Week in review 3-25-17

Here’s a week in review of some of the more important things that happened this week with bolded lines as calls to action.

• Trump released his “Declined Detainer Outcome Report” this week. It’s similar to what the Nazis did with publishing crimes from Jews but this time it’s crimes from undocumented peoples. The report places Alachua County in the top 10 least compliant offices in the USA. Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell has been non complaint with ICE since 2015 due to activism from the Interfaith Alliance for Immigrant Justice. Darnell says she doesn’t hold people for ICE without a warrant because it’s a violation of their 4th amendment rights but that’s just legal cover for her desire not to terrorize this community. (link) There’s been a debate  spinning within the activist circles: Do we aim for sanctuary status and risk bringing the wrath of the Trump regime down upon us or do we seek the so called freedom cities initiative pushed by the ACLU which is sanctuary status in all but name? Well, if Trump and ICE are labeling us a sanctuary county then our goal is to defend that title and strengthen our resolve.

• HB 373 would further limit the already limited protections for teachers in Florida. In 2011 Gov Scott ended “professional services contracts” (aka tenure) which put all teachers on a yearly contract.  Teachers didn’t know if they’d be working from one year to the next so many the unions negotiated an automatic renewal if they received good evaluations from their principles. The teachers unions in Alachua, Marion, and almost all school districts have passed this common sense contract language. The bill passed it’s final committee in the House but still has a floor vote. Call Rep Chuck Clemons (R, Gainesville) at 352-313-6542 and tell him to VOTE NO on this anti-teacher bill. The Senate version SB 856 has not been heard in a single committee which likely means that this won’t be taken up this year. (link)

• HB 697, the anti-sanctuary bill passed an important house committee this week. The bill would require law enforcement officers to hold undocumented people for 48 hours at local tax payer expense. The Senate version isn’t moving but it’s a dangerous anti-immigrant bill that should be opposed. Call Rep Chuck Clemons (R, Gainesville) at 352-313-6542 and tell him that
  • local law enforcement are not ICE agents and forcing them to behave as such will only serve to further marginalize this already at risk community.
  • that forcing local agencies to hold people without a warrant is a violation of their 4th amendment rights
  • that this is an unfunded mandate from Tallahassee which will cost millions of dollars to local tax payers. 

    Or better yet. You can tell him in person. Sign up with the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) for the mobilization to Tallahassee. (link)

• Disney was forced to pay $3.8 in stolen wages to it’s workers. This was due to violations of minimum wage and overtime rules. Wage theft is very, very common and it’s very, very rare that it’s reported. If you work in Alachua County you can use our Wage Recovery Program to help recover your stolen wages.

• Gov Scott removed State Attorney Ayala, the first African American states attorney in Florida from a high profile case in Orlando because she refused to seek the death penalty. The Florida Legislative Black Caucus is rightfully upset and the NAACP is leading a protest this Thursday at the Capital. (link)

• The Florida Senate passed SB 436 which will allow students to pray and express their religion more openly. The bill is unnecessary as religious freedom is already protected but the bill goes further by forcing schools to allow students to pray at events. This will likely bring prayer back to games, concerts, and other events. The House version HB 303 is much better and still has to pass a floor vote. Call Rep Chuck Clemons (R, Gainesville) at 352-313-6542 and tell him that this is an unnecessary bill that only seeks to bring religion back into k-12 education. (link)

• The House and Senate will officially be submitting their budgets this week (the Governor did 2 weeks ago) and they’re going to be drastically different. (link)
  • The Senate wants an extra $1 billion for higher education. The House wants $800 million less.
  • Governor Scott wants $618 million in tax cuts while the Senate wants to modestly raise taxes.
  • Governor Scott wants a 3% raise in k-12 spending with the majority coming from an increase taxes paid by homeowners. The House isn’t interested in increasing taxes so they’ll have to find the needed $558 million in their budget.

• SB10, the bill that would build a reservoir for Lake Okeechobee and stop these terrible algae blooms and fish dies offs is being held hostage by Gov Scott for support in keeping Enterprise Florida alive. This is complicated as House Speaker Corcoran just got the support from House democrats to kill Enterprise Florida giving them a veto proof majority. This is important because Rick Scott is running for Senate in 2018 on the failed corporate welfare policy that is Enterprise Florida and has threatened to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his way. And just this last week Sen Rubio, cashing in his sugar lobby campaign checks, came out against SB 10. Despite the confusion and infighting Sen President Negron is still confident that the bill will more forward. But that isn’t to say that there isn’t local opposition. A local group called “Glades Lives Matter” is organizing protests against the lose of farm jobs that would result from this bill passing.

• A bill that sought to outlaw shark fin harvesting has been gutted due to pressure from the fishing industry. (link)

• Sen. Nelson leads Gov Scott in a third consecutive poll. This one from the Florida Chamber of Commerce has Nelson at 48% to Scott’s 42%. Interestingly 80% of Florida Republicans also have a positive view of Trump while 81% of Democrats have a negative view. (link)

• The Secret Service is asking for an extra $60 million to cover expenses from the lavish lifestyle of Trump. (link)

• The US Senate voted along party lines to repeal Obama era rules that protected consumer online data from their internet providers. Due to people like Sen Marco Rubio your internet provider will now sell your information to ad agencies, political outfits, government agencies… pretty much anyone willing to buy it. It might be a good time to switch to Tor Browser.  Call Sen Marco Rubio at (904) 398-8586 and ask to look at his and his families full browser history because that’s what he just voted to allow your internet provider to do.(link)

• Trumpcare died in the US House this week and Trump blamed the Democrats not the ~30 Republicans who refused to vote for it. Congressman Yoho was one of these Republicans and cited the ~3,000 calls against the vote to ~200 calls for the vote as a reason for his stance. Thanks for the encouragement! Call Congressman Yoho at 352-505-0838 and tell him to support HR 676, the Medicare for all act.
  

• Trump gave the final go ahead to the Keystone XL pipeline. This was one of his campaign promises along with promises to only approve it if it was made with US steel. It’s not being made with US steel. (link)

• Check out the Florida AFL-CIO weekly update video they put out each each week on priority legislation. If your not following them on facebook then your missing out.