Annual meeting was a big success! We adopted a budget and discussed plans for 2016-17. There are so many opportunities! Choices that will be priorities when we plan our calendar include mental health/healthcare, good city government, water quality, and criminal justice reform. Please join us on May 24, 7:00 p.m. for calendar planning and fun at Wine Nutz.
June 11 State Council in Marshalltown
LWVIA Council will be held on June 11 in Marshalltown. I am hoping to attend and want you to come with me. Call if you will share the day.
LWVIA Leader Update
We were sorry to learn of the resignation of Bonnie Pitz as Co-President of LWVIA. We want to extend our sincere thanks to Bonnie for her leadership and direction through the years.
155 Countries to Sign Paris Agreement on Earth Day
By: Jessica Jones 04/21/2016 Friday, April 22 marks the 41st anniversary of the first Earth Day. On this day, world leaders will gather at the United Nations (UN) to sign the agreement put together last fall during the UN Climate Conference in Paris. The historic agreement signaled the commitment to fight climate change by a global coalition. Through the agreements, the signing countries will work to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon pollution, while setting a goal to keep the temperature of the earth from rising “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. Read more http://lwv.org/blog/155-countries-sign-paris-agreement-earth-day
Water Resources Development Act.
This week, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016. WRDA would authorize some $9 billion for the nation's drinking water, clean water, flood prevention, and navigation programs. Of regional interest, WRDA would provide for a flood risk management study on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, authorize $300 million to study flood risk management and environmental restoration for the Upper Des Plaines River, and authorize $300 million annually through 2021 for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Bill summaries and full text are available online.
NC Voting Rights and Voter ID
The news was not good this week in North Carolina where a federal trial judge upheld that state’s comprehensive effort to suppress the vote. The omnibus election law which was the subject of a lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of North Carolina and its allies imposes strict voter photo ID requirements, eliminates same day registration during early voting and cuts back on early voting periods. Opponents of the measure, including the League, will fight on through the appeals process. In the meantime, as in so many other jurisdictions, after opposing the bill in the statehouse and challenging it in the courthouse, the League will be on the ground in North Carolina helping voters navigate the new law to mitigate as much harm as possible.
In an effort to end the partisan deadlock on the current Federal Election Commission (FEC) that permits abuses of the campaign finance laws at the federal level, the League is supporting the Federal Election Administration Act (FEA) of 2016. The Act would create a new election administration comprised of five members, not four, and provide that one commissioner be appointed on a nonpartisan basis. Please take some time and join us in asking Congress to take action on the Federal Elections Commission!
Show Me the Money!
The news that Harriet Tubman will be pictured on the twenty dollar bill in the future makes us cheer. Less cheerful, however, is the news that the ten dollar bill will only feature a select group of suffrage leaders on the back of the bill. Among significant leaders in the fight for votes for women who are not in the group is our own Carrie Chapman Catt. It is always astonishing how little is known or understood about a movement that lasted over 70 years and enfranchised 23 million citizens with the stroke of one pen.
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