Chisme Politico | Week 6
February 19, 2021
We want to hear from you! 👀
Hello friends of LCF and Progreso! (In case you’ve missed us: here are the last few Chisme Politico newsletters if you need to catch up: https://progresowa2021.medium.com/)
If you attended any of our meetings with legislators or watched our panels on Facebook: fill out this feedback survey and tell us what you thought! We’d love to feature you in this newsletter or on Facebook!
Quick Refresher 😊
Bills do all sorts of things in session! We’ve got bills that go to “committee”, some that have public hearings, and others simply “die” on the floor. Then there’s talks of Appropriations and Ways and Means, and now you’re here thinking “Who named these committees such complicated names?!” We’ll break down a key term for our Chisme Politico glossary per week.
Appropriations
“The chief fiscal committee in the House. The committee is responsible for recommending how state monies will be spent.”
Let’s say a bill requires money to be spent. In that case, the bill would be introduced to a committee and then sent to the Appropriations committee in order for the bill to be reviewed with the current operating budget fiscal impacts.
🎬 Communities in Action: Luz Romero with Community Health Workers Coalition for Migrants and Refugees
Our Latino communities are fighting hard against this virus. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, especially in our Spanish local TV outlets, so it’s important that we have open conversations with our family members about real stories and the science surrounding vaccines. Here we have Luz Romero, a promotora (community health worker) with Community Health Worker Coalition for Migrants and Refugees speaking to her experience as a woman with health issues getting her COVID-19 vaccine!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYPhDvhettY&feature=youtu.be
Our Top Bills on our Radar 🔎and Actions For You To Take 💢
SHB 1076: Worker Protection Act Sign-On Letter
Legislative Champions: Hansen, Fitzgibbon, Berry, Dolan, Johnson, J., Ramos, Simmons, Ramel, Ortiz-Self, Gregerson, Ryu, Bronoske, Valdez, Callan, Kloba, Hackney, Chopp, Ormsby, Stonier, Frame, Santos, Macri, Pollet, Harris-Talley
Recent Developments:. A public hearing was held on February 17th, in the House Committee on Appropriations. On February 18th, the bill was passed out of the Appropriations committee!
What can you do:
- Sign onto the Worker Protection Act letter!
- Learn more about the Worker Protection Act here
SB 5438: Unemployment Insurance for Undocumented Workers
Legislative Champions: Saldaña, Nobles, Cleveland, Darneille, Das, Dhingra, Hasegawa, Hunt, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, Nguyen, Robinson, Stanford, Wellman, Wilson, C.
Recent Developments:. A public hearing was held on February 15th, in the Labor, Commerce, and Tribal Affairs committee. The bill died in committee, which means it will not proceed any further. There will be a budget proviso concerning the demands from this bill.
What can you do:
- Sign up for WAISN’s Action Network updates to be in the loop on this issue!
- Continue to have conversations with legislators about the importance of providing an economic safety net for our vulnerable communities when they pay into a system that continuously neglects them.
SHB 1156: Local Options Bill
Legislative Champions: Harris-Talley, Gregerson, Shewmake, Ormsby, Chopp, Lekanoff, Davis, Frame, Macri, Duerr, Pollet, Goodman, Berg, Taylor, Walsh, Rule, Ortiz-Self, Berry, Peterson, Thai, Wicks, Bateman, Johnson, J., Simmons, Fitzgibbon, Ramel, Dolan
Recent Developments: The bill had a hearing on February 18th, and was
What can you do:
- Spread the word on why ranked-choice voting is the best way to beat our two-party system which disproportionately affects POC from running for office equitably and is best for proportional representation.
👋🏼 Speaker Spotlight: Paulina Lopez
If you’d like to join Paulina’s efforts in creating healthy environmental conditions for our most vulnerable communities, support them at https://www.duwamishcleanup.org/support.
Thanks for making it this far! We’ll see you next week.
If you have suggestions for our newsletter, please contact margot@progresowa.org.
