[LWVNM Action] Action Committee Meeting 9/9

[Meredith Machen]

Thanks for your helpful notes, Akkana. 

Meredith Machen 
Meredith.Machen at gmail.com 
505 577 6337

> On Sep 10, 2022, at 2:58 AM, Akkana Peck via Action <action at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:
> 
> A brief summary of today's meeting (please correct me if I got
> anything wrong):
> 
> Meeting times: Most people in the survey liked Wednesday, so
> our next meeting will be on a Wednesday at 5:30. We'll continue
> that for a while, but we'll likely revisit it when the 2023 session
> begins, when we might move back to Fridays as a good wrap-up day
> when not too many legislative meetings are happening.
> 
> Reproductive Rights: Ann brought us up to date on a meeting
> discussing reproductive issues and whether our state legislature
> should codify the right to abortion, or other laws addressing
> reproductive justice. There's no definite legislation planned yet,
> but California is working on bills that maybe we could copy, and
> some people had heard that Linda Lopez is working on a bill.
> 
> They also discussed some other issues related to reproductive
> justice, like geofencing (a way that law enforcement can track
> which phones go to a particular place, like an abortion clinic);
> and the problem of Crisis Pregnancy Centers or CPCs, which are
> faith-based establishments that present themselves as though
> they're medical centers, but instead of offering abortions they
> give out an experimental medication that they say reverses the
> effect of the abortion pills.
> 
> Tax Policy: Dick described a meeting that he, Kathy and others
> attended last week that discussed ways to make our tax system more
> progressive while still providing more revenue.
> 
> Redistricting: Lots of interesting things happening (sorry, I wasn't
> able to write down all the details) but one interesting point was a
> poll of NM voters: 73% want an independent redistricting committee,
> while only 12% are opposed. So if we could get it on the ballot,
> it would almost certainly pass.
> 
> Voting/Elections: There's been a lot of discussion on voting bills
> in the 2023 session, whether there would be one huge omnibus bill
> like in 2022, or a lot of separate bills. Some legislators were
> leaning toward another omnibus bill but word has come down from on
> high that there shall be separate bills. Let's hope it stays that way.
> Hannah and Dick will be meeting with the Secretary of State's office
> to discuss what bills they want to see.
> 
> Outreach Circle: Hannah encouraged everybody to go to the app store
> for their phone (either Apple or Android), install the Outreach
> Circle app, set up an account, then sign up with LWVNM (which should
> be the only thing that shows up if you search for New Mexico).
> During the session, things happen really fast at the Roundhouse
> and Hannah thinks this will be a much better way of alerting people
> when things happen, or of prompting people to contact their legislators.
> 
> There was some discussion of our 2023 legislative priorities -- it's
> early still, but we're likely to care a lot about bills related to
> reproductive justice, voting, and modernizing the legislature.
> 
> LWVNM's Natural Resources committee will be renamed to the
> Environment committee.
> 
> There was some discussion of speakers to invite to the 2023
> Legislative Preview, League Day and Advocacy Workshop. Hannah and
> Dick will be contacting possible speakers; if you have ideas, let
> them know.
> 
>        ...Akkana
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