LWV-PA Committee Action Reports

Here are some summaries of what just a few of our committees are working on during the busy season leading up to Election Day, November 3.

Communications Committee. The Committee has been busy helping with our League’s focus on preparing voters to become informed and to vote in the November 3 election. Peter Zavala has done a stellar job of posting resources for voting—helping to transform our website into a virtual election headquarters. President Martha Zavala, wearing her Voter Services hat, has prepared the artwork and information to educate voters about the election. Be sure to visit our website at www.lwv-pa.org and share the link with friends and neighbors. Carol Caley has done an outstanding job posting reminders to vote on our social media platforms. In August, Seidy Bucio, a 4.0 GPA student at Pasadena High School, interned with us and helped launch our Gen Z– and millennial-friendly social media campaign. Please look at our Twitter and Facebook postings and click on the heart to “like” them. During August, Marcia Baldeschwieler sent twenty-one emails on social justice advocacy and invitations to participate in our Wonderful Weekly Wednesdays restaurant-supported fundraiser. As you see in this special issue on voting in the November election, our Voter newsletter team—Chris Moose, Dawn Dawson, Gayle Oswald, Laurie Barlow, and Ann Hunnewell—again produced an outstanding e-publication. Reminder: If you want to print the Voter, go to the website and click on “Current Print Version Voter” in the left menu. Join our committee and become involved in getting out the word, which will help get out the vote. We continue to have a special need for those with an interest in social media—and we will provide the training! We meet the first Wednesday of each month, 7:00–8:30 p.m., via Zoom and conference calls. You are needed. —Dorothy L. Keane, Chair

Education Committee. The Committee is working on voter registration and preregistration of students in area high schools, developing resource materials to aid local high school teachers in those efforts. With the schools closed physically, we are building contacts with each public high school, supplying internet sources for trusted information that can be used in classes or student events. The Committee also plans to follow the initial distribution of materials with voting reminders to students and encouragement to remind students’ families to complete the 2020 Census so they are counted. In support of Proposition 15, the Schools and Communities First initiative, Committee member Susan Schwartz has been working on developing a resolution to be presented by local cities in support of the measure. —Elsa Pendleton and Hannah MacLaren, Co-chairs

Healthcare Committee. Many members have been engaged in activities to promote voting and to help voters be well informed. Margan and Thad Zajdowicz have been writing letters and postcards to get out the vote. Margan is making a pros and cons presentation at MonteCedro and has volunteered to moderate a candidate forum. Thad has volunteered to be a question sorter at the same candidate forum. Debbie Fagan has volunteered to be a poll worker and to help with the candidate forums. Mary Pitzer has been promoting voting on Facebook to anyone who will listen. Gloria Henderson has been promoting voting with friends and family and is post-carding with other civic engagement groups. Her face mask says Vote! Karen Roberson sent congratulations notes to graduates in her neighborhood to let them know that they are our future, enclosed $5.00, and gave them the LAVote.net website. She has also been asking Family Promise alumni if they are registered and encouraging them to vote. —Margan Zajdowicz, Co-chair, Healthcare Committee

Natural Resources. The Committee is continuing to encourage the election of strong environmentalists to all levels of government. We have created an advocacy team within our committee. With the help of Anita Mackey, Advocacy Committee chair, our first action was to meet with Senator Anthony Portantino to lobby for the following bills, which were supported by the LWVC:

• AB 345 (Muratsuchi), which would have required a setback for oil and gas operations from housing, schools, etc.
• AB 3030 (Kalra), which would have required preservation of 30 percent of the land and waters of California by the year 2030.
• AB 1080 (Gonzalez), which would have ended the use of single-use plastics.

Many of us listened to the hearings on these bills in the Senate Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee (which Senator Portantino chairs). Only AB 1080 passed out of committee to be voted on by the entire Senate. It did not pass (the vote was 37–18, with 41 yes votes required to pass). Now that the legislative session has ended, we are familiarizing ourselves with Pasadena’s Climate Action Plan, which will be reviewed and updated shortly by the City Council with input from the Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC). In this challenging time, the issues of the pandemic, climate change, and environmental justice are all intimately linked. —Kathy Berlin, NRC Advocacy Team Chair

Social Justice—Policing Practices. The Policing Practices Subcommittee is addressing three major criminal justice issues via education and advocacy:

• 2019’s historic Use of Force bill, AB 392, will curtail law enforcement’s ability to use deadly force, unless it is deemed “necessary” to preserve human life. Organized opposition by law enforcement supporter Lexipol is issuing policy manuals that are not in compliance with the provisions of the new law. Our subcommittee will alert cities in our League as to the requirement to comply and help offset the effort to undermine the new law

• Racial profiling in traffic and pedestrian stops is a major problem throughout the nation and California. The new Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) will be rolling out in most cities in our League in 2022, requiring officers to report to the Attorney General whom they have stopped, why, and the results of the stops. We will alert our cities’ leaders and report to the RIPA Board regarding preparations for the rollout.

• We will monitor the efforts of the Civilian Oversight Commission to bring transparency and accountability to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.

League members interested in criminal justice issues are encouraged to contact us. —Kris Ockershauser and Valerie Jones