Recommended Actions for the Week of 20170605

Source: Washington’s Paramount Duty

Description: Call your State Legislators to Demand they pass a budget using progressive revenues. ***Especially 40th district Dems – keep the pressure on!***

Background:  Halfway through the second special session, it appears that Democrats are abandoning any effort to pass progressive revenues, like a capital gains tax or closing corporate tax loopholes – and embracing sales and property taxes. It is not acceptable to fund education by making our tax system even more regressive.
It’s time to flood legislators from both parties with calls making it clear they cannot rely on sales and property taxes to solve the education funding debate. Now is the time to call. Don’t let them cave and make working people pay while the rich and big businesses escape yet again.

Suggested Script: Washington State’s upside down tax system is the root cause of our state’s consistent failure to meet the constitutional requirement to amply fund public schools with dependable and regular state tax sources. The only way to meet that requirement without destroying other social services, including those essential to helping children learn, is to close corporate tax loopholes and ask the wealthiest residents in our state to pay more — including through a capital gains tax.
Legislators’ goal here isn’t compromise at any cost. Their mandate is to uphold the constitution and comply with the Supreme Court to ensure that our public schools are amply funded. We know that’s not an easy task. We stand ready to help you achieve this work. But we cannot support a plan that doubles down on our regressive tax system while falling short of funding our public schools.

Contact Information:

State Representation
Governor Jay Inslee
360-902-4111
TTY/TDD call 711 or 1-800-833-6388
http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/contact/send-gov-inslee-e-message

42nd District
Senator Doug Ericksen
(360) 786 – 7682
Doug.Ericksen@leg.wa.gov

Representative Luanne Van Werven
(360) 786 – 7980
Luanne.VanWerven@leg.wa.gov

Representative Vincent Buys
(360) 786 – 7854
Vincent.Buys@leg.wa.gov

40th District
Senator Kevin Ranker
(360) 786 – 7678
Kevin.Ranker@leg.wa.gov

Representative Kristine Lytton
(360) 786 – 7800
Kristine.Lytton@leg.wa.gov

Representative Jeff R. Morris
(360) 786 – 7970
Jeff.Morris@leg.wa.gov

Additional Information:  June 4 Seattle Times article regarding Dems letting progressive funding sources go.
General background information from Washington’s Paramount Duty

Source: RC Member

Description: The jail funding plan is before the City Council on Monday, June 5th. Riveters can contact City Council to ask that they vote NO on the jail funding agreement.

Background: Until the Incarceration Task Force Prevention has completed their work, we don’t know how big our jail should be or how much it will cost. In addition, the proposal is a regressive sales tax that will take up 100% of our public safety sales tax capacity for the next 30 years for one building. A big jail won’t make our community safer.

Suggested Script: We ask that you vote no on the Jail Funding Agreement until the Incarceration Task Force completes their work. Please wait, put the task force recommendations in place and focus on services that will keep people out of jail such as treatment, pre-arrest diversion, and pre-trial services. In the meanwhile, follow the recent recommendations of engineers to clean, paint and maintain our existing jail and consider how we can continue to safely use that existing building.

Contact Information: Email council at ccmail@cob.org, phone their office at (360) 778-8200, or give them a call:

• April Barker, (360) 325-5128
• Gene Knutson, (360) 734-4686
• Dan Hammill, (360) 778-8213
• Pinky Vargas, (360) 778-8210
• Terry Bornemann, (360) 305-0606
• Michael Lilliquist, (360) 778-8212
• Roxanne Murphy, (360) 778-8211

Source: RC Member

Description: Call Mayor Linville and ask her to join other U.S. mayors on the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda (MNCAA) to uphold the Paris Climate Agreement goals.

Background: We need to work with the local government to implement the Paris agreement and work to get a measure on the Bellingham ballot for November. It would be powerful and have a great impact to have the community support the movement.

Suggested Script: Ask Mayor Linville to sign on to the MNCAA and to consider a plan to put a pro-Paris ballot measure together to reaffirm that she speaks for Bellingham on the issue of climate action, as well as define some basic steps that have been missing from the local climate action plan such as monitoring and reporting.

Contact Information: Kelli Linville, (360) 778-8100 or mayorsoffice@cob.org

Additional Information: 187 US Climate Mayors Commit to Adopt, Honor and Uphold Paris Climate Agreement

Description: On June 1, 2017, after Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, Governors Jay Inslee, Andrew Cuomo (New York), and Jerry Brown (California) announced they had formed the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition that will convene U.S. states committed to upholding the Paris Climate Agreement and taking aggressive action on climate change.  The three states, which together represent over one-fifth of U.S. Gross Domestic Product, are committed to achieving the U.S. goal of reducing emissions 26-28 percent from 2005 levels and meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan.  Since then, the Governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Oregon, and Hawaii have also joined, and other governors and mayors have pledged support for the Paris Agreement.  Let’s all thank him for his strong leadership!!

Contact Information:

Governor Jay Inslee

360-902-4111; TTY/TDD call 711 or 1-800-833-6388

http://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/contact/send-gov-inslee-e-message

Suggested Script: As a resident of [insert city name], Washington, I want to thank the Governor for his strong leadership on climate, especially on the U.S. Climate Alliance.  Commitment and action at the state and local levels will be critical to protect our climate in light of the Trump Administration’s dangerous and reckless policies.

Additional Information:

Governor’s announcement: Inslee, New York Governor Cuomo, and California Governor Brown announce formation of United States Climate Alliance

Seattle Times article: Gov. Inslee calls Trump’s climate-pact withdrawal ‘pathetic’

Source: The RC

Description: Install the Amplify App on your phone

Background: The Amplify App is an action delivery app, but it delivers OUR actions. RC actions -> Amplify -> You. Amplify is under development by Indivisible San Francisco, and is used regularly by the Rises network in Montana (Missoula Rises, Big Sky Rising, etc.).

Why use Amplify? RC will deliver actions once per week and you will get a notification. We will also (infrequently) send a notification if there is an urgent request. No more searching through the facebook feed!  After you take the action, you click one of the response buttons – “left voicemail”, “talked to staffer”, “did it”, etc. – and then we get counts of how many people are taking the actions. These counts will be a powerful tool in working with elected officials, showing our strength in numbers.

Additional Information:

1. Install the app for iPhone (http://apple.co/2o8cQAG) or Android (http://bit.ly/2neIpnw) (NOT currently available for tablets)
2. Press ‘Create New Account’ to sign up
3. Enter the Riveters Collective invite code: 045-857-672
4. Take an action & cheer others on!

Description: President Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to review all designations of national monuments greater than 100,000 acres created since 1996.  Public comments on 26 monuments will be accepted through July 10, 2017.

Background:  On April 26, 2017, the White House issued a Presidential Executive Order on the Review of Designations under the Antiquities Act, directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to review certain National Monuments designated or expanded since 1996.  The Secretary of the Interior will use the review to determine whether each designation or expansion conforms to the policy stated in the Executive Order and to formulate recommendations for Presidential actions, legislative proposals, or other appropriate actions to carry out that policy.  There are 27 National Monuments under review, including Hanford Reach in Washington and 5 marine national monuments; the list can be found here.

Contact Information:  Submit comments online through regulations.gov (Docket ID# DOI-2017-0002).

Suggested Script:  Click here for suggested scripts.  We’ll update with new scripts as often as we can, so check back often!!

Additional Information:

• NPR: See the Sweeping American Landscapes Under Review by Trump
• New York Times: Battle Over Bears Ears Heats Up as Trump Rethinks Its Monument Status

Source: RC

Description: Measure your carbon footprint and develop a long-term plan for major emissions reduction in your own life. Bookmark the calculator and consult it in your decision-making.

Background:  We have tremendous power to reduce carbon emissions in our own lives. This is not optional, but no one will make us do it.  The transition to clean energy is happening, and needs to accelerate, and we need to be the drivers on the personal and the policy level. This means substantial change in some of our lifestyles, but a low carbon – working toward carbon neutral – lifestyle is different, but also joyful and meaningful. Measurement is accountability.  Commit to measuring, making a plan, and telling your friends. This is our personal responsibility to future generations, but also to marginalized people already affected.  Marching is important, but addressing climate change must be a daily practice for all of us.

Permanent Planet is a locally-developed calculator which addresses just the major contributors to emissions. The developer created the tool in his spare time and there is no monetization of the site.