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OVERVIEW OF ADVOCACY AREAS
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| What is Action? |
"Action is agitating, organizing, educating, pleading, and persuading" - said Carrie Chapman Catt, a leader of the women’s suffrage movement and founder of the League of Women Voters.
Today, action is whatever the League does to influence government officials to implement the League's program goals. Action is sending emails, writing letters, visiting public officials, mobilizing public support and testifying at hearings. |
| How does the League take Action? |
All League action is taken in accordance with positions arrived at after study and a consensus process. League positions and the history of actions taken under these positions are found in IMPACT ON ISSSUES.
All action is taken to further our positions, with emphasis on those items contained in our
2012 Legislative Agenda Brochure. The League also takes action in coalition with other organizations; see our Coalition Membership List (Updated 12/09)
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| Legislative Action Center |
Legislative Action Center (1/14/2010)
A central part of the mission of the League of Women Voters is to encourage the active and informed participation of citizens in their government. Use our legislative action center find or to contact your elected officials, or to send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. |
| To Get Involved |
As an organization that operates and advocates at the local, state, and national levels, the League actively encourages individuals to get involved at all levels of government. Advocacy ranges from writing a letter to running a legislative campaign. If you would like to become more involved in League advocacy, Contact Betsey at the League office or call us at 518-465-4162. Training will be provided to those who are new to the advocacy arena.
NEW! 2012 Full Legislative Packet (4/2/2012)
The 2012 Legislative Packet has been distributed to all local Leagues. We ask all local Leagues to schedule a visit with the NYS Senator and Assemblymember to discuss our positions. Talking points on campaign finance reform, court restructuring, election law reform and hydraulic fracturing included.
2012 Lobby Day Training (1/18/2012)
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| Individual Advocacy Areas |
EDUCATION
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY
GOVERNMENTAL REFORM
HEALTH CARE
JUDICIAL
NATURAL RESOURCES
PAY EQUITY
TRANSPORTATION
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| Helpful Links for Transparency in NYS Government Information |
- Open Book NY-- Office of the State Comptroller
openbooknewyork.com
- Project Sunlight – NYS Office of the Attorney General, A Public Integrity Initiative
sunlightny.com
- SeeThrough NY— Empire Center for NYS Policy, A Project of the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research (1/28/2009)
seethroughny.net
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| Legislative Calendar |
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| Testimony |
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| Press Releases |
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| Current League Legislative Action |
- Transportation
- Hydraulic Fracturing
- Testimony on the Health Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing before the NYS Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation and Assembly Standing Committee on Health (6/2/2011)
- Letter to Delaware River Basin Commission from LWVs of NY, NJ, PA and DE Concerning Regulations on Gas Drilling (4/8/2011)
Letter from 4 State Leagues urging the Commission to postpone development of regulations on gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin until after the EPA study is complete and available to the public; also requests that such regulations are no less stringent than the strictest rules adopted by any one of the four member states under the Commission's jurisdiction.
- Letter Urging Governor Cuomo to Veto Legislation (A3093B) for Use of Lever Machines in Village Elections (2/17/2011)
- Civic Groups Applaud Senate Reform Package and Urge Quick Passage
(12/20/2010)
- 2010 Election Survey: Machines Perform But Privacy Suffers (12/16/2010)
The League released the results of an online survey of over 1,000 voters statewide which showed that the new voting systems worked well, but noted several inadequacies that the League feels must be addressed to ensure that voters are guaranteed a secure and private franchise.
- Groups Ask Both Assembly and Senate to Consider Rules Reforms (12/10/2010)
- Groups Urge Governor-Elect Cuomo to Use Executive Powers to Advance Consumer, Environmental, Health, Higher Education and Reform Issues (12/8/2010)
The League joined other groups in endorsing report entitled: Rebuild NY: 30 Steps the New Governor Can Take Immediately.
- League Applauds Passage of Quadrennial Commission for Judicial Compensation
(11/30/2010)
- Prominent Endorsers Urge Governor-Elect Cuomo to Issue Model Executive Orders to Kick-Off Campaign to Change Albany (11/22/2010)
Good government groups issued a report on eleven executive orders the new Governor can take immediately to make New York government more open, accountable and democratic.
- Groups Urge State to Reconsider Discontinuing Role in Federal Superfund Cleanup Activities (11/16/2010)
Letter to Governor Paterson and Governor-Elect Cuomo urging the state to reconsider its decision to suspend its role in the federal Superfund sites cleanups in NYS.
- Letter to NYS Department of Environmental Conservation on Strategic Plan for State Forest Management (10/28/2010)
Coalition letter expressing concern for natural gas development in state forests.
- Testimony before the Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services (10/5/2010)
Remarks concerning permanent funding mechanisms to support affordable representation for the state’s low income persons.
- Letter to US Department of Energy Concerning West Valley Demonstration Project and Western New York Nuclear Service Center (3/3/2010)
- Letter to NYS Board of Elections Regarding Treatment of Overvoting in Optical Scan Voting Machines (2/3/2010)
- Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform Update (1/13/2010)
On Wednesday, January 13th, leaders in both houses (Assembly majority and minority along with Senate majority) announced an agreement on the reform bill for campaign finance enforcement and ethics reform. While not everything that the League and our good government colleagues sought, the proposed changes would improve both ethics and campaign finance enforcement and create greater transparency. "Although this is far from a perfect solution to the reforms needed in Albany, this moves us further toward increased enforcement and more transparency. We will continue coming back to the legislature for stronger campaign finance legislation and other reforms for which the League has long advocated." stated our Legislative Director, Barbara Bartoletti.
Read more...
- Letter to Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources, Regarding Draft SGEIS (12/30/2009)
Call to issue strict regulations to mitigate the numerous potential environmental, social, economic and health impacts posed by
drilling in the Marcellus Shale, to provide sufficient staff to enforce these regulations supported
by a severance tax, and to redraft the SGEIS, considering the findings of the new EPA study.
- Good Government Groups Ask State Board of Elections to Investigate Apparent Corporate Contribution Limit Violations (11/5/2009)
- Take Action Now to End the NYS Senate Stalemate (6/19/2009)
- Summary and Comments by LWVNYS Legislative Director Barbara Bartoletti on Recent Events in NYS Senate (6/15/2009)
- Letter to US Attorney on HAVA Compliance
Letter urging US Attorney's office to wait for complete testing of voting equipment prior to ordering of HAVA compliance. (5/5/09)
- New Statewide Action on LWVUS Climate Change Positions
The state League has initiated a new statewide action on the issue of Climate Change. Click on the link, Reduction of Greenhouse Gases, for a fact sheet on the issue. Contact
Roberta Wiernik, LWVNYS Natural Resources Specialist, for more information on how you can help. More information is also available on the LWVUS website at www.lwv.org. (3/31/2009)
- League Launches Campaign Finance Reform Project (6/11/2008)
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| Current League Legislative Action - Healthcare |
Healthcare-What Will Happen To Your Healthcare When You Pull the Lever?
As a community service to educate voters for the upcoming Presidential election, the League of Women Voters of NYS, along with the Capital Region Local Leagues, presented a pre-election program on October 25th, that provided voters with a thorough, unbiased analysis of both major candidates' proposals that included a perspective from a major area health service provider, Seton Health, an affiliate Ascension Health, the largest U.S. nonprofit health system, on the impact of both proposals on health care delivery.
Healthcare Forum Webcasts October 2008 (10/29/2008)
Aging in the Community? The Future of Long Term Healthcare
League of Women Voters of NYS & The Capital Region Local Leagues
Panel Discussion Webcasts Spring 2009 |
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