Mar 08

Congressman Adam Smith Townhall

Congressman Adam Smith is hosting a townhall at Hazelwood Elementary School (7100 116th Ave SE, Newcastle WA 98056) on Thursday March 28th 2013 from 7-8:30pm.

The discussion will include the following congressional topics:
-The budget
-Immigration
-Education
-The economy & more

RSVP if you’re interested:
-rsvpsmith@mail.house.gov
-425-793-5180
-888-SMITII09

Mar 08

Zack Hudgins Newsletter – March 2013

In case you didn’t get it, State Rep. Zack Hudgins sent out his newsletter.  You can find a PDF version of it here (sorry about the conversion from the email):

zackhudgins_newsletter_march2013

Mar 07

11th District Town Hall – Sat., March 16th

From Zack Hudgins:

zack_townhall

You are invited to join me for a town hall meeting with Sen. Bob Hasegawa and Rep. Steve Bergquist on Saturday, March 16th from 1-2 pm at the King County Regional Communications & Emergency Coordination Center (RCECC) in the Renton Highlands. I hope to talk with many of you about our work so far this legislative session and provide an update on the next biennial budget for the state.

Afterwards, our hosts at the King County Office of Emergency Management have graciously offered to take us on a tour of the facility and provide a glimpse into the vital work our public agencies do to keep us safe. If rock and roll history is also your style, you can also take a moment to visit the grave of Jimi Hendrix in the neighboring Greenwood Cemetery.

Town Hall Info:
Date/Time/Location:
Saturday, March 16th
1-2 pm, RCECC tour to follow
King County Regional Communications & Emergency Coordination Center (RCECC)
3511 NE 2nd Street
Renton, WA 98056

Mar 06

E-board meeting agenda: 3/7/2013

11th LD e-Board Agenda
March 6, 2013
7:00 pm Arrival to Renton Carpenters Hall
7:05 Timeline: newsletter, minutes. Notice dates for meetings.
7:15 11th LD Calendar for next 3 months (6 if we get ambitious)
Meeting topics/speakers
Endorsement meetings
7:40 General meeting
Basic Robert’s Rules
Format
Raffle rules
Promotion of meetings: who, how, when
8:00 Hospitality Team
How often, who, how to organize
8:10 Proposed Bylaw Changes
8:25 South Seattle Mayoral Candidate Forum – sponsored by 11, 34, & 37 LDs
Monday, April 29 at South Seattle CC Georgetown Campus
Need to ask for up to $150 from LD
Any interest in volunteering?
8:30 Committee Updates
8:40 Agenda for next general meeting
8:45 Adjourn

Mar 01

Top Democrats refuse to schedule votes on Family and Medical Leave, Sick Days

Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48) (left) is Chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36) (right) is chair of the House Finance Committee.

Legislators are dragging their heels on two bills that will help rebuild Washington’s middle class and save tax dollars. What gives?

Two top Democrats, chairs of the House Finance and House AppropriationsCommittees, are refusing to schedule votes on the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (HB 1457) and Paid Sick Days (HB 1313) bills in front of their respective committees.

Lawmakers have received an outpouring of emails and phone calls in favor of the two bills. Small business owners, parents, injured workers, early learning experts, and health professionals have testified in support of these commonsense policies for healthy children, strong families, and public health. And because state employees already have sick leave, and family leave insurance benefits and administrative costs are fully covered by modest insurance premiums, any direct costs to the state’s general fund are minimal.

Read the full article here: Washington Policy Watch

and please call or comment on the bills to show support: Family and Medical Leave Insurance (HB 1457) and Paid Sick Days (HB 1313)

Feb 25

What will happen to Washington state if the sequester happens?

The White House has released reports on what will happen to the states if the sequester happens.

If sequestration were to take effect, some examples of the impacts on Washington this year alone are:

  • ¾ Teachers and Schools: Washington will lose approximately $11,606,000 in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 160 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 11,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 50 fewer schools would receive funding.
  • Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water: Washington would lose about $3,301,000 in
    environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from
    pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Washington could lose another $924,000 in grants for
    fish and wildlife protection.
  • Public Health: Washington will lose approximately $642,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability
    to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological,
    chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. In addition, Washington will lose about $1,740,000 in
    grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 3800 fewer admissions to
    substance abuse programs. And the Washington State Department of Health will lose about
    $174,000 resulting in around 4,300 fewer HIV tests.

The full report is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/sequester-factsheets/Washington.pdf

Feb 21

Open States: A great tool to track what’s going on in the Legislature

open states

Open States is a great tool for tracking what’s going on in the Legislature: Bills, Meetings, Committees: Finding your Legislators.  There’s even a free app for iPhones and iPads:

http://openstates.org/wa/

Thanks Christopher Anderson!

 

Feb 21

WA State Legislature: See which bills our Legislators are sponsoring

Finding out which bills our Legislators are sponsoring this session is easy.  Here’s how you do it:

  1. Find your legislator on this website: 
    1. For House members, click here: http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Representatives/Pages/default.aspx
    2. For Senators, click here: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/Pages/default.aspx
  2. Find your Legislator’s name and click on it
  3. Click on the Bill Sponsorship link
    bill sponsorship
  4. You will now see the bills this Legislator sponsored.
    bills sponsored

Feb 21

WA State Legislature: How to comment on a bill

As of this 2013 session, the public can now comment on bills under consideration in the state legislature.  This is incredibly useful, as many of us don’t have the time to venture down to Olympia to give in-person opinions on laws under consideration.  Here’s how you do it:

  1. Go to the Legislature’s website: http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx
  2. Click on the Bill Search tab on the page:
    bill search
  3. Enter the bill number you’re searching for and click Search:
    bill search number
  4. Click on the “Comment on this bill” button
    comment on this bill
  5. Select a position (Oppose, Neutral, Support), then type your comment.  When you’re done, click the Submit button.
    comment
  6. If you don’t have a user account, you’ll be requested to create one.  If you have a user account, you’re done.

Feb 20

Bylaws Update 2/19/2013

Last night, we voted to update our bylaws.  The update just contains some minor housekeeping (cleaning up a few lines of data that didn’t belong anymore… basically, old dates and page numbers).

The updated bylaws are viewable here: https://www.11thlddems.org/bylaws/

Stay tuned for future updates from our rules & bylaws committee.

Feb 20

Progressive Radio in Seattle Update & Petition, 2-19-13

Subject: Progressive Radio in Seattle Update, 2-19-13

Meeting with a KPTK Insider

Our Progressive Radio in Seattle (PRS) Team had a meeting this past week with a former advertising sales person for KPTK who provided us with some interesting information about the demise of 1090 Progressive Talk.

  • 1090 has been owned by CBS since its inception and was the only progressive talk station owned by CBS in the country.
  •  CBS chose to not spend any money on advertising for KPTK and did minimal guerilla marketing for promotion.
  • When KPOJ in Portland first became a progressive talk station, they spent money on advertising and it did well for the first year.

Please help us build signers on our petition

Our SignOn petition has over 9,100 signers.  We want to build it to over 10,000.  If you know someone who hasn’t signed yet and would be interested in what we are doing, please send them the link: “Don’t Let Seattle Lose Progressive Radio” http://signon.org/sign/dont-let-seattle-lose-1?mailing_id=9335&source=s.em.cr&r_by=396352

When we’re ready, MoveOn will pay for making one set of paper copies for us to deliver.  The plan is to create a media event, if we can find a reporter that wants to cover it.  We can deliver electronic copies of the signers anytime.

Continue reading

Feb 20

Pavone Announces Candidacy for 2013 Renton City Council Race

Current Renton City Councilman Rich Zwicker said he’ll step down at the end of 2013 and endorsed Pavone as his replacement.

From the Renton Patch: http://bit.ly/Xx4zjs

Feb 19

Reminder: General membership meeting is Tuesday, 2/19/2013

Just a reminder, our general membership meeting is on Tuesday, 2/19/2013.

  • Show up at 6:45 and get some food.  Yup, we’re bringing back food.  We’re serving a baked ziti pasta dish, salad, bread, and pie.  We’re suggesting a $6 donation to offset the costs.
  • The raffle is back.  Buy some tickets, try to win a prize, leave happy.
  • The meeting agenda is here: https://www.11thlddems.org/2013/02/general-meeting-agenda-february-19th-2013/
  • The meeting location is here: 231 Burnett Ave North, Renton WA.
    meetinglocation_renton

Feb 19

Support of SB 5731

Barbara Crider was kind enough to share a letter that she sent to Bob Hasegawa about SB 5731.  The purpose of this bill is “Allowing beer and/or wine specialty shop licensees to sell craft distillery products.”  The text of the bill can be found here:  http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2013-14/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5731.pdf

If you have an opinion on this issue, contact our legislators and share it with them.

 

Barbara’s letter is below:

Continue reading

Feb 16

Meetings: We’re bringing back two things… the raffle and food

Great news everyone, for our general membership meetings, we’re bringing back two things you loved.  The raffle and food.  The next general meeting is on Tuesday, February 19th.

For the raffle: we could use some help.  First, please participate.  Second, we could also use some help in donating prizes.  If you have anything that’d make a good raffle gift, contact Meegan Prince (meegan_prince@yahoo.com).

For the food: We’re bringing back food.  Roxanne and Robert are going to make a baked ziti dish that you’ll love.  It’ll come with salad and dessert.  We’re also serving some beer.  We’re requesting a $6 donation to offset the costs.

Thank you and we hope to see you on Tuesday!

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