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08/14/23 Missouri Mondays - Get involved! Gather signatures to raise the minimum wage and ...

allow earned sick leave! Stop MO GOP overreach! Sign up to help restore abortion rights!



Welcome to another Missouri Mondays!


Last week Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected the Republican-backed ballot measure that would have raised the threshold for changing the state constitution from a simple majority to 60%, making it much more difficult to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. It was another resounding defeat for GOP efforts to take away fundamental freedoms and silence the voices of the majority in several states post the SCOTUS Dobbs decision last year.


The Missouri GOP was very close to making similar changes to our initiative petition process last session and they will try again next year. Republicans know a majority of Missourians do not want politicians taking away the fundamental right to make their own decisions so they are desperate to make it harder for an initiative petition enshrining abortion rights to pass. They have already said this quiet part out loud.


Republican’s hold a supermajority in the Missouri legislature yet continue to use their power against us, attacking our rights and taking away our freedoms. Using the initiative process, a simple majority of Missouri voters expanded Medicaid, overturned anti-worker, anti-union right to work, approved Medical and recreational marijuana. The MO GOP knows they cannot win on their unpopular extreme policies so they want to change the rules to make it harder, perhaps impossible, to make change through the citizen’s initiative as has been the case for over 100 years. This cannot stand! We deserve better and we must fight back!


Thanks for staying informed and taking action with us each week! Help us spread the word and share this link to sign up for Missouri Mondays weekly email https://bit.ly/3pF99Uw.


 

UPCOMING EVENTS - WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!


TAKE ACTION WITH THE MISSOURI VOTER PROTECTION COALITION (MOVPC)

TO PROTECT THE RIGHT TO VOTE


Join the MOVPC weekly meeting MONDAYS at 10 AM

Text “MOVPC” to 66866 or register HERE: bit.ly/protectmovoters


Our work to protect the vote requires our continued attention! So we hope you'll join our next MOVPC call where we will discuss the necessary steps in our fight to protect the right to vote in Missouri. MOVPC is a nonpartisan statewide network promoting access to the ballot and working to remove barriers to voting in Missouri!

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Gather Signatures for the Healthy Families Ballot Initiative at the Balloon Glow!

Saturday, August 19

5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

World War I Museum Lawn

2 Memorial Dr.

Kansas City, MO 64108


Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages has launched a ballot initiative to gradually raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and allow employees to earn paid time off to care for themselves and loved ones. Come gather signatures for the Healthy Families Ballot Initiative at the Balloon Glow on the WWI Museum lawn from 5-8. For more information reach out to Katie@mojwj.org


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Join Missouri Women’s Political Caucus Spirit Online

An Evening with Jess Piper - How to Organize and Win in Rural Missouri

August 21, 2023

7:00PM via Zoom


National Women’s Political Caucus Spirit Online is pleased to present a discussion with Jess Piper about how to organize winning campaigns in rural Missouri. A life-long rural Missouri resident, she brings valuable insight for those considering a run. There is hope! Join us for a lively and entertaining hour. To register, please RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKRXbMWTlm_UWSSNbGgmDRC4p0aq0hYhqewingDmalm2YQSg/viewform


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VOLUNTEER TO HELP GATHER SIGNATURES!


Missouri Jobs With Justice Voter Action for Fair Wages and Earned Sick Time!

TAKE THE PLEDGE AND VOLUNTEER TO GATHER SIGNATURES HERE:


Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages has launched a ballot initiative to gradually raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and allow employees to earn paid time off to care for themselves and loved ones.


Missourians for Health Families and Fair Wages rewards hardworking Missourians by making sure they can care for their families and keep food on the table. By gradually increasing the minimum wage, we can ensure wages can keep up with rising prices. By ensuring that all workers have the ability to earn paid sick leave, we can make sure no parent has to choose between taking care of themselves or loved ones and affording the cost of necessities like medicine or utilities.

NO ONE should have to choose between their paycheck and their family's health. NO ONE working full-time should have to live in poverty. However, this is NOT the reality in Missouri, which is why we are coming together again to do what the legislature won't do for hardworking Missourians.


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Help Gather Signatures for Abortion Action Missouri!


Have you heard that Missourians might have a chance to vote on abortion at the ballot box? Every Missourian deserves the right to have their voice heard in our democracy and the power to help shape the laws that govern our lives, bodies and futures.


The Initiative Petition Process (IP Process) is the most effective tool that Missourians currently have to participate in democracy, shape policy, and build a statewide movement for abortion access. Missourians have used this process for years to build a Missouri where every person, family, and community can live with dignity. In the last 6 years alone, Missourians have used the IP process to pass Medicaid Expansion, raise wages, clean up money in politics, and protect union rights.


And guess what? We're not done yet. At Abortion Action Missouri, we're training teams of volunteers across Missouri to use the IP process to build the Missouri we all deserve.


As a volunteer you will learn how to:

  • Collect signatures for the Initiative Petition Process

  • Engage the public at community events, farmers markets, shopping centers and more

  • Build teams of volunteers to take action with you

  • Organize your families, friends and neighbors in the movement for abortion access

  • You'll also join a thriving community of people dedicated to building a Missouri where we all can thrive.


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ABORTION ACTION MISSOURI IS HIRING!!


Abortion Action Missouri wants you! We are hiring for a range of part- and full-time positions! Slide to check out our open positions and head to our website linked in stories) for position details:




Learn more about all positions including full salary info here: https://abortionactionmissouri.org/work-with-US/


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HELP SUPPORT AND ELECT MISSOURI HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Get involved! Join the MO Democratic Legislative Network!

The Democratic Legislative Network is building a community of dedicated activists to support our ideals, our message and our candidates in Missouri. Get involved in your area: https://www.mohousedems.com/get-involved


Make a donation!

Every. Election. Matters. Every gift can help.

Donate today and help us keep building the infrastructure needed to recruit, train, and support local candidates in Missouri.


Organizing efforts require year-round work, not just when there is an upcoming election, and your donation will help build the groundwork needed to bring real change benefitting all Missourians.




 

Missouri in the News

“GOP legislators file lawsuit challenging cost estimate of Missouri abortion-rights amendment”


“A pair of Republican legislators, along with an anti-abortion activist, filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the cost estimate of an initiative petition seeking to enshrine abortion rights in the Missouri constitution.


State Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, and state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, are named plaintiffs in litigation along with Kathy Forck, a longtime anti-abortion advocate from New Bloomfield. The trio is challenging Republican state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s conclusion that a proposed constitutional amendment rolling back Missouri’s abortion ban would have no cost to state government if it were approved by voters next year.


Instead, plaintiffs in the case believe the cost estimate should state that legalizing abortion in Missouri could result in millions of dollars lost to local governments and billions for the state. Fitzpatrick’s estimate, the lawsuit says, is “inaccurate in a way that is both misleading to voters and obvious to and curable by the auditor.”


“The proposed amendments would allow the destruction of thousands of pre-born Missouri citizens a year, with profound consequences to Missourians that far eclipse financial concerns,” the lawsuit states. “As part of the initiative petition process, however, the state auditor is legally tasked with the grim calculation of the financial costs to Missouri from this enormous human loss.”

The auditor, the lawsuit continues, has “failed to fulfill his legal obligations to ‘assess,’ ‘estimate,’ and ‘evaluate’ with respect to the proposed initiative petitions.” Fitzpatrick’s office could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.”


“As the legal challenge to the fiscal note gets underway, a Sept. 11 trial date has been set in Cole County court over a lawsuit challenging Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s ballot summary. Proponents will need to collect roughly 170,000 signatures to place one of the versions of the abortion-rights initiative petition on the 2024 ballot.


The proposals would amend the constitution to declare that the “government shall not infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” That would include “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care and respectful birthing conditions.” Penalties for both patients seeking reproductive-related care and medical providers would be outlawed.”



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MO Secy of State Jay Ashcroft creates new rule restricting environmentally minded investing


“During the 2023 legislative session, Missouri lawmakers looked to follow the lead of other Republican-led states by curbing environmentally minded investing practices, which they disparaged as “woke.”


The attempt to ban state involvement with banks that prioritize climate action or other socially driven investments fell by the wayside. That failure came as a relief to groups as diverse as the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the state’s Sierra Club chapter.


But now, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has used unusual powers of his office to create new restrictions around investing with a climate sustainability or social justice component and how banks can practice it.


Ashcroft says his rule is the first of its kind, placing Missouri on the cutting edge of how some states might think about regulating ESG, or “environmental, social and governance,” investing. The practice takes into account social concerns and personal beliefs.


Ashcroft is one of the few secretaries of state whose offices manage securities. After the General Assembly failed to pass any legislation related to reining in ESG practices, Ashcroft said, he used his authority to set the new rule.


But the business groups that opposed the legislature’s moves in the 2023 session voice the same objections to Ashcroft’s rule. They say it will create an unneeded burden on banks that operate in Missouri. The rule, which took effect at the end of July, requires financial advisers and institutions to have clients sign disclosure forms when an investment may consider ESG scores or prioritize elements that may not yield maximum profit.


Ashcroft, a Republican running for governor, said his rule is directed at investors who are “going to make a discretionary trade recommendation, and that recommendation is wholly or in part based on something other than getting the maximum financial return. They need to disclose that and get approval,” he told The Beacon in an interview.”


“Michael Berg, the political director for the Missouri chapter of the Sierra Club, called Ashcroft’s rule “anti-free market, anti-social responsibility and anti-environmental.” “There’s no clamoring of Missourians to put these rules in place, and then the legislature saw these bills and rejected them,” Berg said. “It’s interesting. What is the motivation? Why is he pushing it?”


Howard Fischer, a former prosecutor for the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and now a partner at the New York law firm Moses Singer, said the movement against ESG practices first took hold in the South, where some states have a financial interest in the outcomes of the oil and gas industry.


“Part of this is cultural war. The other part is fossil fuel related,” Fischer said. “It’s not really about investment performance. It’s about staking out a position in the culture wars. And to the extent it is about finances, it’s about protecting local industries.”


Further reporting here: https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2023/08/03/missouri-esg-rule-2023/ KC Beacon updated Aug 10


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National News


“In a win for abortion-rights supporters, Ohio voters reject Issue 1”


“Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected a Republican-backed ballot measure Tuesday that would make it harder to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, delivering a major win for reproductive rights supporters.


Issue 1 asked voters to decide whether to raise the threshold of support required for future state constitutional amendments to 60%. Currently, just a majority is needed. The measure also proposed toughening rules for groups trying to place future measures on the ballot by requiring them to obtain signatures from voters in all of Ohio’s 88 counties, instead of the 44 now required.


In addition, the measure would have eliminated a 10-day “curing” period during which groups are allowed to gather additional signatures to replace any previous signatures that officials deem invalid.


Voters, however, resoundingly rejected Issue 1, according to an Associated Press projection. With 97% of precincts reporting, 56.7% voted against the measure, while 43.3% voted to support it, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.


The defeat means a proposed amendment on the ballot in November will require just a simple majority to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.


The result is a clear win for reproductive rights advocates in Ohio, who’d long said that Issue 1 was designed to make it harder for their abortion measure to pass in November — an argument that several Republican lawmakers in the state have admitted to as well.


It's also another victory more broadly for abortion-rights groups, who have enjoyed a clean sweep of victories in all seven states where, in the 14 months since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, abortion rights were on the ballot.”

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MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT!

With so much important news each week we don’t want you to miss a thing! Check out our MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13cokjWlCh2EkY5K6bM357rjVPizZDzxlMqjAuoBQfoI/edit?usp=sharing


 

THANK YOU! for staying informed and taking action to make a difference!

Invite your friends and neighbors to join us and sign up for Missouri Action Alliance and this Missouri Mondays weekly email at https://bit.ly/3pF99Uw.

Follow us on X (Twitter) at @MissouriAction, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MOActionAlliance and check out our website at http://www.MOActionAlliance.com


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