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April 2024

Table of Contents

State Convention Town Hall Meetings
Program/Advocacy
Fundraising Partnership Opportunity
Virtual Event Featuring Sandra Fluke
Action Auction Ending Soon
Post Board Summary

President's Message

It’s Spring: a time when we look at our work and perhaps decide to do something new, as well as continue working on enduring projects. The League’s century-long support of voting rights and fair, open elections will certainly be at the top of the entire organization’s to-do list throughout the year. But amid our core program work, we need to pay attention to the sustainability of the League and plan for changes.

The Board has taken a very close look at the institution of the state convention and has seen that the convention as it exists today doesn’t seem sustainable long term, both in terms of finances and interest. We believe that in order for this important part of our organization to continue to work effectively and be accessible for everyone, we need to re-form how state convention works. As part of this strategic planning process, we are soliciting input from local Leagues. There will be two Town Hall Meetings where we will lay out the financial facts of staying with the current in-person model and present some alternatives. We will take your input, carefully deliberate on what seems most sustainable, and make a decision. That decision will be announced in the summer.  

I strongly urge local League representatives to participate in one of the Town Halls, share the information with your members and give us thoughtful feedback so that the board will be able to make an informed decision that strengthens both future state conventions and our organization. Please read more about it in the section below.

Chris

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State Convention Town Hall Meetings

We will be conducting two virtual town hall meetings to discuss the future of state conventions. We will report on the finances of past conventions, and present several options to consider for future conventions. We encourage League feedback and questions, so the Board can make a decision on how to move forward.

These town hall meetings are aimed to be conversational. The meetings will not be recorded. Because of this, we would like you to limit your attendance to two representatives per League so we can hear from everyone. 

Here are the two dates:

• Tuesday, April 23 at 6pm - register here

• Wednesday, April 24 at noon - register here

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Program/Advocacy

LWVC Board at its April meeting voted to adopt 2024 Legislative Priorities and began considering positions on ballot measures for the November elections.  The Board also heard an update on bills which LWVC is co-sponsoring.

2024 Legislative Priorities

The LWVC state board voted to continue to focus on Making Democracy Work and these major areas that continue to require our focus and work:

1. Making Democracy Work: Voting rights, voter protection and service, election reform, money in politics and local redistricting legislation.

2. Housing and Homelessness - Housing supply, affordability and production

3. Climate Change with focus on Water

4. Criminal Justice Reform

While the state League’s advocacy work in Sacramento will be on those four areas, LWVC will also consider other Legislative issues as time and resources permit, including 1) requests from local Leagues and ILOs for advocacy on bills of specific interest in their jurisdictions; 2) action as appropriate on other core issues, like the Initiative and Referendum Process and Open Government; and 3) recommended action on bills from Program Director for highest priority bills in their respective areas.

LWVC Begins Considering Positions on November Ballot Measures

Based on analyses by our volunteer legislative analysts and review by the Legislation Committee, the Board began considering ballot measures in anticipation of the November election. LWVC recommendations on the measures will be published approximately two months before the election in Vote with the League.

LWVC 2024 Sponsored Bills

LWVC is co-sponsoring four bills during this legislative session. Sponsorship requires an extensive commitment of state staff and resources; LWVC plays a significant leadership role in moving sponsored legislation forward, sometimes actually writing the language of bills, working with co-sponsors and partners, meeting with legislators and their staff, negotiating amendments and testifying. Our co-sponsored bills are:

• AB 544 (Bryan) to launch a pilot program to place a voting location in jails in three counties, thereby allowing any eligible incarcerated person to register and cast their votes at those jails. It will be heard in Senate Elections in June.

• AB 2127 (Berman) would extend the tenure of the California New Motor Voter taskforce for five years to January 2030. The purpose of the taskforce is to evaluate the NMV program and advise the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles on its effective implementation. Extending the taskforce is crucial to continue its ongoing work and momentum and to avoid rolling back immense gains in facilitating voter registration and keeping voter registration records current. It passed Assembly Elections and Assembly Appropriations Committees and will next go to the Assembly floor for a full vote of the Assembly.

• SCA 1 (Newman) is a constitutional amendment to adjust how state-level recall elections are conducted, so that only one question will appear on a recall ballot asking a voter to decide whether an elected official should be recalled from office. If a recall is successful, the official will be replaced in a manner consistent with existing law if the official were to leave the office for any other reason. This will simplify a process that is confusing for voters and reduce the risk of abuse of the recall election by special interests. It is awaiting passage on the Assembly floor and is likely to be acted on in May or June.

• ACA 4 (Bryan) is a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to people who are currently incarcerated. Because mass incarceration disproportionately impacts Black, Latino/a/x, and Indigenous communities, this is both a voting rights and racial justice issue. The League was born from the suffrage movement, and this is a critical measure to achieve full suffrage. It is also the next logical step after working to successfully pass Prop 17, which restored the right to vote to Californians who have completed their prison term. Unfortunately, due to the generalized backlash against criminal justice reforms, we have decided not to go forward with this bill this year. We will continue to work with the coalition to evangelize the idea and plan to come back together when the political climate is improved, and the ballot measure is likely to pass.

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Fundraising Partnership Opportunity

I’m sure you have seen our letters that we need to raise some money for the advocacy work the LWVC does in Sacramento that impacts all of us across the state.  This includes work on voting rights, voting access, redistricting, housing, homelessness, climate, criminal justice reform, immigration, and every other program area.

We have also heard from you the need to raise money for your work and that it would be optimal if we could do this together.  We are piloting an end of fiscal year fundraising campaign that would allow us to do just that.  I want to emphasize that this is a pilot, optional for any League to participate, and we will learn from it.  We have never done anything like this before.

We have launched our Strength in Action campaign, which is our end of fiscal year fundraising campaign.  We are using a new tool this time that allows us to build teams, and track fundraising by teams.  If we reach our campaign goal, we will share 10% of all dollars raised with the local Leagues who form teams and participate in the collective fundraising effort.  If we exceed our goal, we will be able to increase the percent of funds raised that we share back with participating local Leagues.

When you let us know you want to create a team, we will set that up, and the system creates a page dedicated to your team.  You can use that in marketing and fundraising efforts, and all donations that come in through your page will be recognized as coming from your team.  Keep in mind, you will not receive all of the dollars raised through your team.  We will share 10% of the total amount of funds raised with participating local Leagues if the campaign reaches its goal by June 30.  Note, monies raised in this campaign are for the LWVC 501(c)4 organization and will not be tax deductible to donors, though can be distributed to 501(c)3 Leagues when we hit our goal and distribute the 10% share.

The more we raise together, the more we all have for our collective work.  So, how do you participate?

1. Explore the campaign page here:  https://bit.ly/LeagueStrength. You can already see that some individuals have created teams and how that looks.

2. Discuss with your League Board!

3. Email Kristy Oriol, LWVC Development Director at koriol [at] lwvc.org to let her know that you would like to create a team and get in on the action!

4. Start fundraising!  We will share tips and ideas with participating local League teams over the coming months, to help support your success.

As you can see when reviewing the page, you will always know how close we are to meeting our goal.  It shows everyone participating how much progress we have made.  LWV New Jersey ran a collaborative fundraising campaign similar to this and shared their work with us, and they did quite well - it was impressive!  But we are California - we are bigger and there are more of us so I know that together, we can leave NJ in the dust!

If you have questions on this campaign and how to participate, we are going to hold Zoom drop-in office hours with LWVC Executive Director Stephanie Doute and Director of Development Kristy Oriol on April 17 at 9:30am.  You can register here. We ask that no more than 2 people per League join so we have an opportunity to answer everyone’s questions if we have a full house.

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Virtual Event Featuring Sandra Fluke

We are excited about the potential of this pilot, the funds we can raise together to do our work, and the learnings about how collaborative fundraising might work for us all now and in the future. 

The LWVC Development Committee invites you to a virtual event on April 28th, featuring keynote speaker Sandra Fluke.

Sandra Fluke is the President of Voices for Progress and an attorney specializing in policy and legislative advocacy for progressive causes. She is known for her congressional testimony on birth control access under the Affordable Care Act. She currently serves on various boards and organizations and is a political partner with the Truman National Security Project.

https://www.eventcreate.com/e/sandrafluke 

Action Auction Ending Soon

In addition to the speaker, the LWVC Action Auction will be held until April 30th, supporting the LWVC Action Fund and featuring various services and items.

https://givebutter.com/c/actionauction/

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April 2024 Post Board Summary
LWVC/LWVCEF Boards of Directors Meetings
April 6, 2024 – Electronic Communication

The LWVC Board of Directors met on April 6, 2024, and acted as noted below.

GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Approval of Minutes

• LWVC Regular Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2023, as submitted

• LWVC Special Meeting Minutes of November 15, 2023, as submitted

• LWVC Special Meeting Minutes of February 27, 2024, as submitted

• Executive Committee Meeting Minutes of March 20, 2024, as submitted.

Resignations

• Karen Clopton (LWV San Francisco) as Director of LWVC, effective November 21, 2023

• Shelly Saini (LWV Solano County) as Director of LWVC, effective January 29, 2024.

Approval of LWVC Committee Assignments

• Approved updated Committee Assignments as of April 6, 2024.

LWVC Policies & Procedures

• Adopted Policies & Procedures G-10 – Nominating Committee

• Amended Policies & Procedures MS-3 – Members Around the State (MAS/MAL).

LWVC Conventions – Framing the Future

The Board Members discussed scenarios for future LWVC Conventions given the challenges of holding group meetings and financial considerations. The same information discussed by the Board Members will be presented to the local League leadership for input via one-two town hall meetings. This input will aid the Board in its subsequent discussions and future decisions about conventions.

FINANCE

• Received and filed the LWVC Financial Reports presented for consideration.

LEGISLATION/ADVOCACY

Adopted Legislative Priorities for 2024

1. Making Democracy Work: Voting Rights, voter protection and service, election reform, money in politics and local redistricting legislation.

2. Housing and Homelessness: Housing Supply, affordability and production.

3. Climate Change with focus on water.

4. Criminal Justice Reform.

Other Legislative Issues as time and resources permit:

1. Support requests from local Leagues and ILOs for advocacy on bills of specific interest to their jurisdictions.

2. Act as appropriate on other core issues, like the Initiative and Referendum Process and Open  Government.

3. Consider Program Director recommendations for action on these highest priority bills in their program areas.

The LWVCEF Board of Directors met on April 6, 2024, and acted as follows:

GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

Approval of Minutes

• LWVCEF Regular Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2023, as submitted.

• LWVCEF Special Meeting Minutes of February 27, 2024, as submitted.

Resignations

• Karen Clopton (LWV San Francisco) as Director of LWVCEF, effective November 21, 2023

• Shelly Saini (LWV Solano County) as Director of LWVCEF, effective January 29, 2024.

FINANCE

• Received and filed the LWVCEF Financial Reports presented for consideration.

Caroline de Llamas
LWVC/EF Secretary
cdellamas [at] lwvc.org

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