The CT Secretary of the State is advocating this session for a Constitutional Amendment Re: Absentee Ballot Use, On-line Registration and Election Day Registration (EDR). The League of Women Voters of Connecticut supports these election law changes that make the act of voting more accessible to all citizens,legally entitled to do so, by reducing the barriers to registration and use of the absentee ballot. These issues are being addressed in HJ 2, Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the State Constitution to Allow for No-Excuse Absentee Voting and HB 5024, AA Concerning Voting Rights. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE TODAY AND TELL THEM TO VOTE YES ON HJ 2 and HB 5024 E-mail: CT General Assembly Website at www.cga.ct.gov and then click on left for Senate and House links. Telephone:
HB 5024: Why support Election Day Registration?
Election Laws are a priority for League advocacy. LWVCT has supported Election Day Registration for years. HJ 2 and HB 5024 will get a public hearing by the Government Administration and Elections Committee, currently scheduled for Friday, March 2. Please ask your legislators to support these bills. Sincerely, Cheryl Dunson, President Catharine Sturgess, Government Director Susan Voris, Election Laws Specialist League of Women Voters of Connecticut Help put SuperPACs Out of Business 01/19/2012
How can you fight back against the big money pouring into the political campaigns this year? Sign the petition on The White House website* urging President Obama to appoint new commissioners to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC is supposed to be the government agency that enforces campaign finance laws, but it isn’t working and hasn’t for a long time. Of the six commissioners at the agency, three of them simply refuse to enforce the law, and five of the six are serving despite the fact that their terms expired some time ago. It is time to clean house and President Obama is the one that needs to do something about it. Click here to urge President Obama to clean house at the Federal Election Commission (FEC). If you are tired of the millions of dollars flooding our political campaigns courtesy of SuperPACs,sign the petition and help us reach our goal of at least 25,000 signatures of support by February 10, 2012. Don’t just sign it yourself; post the petition on Facebook, Tweet about it and forward this note to all of your friends. Together, we can make sure that the votes of millions of Americans are more valuable to our elections than a big pile of money. * In order to successfully sign the petition, you will need to create an account on WhiteHouse.gov and respond to a confirmation email. If you need guidance on creating this account please use our helpful step-by-step guide to creating your account and signing the petition. HELP DEFEAT THE NATIONAL RIGHT-TO-CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT H.R. 822 CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR TODAY 10/23/2011
Under H.R. 822, a state’s laws about who can be licensed and carry concealed weapons would not apply. The law would require the states to recognize each other’s carry permits, just as they recognize drivers’ licenses. Call or email your representative today and tell them that this law, if passed, would conflict with and undermine current Connecticut permit and licensing gun laws. Connecticut has some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, including a suitability standard, and these laws have broad public support within the state. Connecticut is a “May-Issue” state, and its law enforcement agencies are not required by law to issue permits to carry handguns to those who are not considered to be suitable persons to possess or carry a handgun. Other states that are “Shall-Issue” or worse still “Unrestricted” have no such provisions, and their citizens would be permitted to carry concealed weapons into our state with no input from law enforcement agents anywhere. Therefore, the possibility exists that some visitors with concealed weapons would have been denied a permit if they were Connecticut residents and that would set a dangerous precedent. Note: Representative Courtney is a co-sponsor and if you are in his district please ask him to reconsider. You may email your representative via their websites or phone contacts are listed below. PLEASE ACT TODAY Contact information: 1st District: John B. Larson, East Hartford CT Phone: (860) 278-8888 D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2265 Website: http://larson.house.gov/ 2nd District: Joseph Courtney, Vernon CT Phone: (860) 886-0139 D.C. Phone: (202) 225-3076 Website: http://courtney.house.gov/ 3rd District: Rosa L. DeLauro, New Haven CT Phones: (203) 562-3718 (New Haven) (203) 378-9005 (Stratford) (860) 344-1159 (Middletown) D.C. Phone: (202) 225-3661 Website: http://delauro.house.gov/ 4th District: Jim Himes, Greenwich CT Phones: (203) 210-7711, 866-453-0028 D.C. Phone: (202) 225-5541 Website: http://himes.house.gov/ 5th District: Christopher Murphy, Cheshire CT Phone: (860) 223-8412 D.C. Phone: (202) 225-4476 Website: http://chrismurphy.house.gov/ Two years ago, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to repeal the death penalty only to see Governor Rell veto the bill. With Governor Malloy at the helm, we have a real opportunity to repeal the death penalty in Connecticut this year if we act now. Senate Bill 1035 An Act Repealing the Death Penalty has been voted favorably out of the Judiciary Committee and is now before the senate for a vote. Please contact your senator TODAY and ask him/her to VOTE YES ON SB 1035 to repeal the death penalty. SB 1035 replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of release. At the public hearing on March 7 the LWVCT submitted testimony stating in part, that the death penalty as a deterrent is not provable, the death penalty causes additional harm to victims' families subjecting them to years of media attention, and that the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment without parole. Main Switchboard: Senate Democrats (800) 842-1420 or (860) 240-8600 Senate Republicans (800) 842-1421 or (860) 240-8800 You can find your senator's e-mail by going to: http://www.cga.ct.gov The vote could happen at any time. Please take action TODAY and then forward this message far and wide. Thank you. Together we can make a difference! Ellen McBride, LWVCT, Death Penalty Specialist Christine Horrigan, LWVCT, VP of Public Issues Our Assault Weapons Ban prohibited the sale and possession of "selective-fire" weapons. SB 547 would remove the language that prohibits these extremely powerful firearms that are capable of fully automatic, semi-automatic, or burst fire at the option of the user. The NRA is bombarding legislators with phone calls, letters, and emails urging them to lift the ban and allow the purchase and possession of these dangerous weapons including this select fire HK MP5: Members of the legislature need to hear our voice NOW. Please take 2 minutes and: 1. Call your Senator and Representative 2. Email your Senator and Representative 3. Forward this alert to 3 friends who agree that we need to take this important step to help stop gun violence! That's it - it's so easy, and it does so much! Thank you for your support! Cheryl Dunson, President Action Needed to Preserve Water Resources 03/31/2011
The alert below comes from CT Fund for the Environment, one of the League's coalition partners. We hope that you will take action via phone or email. Though Connecticut is a relatively water-rich state, we must still plan carefully and use our resources wisely to make sure there is enough water available for human needs and enough to keep our rivers healthy and flowing. State agencies, environmental advocates and the water industry have been working together to create regulations that ensure that balance, but nowSB 1020 threatens to undo that work. 1. Please call or email the Senate leadership today:
Tell them: "Please make sure that SB 1020, AAC Water Resources and Economic Development, gets sent to the Environment Committee. As the committee charged with considering Connecticut's environmental health and natural resources, they should have a chance to address the bill. Please use your leadership to see that this bill is stopped. It would render streamflow protection meaningless and threatens the progress being made on revised regulations." 2. Then please call these leaders of the Environment Committee: Sen. Ed Meyer, co-chair 800-842-1420 email Rep. Dick Roy, co-chair 800-842-8267 email Rep. Clark Chapin, ranking 800-842-1423 email And any of your own legislators who may be on the committee. Tell them: "Please stop SB 1020, AAC Water Resources and Economic Development. Stakeholders are already working together on a balanced approach that can get the support of all parties. This bill threatens that process. This bill would render the idea of streamflow protection meaningless by including a laundry list of poorly-defined exceptions that could prioritize industrial and municipal uses over environmental needs, even when there's plenty of water to go around. Currently 1 in 8 Connecticut rivers are faced with inadequate flow. We can and must make sure our rivers have enough water to sustain fish and other life, while planning for the needs of our communities." HELP NEEDED TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY! 03/01/2011
Two years ago, the Connecticut General Assembly voted to repeal the death penalty only to see Governor Rell veto the bill. With Governor Malloy at the helm, we have a real opportunity to repeal the death penalty in Connecticut if we act now. Please contact your legislators TODAY and ask them to repeal the death penalty. Hand written letters are particularly effective. Don’t have a lot of time? The link below, from our coalition partners at the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty and Equal Justice, makes it easy to take action. It also allows the coalition to keep track of the number of messages each legislator receives. http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/1972/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5224 A public hearing on bills to repeal the death penalty may take place next week. Please take action TODAY and then forward this message far and wide. Thank you. Together we can make a difference! Ellen McBride, LWVCT Death Penalty Specialist Christine Horrigan, LWVCT VP of Public Issues | LWVCT State Action AlertsCategoriesAll ArchivesFebruary 2012 |
RSS Feed