Legislative Agenda

Welcome to life in a swing state - the GOP voter suppression machine is gearing up in Indiana.

While we had a minor argument over the placement of early voting centers here in Monroe County, up in Lake County the lawsuits are flying. Thomas at BlueIndiana has done some incredible work on following this issue (here, here, here, and here), but TPM gives a good rundown of the basics:

But under Indiana law, early voting can take place only in the county clerk's main office, which for Lake County is in Crown Point, more than an hour's drive from those cities.

As a result, on September 23, the county board of elections, on a 3-2 party-line vote, approved the opening of satellite early-voting centers in the the three cities. (State law specifically gives elections boards the authority to approve satellite voting centers, and early voting occurred at the centers in advance of the Democratic primary in May.)

But Republicans argue that the decision is unfair to voters in other parts of the state, many of whom would still need to travel to their county seat to vote early. Last week, the county GOP challenged the move, arguing that the centers can only be approved through a unanimous vote of the election board, and asking for a restraining order on early voting.

More after the jump...

From John at The Bloomington Beacon:

A reception for political and school-board candidates (MCCSC, RBBCSC) will be held on Oct. 12, 5:30-7:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington, 2120 N. Fee Lane.

Come share your concerns with Monroe County candidates! and hear their positions on major issues, including issues of particular interest to LGBT people!

Reception co-sponsors include: Bloomington PFLAG, Bloomington Beacon, Indiana Equality Region 9, bloomingOUT at WFHB-FM, Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance, and Rainbow Rights Task Force of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bloomington.

(Via The Bloomington Beacon)

Indiana Equality is collecting signatures to petition the General Assembly on the Indiana Civil Right Law, which will be reconsidered in 2009. The text of the petition is simple and to the point:

All Indiana residents should be provided protections against discrimination. I urge the Governor and the Indiana General Assembly to assure basic rights in employment, public accomodations, credit, and housing for all Hoosiers.

As John at the Bloomington Beacon reminds us:

It is still legal in Indiana today to fire someone from a job, to deny someone a raise or job promotion, to kick someone out of an apartment, to refuse to sell someone a house, to deny someone credit, and to bar someone from public accommodations--simply because that person is PERCEIVED to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender!

You can sign the petition online, and add your name to the list of Hoosiers who believe in basic fairness.

On August 19th, the US Department of Health and Human Services issued new regulations under the name of “Protecting Providers’ Conscience”. These regulations will allow health care professionals to determine for themselves, on the basis of their religious beliefs, what kind of medical or other information they will provide their patients in regard to the provision of contraception. This appears to mean that “informed consent’ will no longer be a required part of medical protocol for doctors, nurses or other health care professionals.

To understand better exactly what these regulations in fact say, and what the implications of these regulations might mean in the lives of women and men and families, a public meeting will be held on September 6, 2008, at 12:30 in the City Council Chambers in the Showers Building.

Guest speakers will include:

• Gayla Winston, President of the Indiana Family Health Council (the provider of Title X funds for family planning in the state of Indiana)

• Betty Cockrum, President of Planned Parenthood of Indiana
• Dr. Judith Klein, long-time provider of family planning services

“This is a frontal assault on women’s right to KNOW and threatens to turn the concept of informed consent on its head,” said Charlotte Zietlow, one of the organizers of this informational event. “Citizens need to understand the content and implications of these new regulations so they can comment on them before September 25th.”

During the recent county budget hearings, there was some mention of allotting $200k to the County Commissioners' budget for new voting machines. But what machines are they planning to buy? I haven't been able to get an answer to this question, but I'm currently looking into this.

Here's the backstory: Microvote feels that following Indiana's election laws - or even notifying election officials about major software changes - is not something they need to do. As a result, the Microvote Inifinity machines were decertified, and the Indiana Election Commission banned the sale or lease of Microvote machines for 18 months - meaning no machines can be purchased until January 1, 2010. Currently, Monroe County uses a combination of the older Microvote machines and the newer Infinity machines, but the older machines will not be submitted for recertification in 2010. This means that Monroe County will need to purchase a large number of new voting machines.

In no particular order, here's my questions about the allowance for machines in this year's budget:

1. What machines are going to be purchased, since we can't legally purchase Microvote machines?
2. Why are we allocating funds to purchase machines next year, when there's no election and we can't buy Microvote systems?
3. During the budget hearings, there was some discussion about a panel to select new machines. How will the members of this panel be chosen?
4. How does the cost of our cyclical DRE machine purchases compare with using a more basic paper ballot method?

During Monroe County's current budget crunch, these questions should be answered.

I finally got around to reading all of Jill Long Thompson's health care proposal, and there's definitely some good elements there. I'm glad to see Democrats finally catching on to framing health care as a crucial economic issue, and there's elements of this frame throughout the proposal:

• The title: "Reforming Our Health Care System To Grow Indiana’s Economy" (emphasis added)
• A health purchasing pool (modeled after Ohio's COSE health insurance pool) that mentions individual coverage but focuses on small business.
• "In order to grow our economy and create good jobs, we must address all aspects of economic development and that includes access to quality affordable health care coverage."
• "When employers can no longer afford to make premium payments, our workers and their families, as well as our communities, suffer."

In addition, the plan contains a shot at Daniels' efforts to sell off every state asset: "Protect Hoosiers From Harm by Privatization. The Daniels administration, under the guise of ‘modernization’, has created unsurpassable barriers to care through the systematic denial of benefits by privatized employees to Hoosiers who are eligible for Medicaid and other programs."

Her plan also focuses on using technology - to increase information sharing and increase the quality of rural care.

All together, it's a pretty good plan - albeit one we should have adopted 10-15 years ago. It's a baby step in the right direction, but it's leaps and bounds past anything proposed by Bush's Man Mitch.

Her web page also provides a form to leave feedback about her plan. What advice do you have for our next governor?

Niki Kelly, writing in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, provides an update on the sanctions against MicroVote:

The Indiana Election Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to prohibit MicroVote General Corp. from selling or leasing voting systems in Indiana for a period of five years.

But the election commission suspended the bulk of the sanction, meaning the ban runs until Dec. 31, 2009. There are no elections in Indiana next year.

The whole article is worth a read.

The recent flooding in Indiana has shown the incredible potential for destruction from stormwater. Currently, Monroe County does not have a Stormwater Utility - the cities of Bloomington and Ellettsville do have such utilities - but DFMC A-List candidate Geoff McKim has made this a signature issue in his campaign. According to Geoff:

The resources for critical stormwater mitigation measures are grossly insufficient. A stormwater utility would establish a dedicated line of funding for small-scale stormwater and flood-control measures and ensure that overdevelopment isn't subsidized by the taxpayers.

We ran Geoff's original press release about the Stormwater Utility back in April, and you can also read about Geoff's proposal on his website. This forward-thinking and economically sound proposal is one of many reasons DFMC is proud to support Geoff McKim for County Council.

DFMC is currently seeking members to join the Legislative Agenda committee.

This committee is tasked with developing a three-year legislative agenda for DFMC as part of our strategic plan. The Legislative Agenda committee is an ad-hoc committee, and will meet until they produce a report for inclusion in the DFMC Strategic Plan.

If you are interested, please contact chair@d4mc.org

The following is a press release issued by DFMC A-List Candidate for Monroe County Council Geoff McKim.

Geoff McKim, Democratic candidate for the Monroe County Council, is proposing the creation of a county stormwater utility to control flooding, protect the county's bodies of water, and help fund the inevitable costs of growth more fairly. "Development – that is, replacing of natural vegetation with buildings, concrete, and other impervious surfaces – causes pollution of our lakes and streams, and also increases the incidence of flooding," said McKim. Thirteen of Monroe County's waterways have been declared "impaired" by the state. "We need a system that ensures that the County has the resources to manage the problem – it is the price we have to pay for growth."

DFMC A-List Candidate for Monroe County Commissioner Mark Stoops filed the following press release.

I would like to discuss universal health care – but on a local level. I would like to propose that we in Monroe County can create a single payer health care system that is efficient and comprehensive – but most of all, humane.

It is not necessary for us to wait years for a state or federal health care plan that has been transformed by special interests into a shadow of true universal health care. I believe we have the people, the knowledge, and the basic infrastructure to create a local system now.