Elections

May 16th is primary day across the state for a number of races, including a number of critical judicial seats.  We’ve included an Elections special section this week to start priming your members for voting.
  • Berks has a number of school board elections being held across the county. Check here for a list of candidates in your area. Candidates are able to cross file for this election. Registered Democrats are highlighted in blue.
  • Berks District Judge Races: There are a number of Magisterial District Judge candidates running to fill openings in nine jurisdictions in Berks. The list of candidates is here. Candidates can cross-file for these positions; registered Democrats are highlighted in blue.
  • Berks and PA Judicial Races:  Philadelphia United for Progress has prepared a primer for the Pennsylvania Judicial Races.  It includes descriptions of the courts and lists of candidates running.  You can find the PA Bar Association’s ratings of all statewide judicial candidates here. Berks has one position for a Judge for the Court of Common Pleas in our county. We have four candidates running for that position. They are cross-filed. Registered Democrats are Tina Boyd and Kelly Kline. Registered Republicans are Michael J Cammarano and Ben Nevius.
  • Municipal Elections: Berks County City of Reading election information is here. Information for municipal elections around the county can be found here. (We need more people to consider running for these positions in the future. All politics is local)


National Legislation

As always, there are a number of great tools for generating weekly Calls to Action on National Level issues, such as 5calls.org and wallofus.org.  Here are a few that we think are particularly relevant:  
  • Protect the EPA:  Submit a comment online about EPA regulations here.
Demand independent commission to investigate Trump/Russia ties - Info and scripts

Pennsylvania Legislation

The following bills either are on the Senate/House Floor agendas for Monday, May 8th or have moved into the second chamber and, therefore, are more urgent:

SB 5 “Sue Our Cities Bill
Senate Version (preempts local firearms regulations and allows the NRA to sue municipalities) Call your PA HOUSE Representative to OPPOSE
  1. SB 5 Allows the NRA to sue municipalities Click here to see the full version of the bill
  2. Description: The Pennsylvania Senate's Local Government Committee passed SB5 out of committee.  It is on the agenda for the April 24th Senate Session.  We must call asap.  SB5 would prohibit Pennsylvania's cities from adopting common sense gun reforms. It would allow lawsuits against municipalities and require the defendant municipalities to pay the legal expenses of the plaintiffs upon a loss. The bill not only provides standing to initiate lawsuits to individuals, but also to organizations such as the NRA. In effect, this bill would mean that all future all gun control legislation would have to pass the General Assembly, where the Republican majority is beholden to the NRA.
  3. Who to call:
    1. Call your PA House Rep and ask her/him to oppose SB 5, which would allow the NRA to sue municipalities which enact common sense gun control laws.  Find your rep at http://bit.ly/PAstatereps.
    2. Call the House Judiciary Committee and tell them to OPPOSE SB 5 Click here
  4. SCRIPT:
    1. Hello, my name is __and I am your constituent in (city, zip). I am calling to urge you to oppose SB5 when it comes to the Senate floor. I believe that Pennsylvania citizens should have the right to chose common sense gun reforms in their municipalities. I do not want the NRA to take away local authority over gun control. Please vote no on SB5.
    2. Email template: Click here
  5. Talking points:
    1. This law panders to special interest groups like the NRA who are playing politics with a serious issue like gun control. The NRA just wants to recruit more members to boost their profits.
    2. In 2009 the NRA sued Lancaster County for enacting common sense gun legislation that mandated a gun owner notify the county if their gun was lost or stolen.  Any sensible gun owner would report it to the police if their gun were lost or stolen.
    3. This law would allow the NRA to sue on behalf of any member which would be costly for municipalities to defend. The challenger could seek legal fees and other costs too which would be by extension harmful to the taxpayer.
  6. More information:
    1. NRA sues Lancaster over gun law Click here
    2. PA Senate passes bill to allow gun suits against municipalities; moves to House Click here


HB 671 - “Sue Our Cities Bill”
House Version (preempts local firearms regulations and allows the NRA to sue municipalities) Call your PA House Representative to OPPOSE
  1. HB 671 Allows the NRA to sue municipalities Click here to see the full version of the bill
  2. Description:  We vigorously oppose HB 671, which eliminates "legal standing" (the ability to file a lawsuit by demonstrating a direct stake in or harm from a law) for membership organizations who challenge local gun ordinances . HB 671 will allow the NRA and other gun groups to sue on behalf of a member who could be affected by a local gun safety measure, even if that member does not own a gun and has never been to that community. And, if that organization successfully challenges the local law, the municipality must pay the organization's attorney fees, expert witness fees and other costs. Of course, the reverse is not the case. The municipality cannot recover any of its costs if it successfully defends the lawsuit. (A companion bill to HB 671 is moving in the Senate, SB5.) Any municipality seeking to limit firearms on public property such as pools, recreation centers, and parks must now consider the very real threat of bankruptcy from expensive NRA financed litigation. The other inevitable effect of HB 671 is the dangerous precedent in allowing parties to challenge a law that they oppose even if they are not directly affected by it. HB 671 opens the door to a flood of unnecessary lawsuits on any and every issue. We need all hands on deck to stop HB 671.
  3. Who to call:  The bill has passed the House and will soon move to the Senate.  Please CALL and VISIT your Senator’s office and urge them to vote NO on HB 671.  Find your Senator at http://bit.ly/PAstatereps.
  4. SCRIPT:
    1. Hello, my name is __and I am your constituent in (city, zip). I am calling to urge you to oppose HB 671. I believe that Pennsylvania citizens should have the right to chose common sense gun reforms in their municipalities. I do not want the NRA to take away local authority over gun control. Please vote no on HB 671.
    2. Email template: Click here

  1. Talking points:
    1. This law panders to special interest groups like the NRA who are playing politics with a serious issue like gun control. The NRA just wants to recruit more members to boost their profits.
    2. In 2009 the NRA sued Lancaster County for enacting common sense gun legislation that mandated a gun owner notify the county if their gun was lost or stolen.  Any sensible gun owner would report it to the police if their gun were lost or stolen.

    3. This law would allow the NRA to sue on behalf of any member which would be costly for municipalities to defend. The challenger could seek legal fees and other costs too which would be by extension harmful to the taxpayer.

  2. More information:
    1. NRA sues Lancaster over gun law Click here
PA Senate passes bill to allow gun suits against municipalities; moves to House Click here

SB 10 - Defunding Sanctuary Cities in Pennsylvania
Call PA HOUSE rep to OPPOSE
  1. SB 10- Blocking Funding for Sanctuary cities Click here to see the bill

  2. Description: PA Senate voted to approve legislation that can withhold up to $1.3 billion of state money from the 30 Pennsylvania cities and counties that current offer some form of protection to undocumented immigrants. The impact of this legislation is not restricted just to large cities in the state, but it would cut some types of state funding to any municipality that enforces due process laws. This bill must be considered and voted on by the PA House before the Governor can sign or veto. We believe that legislators should be focusing on issues that will help our communities – raising the minimum wage, funding for public schools, increasing access to healthcare – not passing punitive and discriminatory policies like SB10 or the many other anti-immigrant bills currently introduced in both the House and Senate.
  3. Who to call:
    1. 17 Democrats who voted for an earlier version of SB10 Let’s make it known that these reps do not support our values.
    2. It is easiest to fight bad legislation in committee, so anyone represented by a member of the House Judiciary Committee needs to mobilize on SB 10.
  4. Call Script: SCRIPT for State Reps: Hi, my name is _____ and I am a constituent of Representative ____ living in _____.  I am calling to ask you to oppose SB 10.  Pennsylvania citizens and residents shouldn’t suffer from having their budgets slashed only for enforcing due process laws and protecting their communities (if your county would be affected by this bill, add that here). Pennsylvania counties have the right to refuse to hold people in jail in violation of their constitutional rights  without being financially punished.  Please instead focus on issues that will help our communities – raising the minimum wage, funding public schools adequately and equally, and increasing access to healthcare – not passing punitive and discriminatory policies like SB10.  Do not take away funding from sanctuary counties. They all expect to cooperate with ICE if ICE has a proper warrant and they do not release violent detainees.
  5. Talking points:
Sanctuary Cities:
    1. encourage community cooperation. According to a study in 2013, 70% of undocumented immigrants indicated that they would be less likely to report a crime for fear of being deported.
    2. are safer. Immigration policy in the United States is shaped more by unfounded fears than it is empirical evidence. The truth is that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than those that were born in the United States. FBI data indicate that the violent crime rate declined 48 percent—which included falling rates of aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder. Likewise, the property crime rate fell 41 percent, including declining rates of motor vehicle theft, larceny/robbery, and burglary.
    3. express disapproval with federal immigration policies
    4. maintain local control over social policies and local police activity. According to this 2015 Temple study, nearly half of PA counties do not honor ICE. http://cis.org/sites/cis.org/files/a-changing-landscape.pdf.
    5. address fiscal concerns related to the costs of enforcing immigration laws. Holding someone for ICE is expensive for the state or local community. ICE states clearly that it “does not reimburse localities for detaining any individual until ICE has assumed actual custody of the individual.”xi Pennsylvania citizens will pay the costs of holding people at ICE’s request and this can amount to millions of dollars of state or local money being spent for ICE’s benefit.
    6. address logistical concerns related to the necessary training and protocol for local enforcement officers to enforce an unfamiliar area of the law.
  2. Additional reading:
    1. this excellent toolkit from PICC: Click here
    2. Precrafted email so that you can voice your disapproval easily Click here
    3. Action guide created by Philadelphia Click here
    4. Senate Bill 10 Myths and Facts Click here


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