Category: What You Can Do Now - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Iowa Federal Aid Swap Program - What You Can Do Now

5/19/2019

Oppose the Iowa Federal Aid Swap Program

What You Can Do Now

You may be aware from recent media reports, there is a growing coalition of organizations opposed to the new Iowa Federal Aid Swap program. Under this program millions of federal dollars allocated to the Quad Cities for road construction and other infrastructure projects are “swapped” for state dollars. Why does this matter?

Federal dollars contain certain protections, including Davis-Bacon Act “fair wages,” “BUY AMERICAN” sourcing restrictions, environmental regulations as well as women and minority-owned business engagement incentives. State dollars do not. This creates a competitive advantage for contractors outside the QCA to import less skilled, under-paid, transient workers in order to underbid our reputable local contractors. Bottom line, this leads to greater local unemployment and more money draining away from our local economy. Most importantly, it’s not right. This community needs to “opt-out” of this ill-conceived program, now. And, there will be a vote to do so on Tuesday, May 28th.

Please make your voices heard in opposition to the Iowa Federal Aid Swap program by going to: https://noswaps.com/. There you can learn more and “TAKE ACTION” by sending an email to local elected officials telling them “No SWAPS!” It’s easy. It’s quick. And, all the information you need is right there, including a sample email you can use. Please act today. And then encourage others to give input as well.

Click this link more information about the Iowa Federal Aid Swap program and the reasons to oppose it.

Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

4/23/2019

Candidate Questions - Drug Policy Reform

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that we have created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you have an opportunity to ask questions. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below.

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. What is your stance on the federal expansion of access to medical cannabis?

2. What is your stance on federal legalization of marijuana?

3. In Iowa, a black person is six times more likely to be arrested for a non-violent marijuana-related offense than a white person, despite equal patterns of use. What is your stance on decriminalizing marijuana and instead allowing opportunities of record expungement for formerly convicted non-violent marijuana offenders?

5. In Iowa, we are working to expand access to clean needle syringes. Data has proven that safe needle access plays a profound role in reducing overdose and death rates. Do you support increased syringe access on a federal level?

4. What is your stance on the decriminalization of larger categories of drugs as a measure to keep fewer non-violent offenders out of jail?

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Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

4/22/2019

Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Immigration/Refugee Policy

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that Quad Cities Interfaith created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you get a chance to ask a question. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below. We want to know what you hear and think!

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. As President, will you work to re-unite families separated at the border and change this policy so that future children and families are not separated while their legal status is in limbo?

2. What is your position on the Central American migrant caravan asylum-seekers at the border?

3. As President, will you work to ensure that tear gas is not employed against any persons at the border, like that which took place in November of this last year?

4. In Iowa, legislators have passed a state bill to prohibit local municipalities from establishing local sanctuary laws. Are you willing to speak out against these efforts at outlawing city and county rights to establish local sanctuary status?

5. We are against ICE workplace and community raids that unnecessarily terrorize, and often separate, families. A prominent example took place in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa in the past year. What is your stance on the role of ICE in our local communities?

6. We are against laws that put undue burdens on local police forces to do the work of area ICE agents. We don’t think these measures make our communities more safe; in fact, they make people less likely to report crime for fear of retaliation or deportation. What is your stance on the role of local police in matters pertaining to immigration enforcement?

7. Do you support driver’s licenses for immigrants and other local efforts such as Community ID programs?

8. Do you support efforts toward providing a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the United States?

9. There has been a call to overhaul our immigration policies. What provisions do you think should be a part of revising and changing our nation’s immigration laws?

10. As President, will you take leadership in permanently eliminating “The Muslim ban?” Will you support policies that increase the numbers of refugees the U.S. accepts?

11. What role do you think the U.S. has in accepting refugees from countries where we currently or have previously actively supported or engaged in military conflict in those countries?

12. Given that the policies and actions of our government have helped to create the conditions which people in the Migrant Caravan are fleeing, what are our responsibilities to these asylum seekers? How should they be treated at the border?

13. We stand strongly against the profit incentive behind incarceration of immigrants and citizens promoted by the prison industrial complex. Will you reject campaign contributions from banks and corporations that have a profit incentive in the building of private prisons and immigrant detention centers?

Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice

1. Our groups in the Quad Cities are dealing with racial disparities in rates of out-of-school suspensions. As President, what will you do to address these and other racial inequities in our nation’s public school systems?

2. There our racial inequities across the board in our public schools here locally, and throughout the nation. What will you do to close the opportunity and achievement gap in public education between low-income and students of color, relative to their more affluent white peers?

3. What is your take on the recent bi-partisan criminal justice changes at the federal level? What do you think is the next step towards improving our current criminal justice system?

4. As president, what will you do to provide opportunities for criminal ex-offender re-entry programs and to create employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated persons to reduce recidivism?

5. Do you support “banning the box” policies that require ex-offenders to disclose their felony history in job applications?

6. The U.S. remains the most over-incarcerated nation on the planet. What steps will you take as President to decrease the numbers and reduce racial disparities in populations of offenders behind bars?

7. We stand strongly against the profit incentive behind incarceration of immigrants and citizens promoted by the prison industrial complex. Will you reject campaign contributions from banks and corporations that have a profit incentive in the building of private prisons and immigrant detention centers?

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Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

4/22/2019

Candidate Questions - Health Care Reform

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that we have created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you have an opportunity to ask questions. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below.

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. How will you protect the progress made thanks to the Affordable Care Act? (more people insured, children insured on parent’s programs until age 26, protection for pre-existing conditions, etc)

2. The Medicare program is vital to the health of millions of people. Will you protect Medicare for cuts planned by some members of Congress?

3. There are efforts underway to cut Medicaid funding and turn it into individual state grants. How will you fight to keep Medicaid strong and protect it from future cuts?

4. If you favor health care expansion, could you describe your vision? What would be the key points? (Single payer? Incremental stages of expansion?)

5. How will you provide healthcare to low-income people in states that did not expand Medicaid?

6. How will you push pharmaceutical companies to reduce Hight prescription drug prices?

a. Do you support letting Medicare negotiate with prescription drug companies? If so, why?

b. Would you support a bill to allow lower priced generic drugs to access the market more quickly?

c. What efforts will you take to require drug companies to explain large price increases?

d. Would you require drug companies to give a two-month notice when they plan to significantly increase prices?

e. Should Americans be allowed to buy lower priced drugs from other countries or should the U.S. government regulate drug prices?

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Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

4/22/2019

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that we have created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you have an opportunity to ask questions. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below.

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. Will you support the only current proposal that addresses the climate crisis, the Green New Deal?

2. Are you aware that the EPA had the lowest number of environmental fines in 2018 in decades? What will you do about the EPA’s substandard implementation of their own regulations?

3. Do you support protecting National Parks from drilling and exploration/extractive industries?

4. What is your plan to address this administration’s rollbacks on environmental protections on clean air and water, pollution and the use of clean energy?

5. What is your plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing our use of renewable energy?

6. What is your position on our country’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord, and would you continue our planned withdrawal from that commitment?

7. Currently, corporate interests are prioritized over public health risks. What specifically will you do to change that?

8. What is your plan to invest in renewable energy and what is your timeline for doing so?

9. Are you in favor of carbon and other user taxes to address business’s negative environmental impacts?

10. Are you in favor of enforcing stricter federal regulations on companies who are out of compliance with environmental (EPA) regulations, regardless of their containment area?

11. Would you extend the current rebates on solar which are set to gradually fade starting in 2020?

Our Environmental Forum suggests the following questions for our Illinois and Iowa State legislators:

1. What are your specific plans to reduce our state’s carbon footprint, and what are your target dates and measurement tools?

2. Would you support implementing the current laws and standards of the EPA for each industry/company operating in the State?

3. Is there a state target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and, if so, what are the timelines?

4. Currently, corporate interests are prioritized over public health risks. What specifically will you do to change that?

5. What is your plan to invest in renewable energy, and what is your timeline?

6. Are you in favor of carbon and other user taxes to address business’s negative environmental impacts?

7. Are you in favor of enforcing stricter federal regulations for companies who are out of compliance with environmental (EPA) regulations, regardless of their containment area?

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Volunteers for Earth Day at Davenport Farmer's Market

4/8/2019

Earth Day Volunteers Needed - Saturday, April 20th at 9:00 am

Freight House Farmers Market
421 W River Dr. Davenport, IA (map)
Environmental Forum

Your Environmental Forum is asking for all hands on deck to help with the Earth Day event. We need volunteers!

Early set up - need people to be there by 7:30 or 8:00 am
Check-in table
Demonstrators Coordinator - arrive at 8:30 am
Activity Tent - Two shifts 9-11, 11-1 (need several volunteers for this)
Working the PACG table - need 2 people per shift 9-11, 11-1
Social Media Station - need 4 volunteers for 1 hour shifts.
Break down - 1:00 pm need at least 4 people

Contact Amber Bordolo or Lori McCollum.

Call Your Reps - Voter Suppression Bill in Iowa - What You Can Do Now

3/24/2019

Contact Your Iowa State Legislators Regarding Voter Suppression Bill

Iowa Senator Roby Smith has introduced Senate File 575 that impacts Iowans' ability to vote. Read more about it at:

Senate File 575

PACG members kept the focus of the March Scott County Legislative Forum on the voter suppression bill. Read this excellent article in the Quad-City Times for coverage of the reactions of the audience and legislators when questioned about the bill. The article also provides in-depth information about the threat to voting rights included in this legislation.

Call your Iowa State legislators to express your views on NOT restricting the voting rights of Iowans.

Senate Switchboard: 515-281-3371
House Switchboard: 515-281-3221

To find your representative's email information click here.

Contact Your Iowa Legislators About Sensible Gun Control - What You Can Do Now - March 18, 2019

3/18/2019

Demand Sensible Gun Control in Iowa - Contact Your Representatives!

The bills HJR 13 is being discussed on the House Floor this week. These bills, if passed and signed into law, would eliminate background checks on gun purchases in the state. They will also allow guns to be carried on college campuses, state fairgrounds and school buses.

The House is also discussing HF636 which allows concealed weapons in weapon-free zones, courthouses, and public/private workplaces.

Please contact your Iowa State legislators and demand that these actions be termed "dead for the year." We want sensible gun control for Iowa.

Iowa Voting Rights! - What You Can Do Now - March 18, 2019

3/18/2019

Contact Your Iowa State Legislator to Stop Voter Suppression

Iowa Senator Roby Smith has introduced Senate File 575 that impacts Iowan's ability to vote. Read more about it at:

Senate File 575

Call your Iowa State Senator to express your views on NOT restricting the voting rights of Iowans

Senate Switchboard: 515-281-3371

Allison Ambrose

Contact Iowa State Legislators Regarding Environmental Issues! - March 4, 2019

3/3/2019

What You Can Do Now -
Iowa State Conservation Efforts at Risk!

Environmental Forum
It feels overwhelming trying to keep up on the devastation being rained down upon us daily by the present Administration. One of the best ways for us to feel empowered as individuals is by contacting our legislators. I do this on a regular basis. A simple, polite call expressing my concerns makes me feel better, and it is an established fact that constituent input is extremely effective in the ways legislators vote, both locally and nationally.

With everything that is going on at the national level, do not forget about what is happening in your own state. For Iowa's environmental issues, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is a good resource. The article below expresses concerns about two pieces of legislature that threaten conservation efforts in Iowa. Call your state representatives today to express your concern over the passage of these bills.

Action needed: Two bills threaten conservation in Iowa
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
written by Joe Jayjack
Two bills were introduced this week in the Iowa legislature that threaten the future of conservation in Iowa. We need your voice to make sure these bills are stopped. We need to pack the Capitol on Monday for subcommittee hearings on these bills at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to show legislators that Iowans care about public land! If you can't make it, call or email your legislators and the subcommittee members and ask them to oppose the bills.

House File 542
Subcommittee hearing: 10:30 a.m., Monday, March 4, House Lobby, Iowa State Capitol
Subcommittee members: Rep. Robert Bacon (R-Story County), Rep. Tom Jeneary (R-Plymouth County), Rep. Scott Ourth (D-Warren County)
HF542 is a direct attack on public lands and conservation in Iowa. It should be opposed in its entirety.

In this bill, counties would be prohibited from expanding parks, wildlife habitat areas and trails by any amount. Funding the cities and counties have relied on would be restricted, and could not be used for expansion of open spaces and new recreational amenities, including public museums. The state would not be able to purchase land for state parks, wildlife areas or strategic water quality projects.

This bill would also strip private landowners of tax incentives for protecting their land by eliminating the Charitable Contribution for Conservation Tax Credit.

Senate Study Bill 1221
Subcommittee hearing: 12:30 p.m., Monday, March 4, Room 217, Iowa State Capitol
Subcommittee members: Sen. Dan Zumbach (R-Delaware County), Sen. Jerry Behn (R-Boone County), Sen. Nate Boulton (D-Polk County)

SSB1221 is more narrow in scope, but would also have wide ranging impact on conservation. The bill eliminates the Charitable Contribution for Conservation Tax Credit that helps make it possible for many private landowners to protect their land or to donate it for public use. The bill also eliminates the use of State Revolving Fund for public land acquisition for water quality purposes.

The message
As Iowa strives to attract and maintain people to live, work and raise families in our state, we need to provide quality of life features that they demand. At the top of list —along with good jobs — is a clean, healthy environment and outdoor recreation opportunities.

Public land plays a special role in the lives of Iowans. For generations, Iowans have made memories in parks, on trails, in woodlands and prairies. We need to continue that legacy for future Iowans. We need to support our existing parks, trails and wildlife areas and continue to look for ways to expand our outdoor opportunities.

Rural communities rely on the jobs, consumer spending and public health benefits that outdoor recreation provides. Iowa is already 47th in the nation in the percentage of public land available to its residents. These bills puts us in a race for the bottom.

Instead of strangling our ability to grow healthy, strong communities, we should be embracing the opportunities the outdoors present. We should be investing more in conservation, not less.
If you have questions about these bills, contact INHF Public Policy Director Anna Gray at agray@inhf.org or at 515-288-1846.

Find tips for connecting with your legislators in our Nature's Advocate policy guide.

Jeannie Price