The list of 1057 legislators supporting reform reflects 943 legislators signing a letter to Congress and President Obama sponsored by Progressive States Network itself, along with two separate letters from legislators in the states of Connecticut (92 additional names) and New Mexico (25 additional names) reflecting advocacy of similar reforms.
The text of the PSN letter was developed in consultation with national health care reform advocates, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Community Catalyst, Families USA, Herndon Alliance, National Women's Law Center, Northeast Action, SEIU, and Universal Health Care Action Network.
#####
Progressive States Network is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the work of progressive state legislators around the country and to the passage of state legislation that delivers on issues the issues that matter to working families: strong wage standards and workplace freedom, balancing work and family responsibilities, health care for all, smart growth and clean energy, tax and budget reform, clean and fair elections, and technology investments to bridge the digital divide.
Speaker Bios:
Karen Keiser (D) has been serving as a state senator in Washington since 2001. She currently is chair of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee where she has earned a reputation as a tireless advocate for improving the nation’s outdated, inefficient and fragmented health care system.
Kyrsten Sinema (D) serves as the Assistant Leader to the Democratic Caucus in the Arizona House of Representatives. Now in her third term, she is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee and the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Herb Conaway (D) has been a member of the New Jersey Assembly since 1998 and is a private practice physician specializing in internal medicine. Dr. Conaway currently chairs the Health and Senior Services Committee and is the immediate past chair of the NCSL Health Committee.
Jim Campbell (R) is a second term state representative from Maine. He is very devoted to issues relating to the elderly, as is evidenced by his participation on the board of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging which serves Cumberland and York counties.
Jack Hatch (D) serves as Assistant Majority Leader in the Iowa Senate where he is also Chair of the Senate Health & Human Services Budget Committee. In June 2009, he was selected to chair the White House Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform.
Nathan Newman is Executive Director of the Progressive States Network, which works to promote national reforms benefitting working families in the states working with progressive state legislators and allied community groups, unions, and advocacy organizations.
On Tuesday, September 15th at 12:00pm EST, Progressive States Network hosted a national conference call for state legislators and advocates discussing Federal Financial Reform: Protecting State Laws from Federal Preemption.
As Congress moves to enact new federal laws governing financial institutions, Progressive States Action is teaming up with Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of nearly 200 national, state and local consumer, labor, retiree, investor, community and civil rights groups to sponsor a conference call on why state leaders need to mobilize to protect state consumer protection laws from federal preemption. Currently, proposed federal legislation includes language that safeguards the ability of states to take independent action to protect consumers, but the banking industry is seeking amendments that would override state consumer protection laws and eliminate the ability of state and local prosecutors to act on behalf of consumers defrauded by financial institutions.
This important discussion highlighted the need for state leaders to call for federal reform that treats states as partners in reform and honors a tradition of collaborative federalism in consumer protection. The call brought together legislators and state organizational leaders from around the country to highlight the importance of including strong non-preemption language in federal financial reform legislation.
Speakers included:
* Congressman Brad Miller of North Carolina, a member of the Banking Committee and original sponsor of current legislation, H 3126
On Thursday, July 30th at 1:00pm EST, Progressive States Network hosted a national conference call for state legislators and advocates discussing Trade and the States: Promoting Collaboration when Negotiating and Implementing Trade Deals.
Across the country, states have increasingly taken action to stop global trade deals from undermining state authority and state regulations that protect consumers, workers and the environment. Join us for this call to discuss the rising concerns of state leaders over recent federal trade deals. Speakers on the call shared stories of recent mobilizations by state leaders working with federal allies to institutionalize the role of states in trade negotiations and spoke about how state legislators and advocates have been taking action to increase their roles in this process.
