February 2009
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LWVCT BOARD REPORT February 12, 2009
CALENDAR 2008-2009
February 2009 2/19 LWVCTEF Debate Policies discussion, Hamden (10:00 a.m.) 2/24 LWVs New Haven, et. al. Regional Round Table on “Global Warming Alarmism”
March 2009 3/10 LWVCT/EF Board meeting, Hamden.
April 2009 4/1 4th quarter PMP becomes due 4/1 LWVCT/UConn NPV forum 4/14 LWVCT/EF Board meeting, Hamden. 4/23 SIR, Quinnipiac University 4/29 LWVCT LOB/Capitol “Advocates’ Tour”
May 2009 5/1 deadline for LWVUS National Popular Vote consensus responses 5/14 LWV Bpt Area fundraiser: “Moonlight and Magnolias”
June 2009 6/6 LWVCT Convention, Hartford Lyceum 6/x LWVUS Virtual Council (for state and major city League presidents)
Announcements:
Regional Round Table Luncheon: “Global Warming Alarmism”
The LWV of New Haven and the LWVs of Amity, Cheshire/Wallingford, Hamden/North Haven, invite you to a Regional Round Table Luncheon Buffet at the Graduate Club, 155 Elm Street, New Haven, at 12 noon on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. The cost is $15.00, to be paid at the door. The featured speaker will be Dr. Lawrence Gould, Professor of Physics, University of Hartford, and his talk will be “Global Warming Alarmism.” Please let Margot Kohorn of LWV New Haven know if you are coming – 203 795 3151.
Spring Forum on NPV
The Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work at the UCONN School of Social Work and LWVCT will be co-sponsoring a forum focusing on the National Popular Vote (NPV). We anticipate this forum will be held in the last week of March. In light of the LWVUS national study, this will be another opportunity be informed about this alternative way to elect our nation’s president. Keep a lookout for details in future Board Reports or e-mails.
New Assistant Director of Capitol Information and Tours Hired
The League of Women Voters of Connecticut is pleased to announce that Ms. Susan Lakin has been hired as Assistant Director of our Capitol Information and Tours program in Hartford.
Directory of Elected Officials Available
The League’s 2009-2010 Directory of Federal and State Elected Officials is now available on our website (scroll down the right-hand column on our home page and click on its navy-blue box) and is at the printer’s, being prepped for publication. When the print version is available, the LWVCT will mail a copy to every public library in the state; but if you know of any other facility or group in your area, such as senior centers or high school civics clubs, that might like one, and/or your would like some for your League, please contact the LWVCT office. We charge for postage and shipping any time we mail out multiple copies.
Elona Vaisnys Joins LWVCT Board
Elona Vaisnys, a member of the LWV Hamden-North Haven, has joined the LWVCT Board as Director/Membership. She will be providing help in member recruitment and retention to local Leagues and to the LWVCT.
Convention 2009 First Call to Convention
The LWVCT’s 2009 biennial Convention will be held on Saturday, June 6th, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the Hartford Lyceum, 227 Lawrence Street, Hartford, CT 06106 (about three blocks from the state Capitol).
The tentative proposed schedule for Convention is as follows:
REGISTRATION and BREAKFAST; Board members available for questions PLENARY SESSION: Presentation of Bylaws changes Presentation of the Budget Public Issues Team report Presentation of Program for 2009-2011 Nominations of New Board WORKSHOPS TBA LUNCHEON: speaker Ellen Andrews, PhD, Executive Director, CT Health Policy Project Recognition of 50-year members Awards NETWORKING/CAUCUS SESSION PLENARY SESSION: Votes on bylaws, budget, and program NEW BOARD TAKES OFFICE; DIRECTIONS TO THE BOARD
Public Issues Team Report by Cheryl Dunson and the Public Issues Team Specialists
Save the Dates:
4/1/09 National Popular Vote Program 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m. LWVCT is pleased to announce that we are partnering with the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work at the UCONN School of Social Work to co-sponsor a forum on the National Popular Vote, an alternative to the current Electoral College system of electing the president. The lunchtime program will be held on Wednesday 4/1 with timeframe 12 noon- 2P. More details to follow.
4/29/09 Special “Advocates Tour” of the Capitol 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon Ever wonder: ■ what it takes for legislation to pass? ■ where your legislators’ offices are located in the Legislative Office Building? ■ where the Governor’s office is located? ■ how and where public hearings are conducted? The answers to these questions and more will be part of a new “advocates tour” of the Legislative Office Building and Capitol. This tour is designed for individuals who want to learn more about the legislative process in order to become better advocates for the causes they care about. Presentations by selected officials will precede the tour. Space is limited. Tour is free but reservations are required by emailing lwvct@lwvct.org. More details to follow.
ADVOCACY UPDATES
Please remember to periodically check the Action Page of the LWVCT website for action alerts and testimony.
State Budget Deficit: The most recent projection sets the current deficit at $922 million and those for FYs 2010 and 2011 at about $4 billion each.
GOVERNMENT
Campaign Finance Reform: Member Action Needed! In January, millions of dollars were cut from the Citizens’ Election Program, which provides public financing of campaigns. Numerous bills have been introduced this session that would further impact the program – including the Governor’s budget bill. Go to the Action Page on the LWVCT website at: www.lwvct.org to find out the latest and what you can do to maintain “clean elections” in CT.
Election Laws/Good Government: The League met with the chairs of the Government Administration and Elections Committee in January to discuss our election law and good government priorities as well as areas of shared concerned. Because this is a long session, numerous, competing bills have been raised in the GAE Committee including bills/resolutions to amend the Connecticut Constitution to permit “no excuse” absentee voting, to provide for direct initiative and referendum, to deal with the issue of posting of agendas and minutes on municipal websites, to provide for early voting, to increase the terms of legislators, to reduce the number of legislators, to address issues related to voting machines and the conduct of elections (see below), to change the campaign finance laws (see below) and to make changes to state ethics and state contracting laws. The League is monitoring all of these bills and will comment and advocate for or against these bills, as appropriate under our positions.
Voting Machines: The Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, of which the League is a member, issued its Report and Feedback on the November 2008 Connecticut Post-Election Audit Observation. To read the report, go to: http://www.lwvct.org/voters/VS%20Archives/AUDIT%20REPORT%20Nov08%20FINAL%20FINAL%2009Jan25.pdf
NATURAL RESOURCES
Global Warming: Even though budget deficit projections are commanding center stage at the Capital, committees have begun the process of raising and hearing bills. This year our coalition work on global warming will involve strengthening the state building code, raising energy efficiency standards and creating a corps of certified energy inspectors to help contractors comply with a more vigorous code. We will also be supporting the use of Connecticut’s federal stimulus payments for more transit oriented infrastructure improvements.
Comments will be submitted to the Public Safety Committee on February 3, 2009 on RB 6284: AAC Adoption of a Model Energy Code and Green Building Standards.
Air Quality (by Chris Halfar): As in past years, our air quality goals are to improve emission standards, reduce greenhouse gases, combat air pollution and reduce the threat of global warming.
Funding has been preserved for the CT Energy Efficiency Fund and CT Clean Energy Fund. These funds promote weatherization, support energy efficiency and create “green” jobs building and installing clean energy systems.
Transportation: There are several bills before the Legislature that will be followed, e.g., congestion pricing, restoration of rail freight, study of light rail, and adequate parking at railroad stations.
Waste / Bottle bill: the LWVCT submitted testimony to the Environment Committee’s 2/2/09 public hearing in support of RB 661; this bill will expand the beverage container redemption program to include water and other non-carbonated nonalcoholic drinks, and increase the deposit to 10 cents. Testimony is posted on our website.
SOCIAL POLICY
School Finance: In January, the legislature passed another deficit mitigation package that fell well short of the projected budget gap for the current fiscal year and did not significantly affect state aid to education, cutting $1 million from school safety grants. The governor’s budget, unveiled on 2/4, does not to cut the Education Cost Sharing grant and most other state grants in support of local public education. We are concerned, however, about the $7.4 million reduction to the School Readiness portion of the Priority School District grant, made in anticipation of increased federal funding for Head Start. Testimony will be posted on our website.
Voter Service Debate Discussion Reminder by Pat Donovan, LWVCT Voter Service Director
Please remember that the session to review of our 2008 debates and plan for the 2009 (and beyond) debate season will be held at the LWVCT Hamden office this coming Thursday, February 19th, at 10:00 a.m. (please note the corrected time). If you are planning to come and have not already let us know, RSVP to lwvct@lwvct.org ASAP.
Local League Service Membership
Your League’s PMP obligations to LWVUS and LWVCT in FY 2009-2010, based on your January 31, 2009, membership count, have been set. The LWVCT Board would like to congratulate the Leagues of Cheshire-Wallingford, Greenwich, Litchfield County, New Haven, Ridgefield, and Windsor/North Central for their membership increases.
Your 990-N Filings
At the request of one of our Leagues, the LWVCT office has spot-checked to IRS website to see if the dates of our Leagues’ fiscal year had been corrected. Alas, not all of them had been. Because the accuracy of your 990-N filing for the fiscal year ending this June 30 will depend on the IRS getting your League’s dates fixed, we’re making the following request: Please check your League’s 990-N “electronic postcard” on the IRS website now, and verify the dates. The dates for the completed filings should be 7-1-07 thru 6-30-08. Whether they are right or wrong, please print out a copy of your League’s page and mail it (yep, that’s right, good old USPS) to the Hamden office (1890 Dixwell Ave., suite 203, Hamden 06514-3183) ASAP, unless you’re in one of the following Leagues, whose records we already have: Bridgeport Area Cheshire-Wallingford East Shore Weston If the IRS has fixed things, we’ll make a note. If the IRS still has your listing wrong, we’ll make another effort to get them to fix it; if that doesn’t work, Jean Rabinow will contact Senators Dodd and Lieberman and the involved Leagues’ US Representatives.
Our apologies for the extra work.
Program Planning: An Update
In addition to the positions listed on the LWVCT Program Planning worksheet, local Leagues can select a LWVUS position, e.g., health care or global warming, as a priority for advocacy in CT. We will update the grid to reflect that, and will send the revised grid out via e-mail to League presidents and action chairs in the near future.
Our thanks to the Leagues that have already returned their Program Planning results. |
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