In The SpotlightNewsletter Highlights
This is truly (Lame) Duck ala Orange!
Here is the microwave version of Lame duck ala Orange:
Do not let the legislature undermine our votes! Call your Michigan senator and Governor Rick Snyder now. Tell them to oppose Senate Bills 1238 through 1242, because they threaten Michiganders’ voting rights. To be connected to your senator and Governor Snyder, call (517) 201-2258. –ACLU
Here is the longer recipe to ask Snyder to veto!
Grab your phone and call! If you haven’t called yet, no problem. If you’ve already called, feel free to call again. Every call matters. Here are things we have learned:
When you call Gov. Snyder’s Constituent Services comment line at (517) 335-7858 to register your complaints, the staffers answering the phone have been instructed to interrupt your statements of protest and your request that all lame-duck legislation be vetoed. They will probably say some variation of, “Your statement is too vague. Please provide the bill numbers.”
Fine. Let’s give them the bill numbers. Here are the bill numbers with brief keyword descriptions of the focus of each bill so that you know for your own edification exactly what you are protesting. Here is information about some of the more controversial bills.
See Suggested Script below for your call. If it is at all possible, please try to power through to make the call. It shouldn’t take too long. One very important component of the call is to read off the numbers and then ask the staffer to read them back to you. This will ensure that the staffer wrote down the number(s) he requested and that your message will count.
Here’s the list with the keywords:
  • SB 1238-1242 – undermines Prop 3 (Promote the Vote)
  • HB 6553 and Bills 1251 and 1252 – all designed to impede the powers of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
  • [SB 1197 – UPDATE: Line 5 – we’re leaving this one out – Snyder scrapped to put Line 5 under the Mackinac Bridge authority on Monday, December 3, 2018.
  • SB 1243 – reduces the portion of the funds from the sales of marijuana that are intended for MI’s schools
  • SB 1254 – limits the redistricting commission (Prop 2 — anti-gerrymandering)
  • SB 1171 – attacks One Fair Wage
  • SB 1175 – attacks sick time
  • SB 1176 — limits the amount of disclosure of money to political organizations
  • SB 796 and HB 6474/HB 5368 – blocks union members from using release time during any grievance process
  • SB 1211 – attacks wetlands protections
  • HB 5916 and HB 5917 – put puppy mills back in business with retail pet stores.
Suggested Script:
Again, a warning. You may be cut off mid-sentence while delivering your intro statement. If that is the case, proceed right to the list of bill numbers.
“I am calling to ask Gov. Snyder to please veto all of the bills that the Michigan Republican legislators are trying to ram through during this lame duck period in an unprecedented power grab which is an appalling attack on our democracy. Here are the numbers of all the bills Gov. Snyder must veto.
  • SB 1238-1242
  • HB 6553 and Bills 1251 and 1252
  • SB 1243
  • SB 1254
  • SB 1171
  • SB 1175
  • SB 1176
  • SB 796 and HB 6474/HB 5368
  • SB 1211
  • HB 5916 and HB 5917
Could you please read the numbers back to me to make sure we have them all? Thank you.
Good luck!
The PEG staff.

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