League Local Presidents, State Board and Friends:
Attached is the January newsletter of the Huntington League of Women Voters. We wish each of your a Happy New Year and hope you enjoy the newsletter.
Beverly Murrell
Patricia Keller
THANK YOU to everyone who contacted state legislators to oppose HB 4675,
mandating photo ID to vote. The bill was taken off the agenda for the
House Judiciary Committee meeting agenda on Wednesday. That's good news,
but it could be taken up at a future meeting.
In the meantime, the Judiciary Committee has yet to consider on HB 4593
(the subject of our first action alert), which would require WV First
Foundation, the body responsible for disbursing opioid settlement funds, to
be subject to the requirements of the Open Governmental Proceedings Act and
the Freedom of Information Act. The foundation has been criticized for a
lack of transparency. HB 4593 seeks to change that and cleared its first
hurdle in the Legislature last week
<https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/01/11/opioid-settlement-foundation-…>
when
it was approved by the House Health Committee.
So if you haven't already, Make Some Noise. Contact members of the House
Judiciary Committee
<https://wvecouncil.org/wv-legislature/house-judiciary-committee/> and your
legislators <https://pluralpolicy.com/find-your-legislator/>. Urge them to
support HB 4593!
As the Legislature continues to meet, we will keep you informed of all
legislation that needs the involvement of LWVWV members.
--
Lyn Widmyer, Vice President, LWVWV
1434 Cattail Run Road
Charles Town, WV 25414
304 279 3201
MAKE SOME NOISE!!!!!
Here it is, our very first call to action for the 2024 Legislative session!
HB 4593 would require WV First Foundation, the body responsible for
disbursing opioid settlement funds, to be subject to the requirements of
the Open Governmental Proceedings Act and the Freedom of Information Act
Introduced by: Delegates Summers, Tully, Hanshaw (Mr. Speaker), Pushkin,
Hamilton, Petitto, Shamblin, Sheedy, Miller, Rohrbach, and Griffith
West Virginia is expected to receive around $1 billion over the next five
years. The LWV believes open and accountable government is the cornerstone
of a healthy democracy. The WV First Foundation should establish
priorities and make decisions on distribution of funds in a manner that
allows residents to view and comment on their proposals. This bill will
foster that openness.
MAKE SOME NOISE! Contact your legislators to support this bill!
[image: 4f2de4f5-c967-41b5-aaf7-4884d66380ae.png]
--
Lyn Widmyer
1434 Cattail Run Road
Charles Town, WV 25414
304 279 3201
web page: lynwidmyer.net
The WV Legislature is session—and so is the League!
First, many thanks to the League members who joined us on January 4 for the
briefing on our Legislative Scorecard project, and *our priorities for the
legislative session
<https://lwvwv.org/2024/01/04/lwvwv-2024-program-policy-priorities/>*. It
was a terrific turnout. You may view the hour long session *here*
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIpHFi5YDFU>. The Legislature began
their 60 day session on January 10. Led by our League Legislative Action
Workgroup (LLAW), we are monitoring the daily activities of the
Legislature. Yes, you read that right: we are monitoring the Legislature on
a DAILY basis for bills that affect League priorities. We are thrilled to
have the following League members taking the lead on monitoring bills as
they relate to our four top issue areas, or buckets as we like to call them:
*Strengthening Democracy:* Judy Ball (LLAW chair)
*Safeguarding Equal Rights:* Jan Gossett
*Protecting Children & Families:* Nancy Ulrich and Joe Golden
*Creating a Sustainable Future:* Neal Barkus
Jonathan Rosenbaum is providing technical support. Lyn Widmyer will manage
Make Some Noise notices to members when we need your help to contact
legislators. Julie Archer serves a our lobbyist on the ground in
Charleston.
[image: LWVWV 4 Buckets.png]
Please watch for our action alerts via email or* follow us on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/lwvwv>**@lwvwv* <https://www.facebook.com/lwvwv>
to keep up with the action and join us in making some noise when we call on
you.
The Legislative Scorecard is an exciting opportunity to influence
legislation and show legislators the LWVWV is watching!
You can explore the Legislative scorecard and learn more about our policy
priorities for 2024 at *LWVWV.org <https://lwvwv.org/>*.
Wood County LWV Decision to Disband Accepted with Regret
On December 9, 2023, the LWVWV Board of Directors accepted with regret the
request by Wood County LWV to disband. This was a sad decision as the LWV
of Wood County has such a storied history and such a wonderful record of
community involvement. Members will become Members at Large and we hope
they will continue to be involved in League activities.
In League,
Julie Acher, President Lyn Widmyer, 1st Vice President
Happy New Year!
Beginning January 10, the League of Women Voters of West Virginia (LWVWV)
will be monitoring votes and actions of our Legislature in relation to our
four top policy priorities:
-
Strengthening democracy by making it easier to vote
-
Safeguarding equal rights
-
Protecting children & families
-
Creating a sustainable future
The LWVWV Legislative Scorecard, first published in 2023 (available at
lwvwv.org) records how individual members of the Legislature voted on 25
bills in these four areas that became law in 2023. We will use the same
framework as we monitor the upcoming 2024 Legislative session.
Please join us Thursday, January 4th at 7PM to learn more about our 2023
legislative scorecard <https://lwvwv.org/scorecard-overview/> and how the
process will be applied to the upcoming legislative session.
Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsdOquqzsvHNTlR3w8HWZfn_ow2BqmgI…
For more on our priorities and the upcoming legislative session, please see
the attached op-ed from the LWV Morgantown-Monongalia County, which was
published in *the Dominion Post*.
We look forward to seeing you on Thursday.
Sincerely,
Julie Archer
President, LWVWV
(304) 610-9094
Dear LWVWV Members,
Please join us *Thursday, January 4th at 7PM* to learn more about our 2023
legislative scorecard <https://lwvwv.org/scorecard-overview/>, and ways you
can Make Some Noise on LWVWV policy priorities during the upcoming
legislative session.
*Register here:*
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsdOquqzsvHNTlR3w8HWZfn_ow2BqmgI…
Invite your friends to join us too. We look forward to seeing you then.
Best,
Julie Archer
President, LWVWV
(304) 610-9094
Dear League Members and Friends,
Please find attached the October Newsletter from the Huntington League of
Women Voters. A focus is their Fall Membership and Finance Drive. *Please
support your Local League! *
We encourage local Leagues and League members to share news and updates
with our statewide list and to create relevant content for our website. If
you have submissions, please reach out to Jonathan (jr(a)lwvwv.org) or I.
ICYMI: Our legislative scorecard is making some noise!
https://westvirginiawatch.com/2023/11/02/the-league-of-women-voters-in-wv-r…
The full scorecard in searchable format is available at https://lwvwv.org/.
While you're there, check out our latest Action Alerts for other ways to
make some noise.
-- Julie
Julie Archer
President, LWVWV
julie(a)lwvwv.org
(304) 610-9094
*MAKE SOME NOISE: Tell our Congressional delegation to support funding for
child care*
On March 11, 2021, Congress passed the AMERICA RESCUE PLAN ACT (ARPA),
which allotted $24 billion specifically for childcare providers. The
childcare funding provision of ARPA ended on September 30, 2023, causing a
steep drop off in federal child care funding.
The Century Foundation <https://tcf.org/content/report/child-care-cliff/>,
a think tank based in New York, predicts that five states will suffer the
most from the loss of federal child care funding — Arkansas, Montana, Utah,
Virginia and West Virginia
<https://tcf-ccs-map.netlify.app/assets/factsheets/Child%20Care%20State%20Fa…>.
Without
intervention, 23,231 children in our state are expected to lose their
child care as a result of the loss of federal funding
On September 13, 2023, U.S. Senators Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders,
Catherine Clark and Rosa de Laura, along with 33 additional colleagues
introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act to extend the federal child
care stabilization funding. Additionally, 78 members of the US House of
Representatives signed the bill.
*To date, West Virginia Senators and Representatives have failed to join
with the other members of Congress. *
*MAKE SOME NOISE! Tell our Congressional delegation to SUPPORT the Child
Care Stabilization Act (S. 2777 and H.R. 5433). *
*Let them know that West Virginia children deserve high-quality care,
childcare, and education!*
*The Honorable Joe Manchin III*
United States Senate
306 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3954
E-mail: senator_manchin(a)manchin.senate.gov
*The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito*
United States Senate
172 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510
Phone: (202) 224-6472
E-mail: https://www.capito.senate.gov/contact/contact-my-office
*The Honorable Carol Miller*
U.S. House of Representatives - 1st District
465 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3452
Email: https://millerforms.house.gov/contact/
*The Honorable Alex Mooney*
U.S. House of Representatives - 2nd District
2228 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C 20511
Phone: (202) 225-2711
Email: https://mooney.house.gov/contact/
*Want more information?* LWVWV members Nancy Ulrich and Joe Golden have a
summary of the bills and child care issues in West Virginia in the fall
issue of the <https://lwvwv.org/2023/10/30/fall-voter-2023/>WV Voter
<https://lwvwv.org/2023/10/30/fall-voter-2023/>.
Child care is critical for West Virginia's economy and families, but many
have no or limited access to it. Watch this short video to learn more about
the child care crisis and what we can do to address it:
https://tinyurl.com/WVNeedsChildCare
*Help LWVWV and partners #SolveChildCare.*
Additional resources:
https://www.dominionpost.com/2023/10/11/local-childcare-advocates-push-for-…https://tcf.org/content/report/child-care-cliff/https://childcareforeveryfamily.org/action/
*Want to know how your state legislators voted on issues related to
protecting children and families? *Explore LWVWV's Legislative Scorecard at
https://lwvwv.org/. To learn more, check out this article on the scorecard
at West Virginia Watch
<https://westvirginiawatch.com/2023/11/02/the-league-of-women-voters-in-wv-r…>
.