The Time for Action on Gun Control in Rhode Island is NOW!

ACT TODAY on GUN LEGISLATION in RHODE ISLAND

In view of the horrific massacre in Orlando, the League asks all Rhode Islanders to contact your legislators today to demand a vote on the bills presented this year that would help to control rampant gun violence.  The LWVRI has testified this year in support of HB 7199 and SB 2835 which would ban high capacity magazines over 10 rounds; on HB 7283 and SB 2730 to keep guns away from domestic violence abusers; and on  HB 7243 and  SB 2761 that would restrict concealed firearms on K-12 School grounds to law enforcement personnel.

Many states including Massachusetts and Connecticut have laws to prevent domestic violence abusers from access to guns. Many States including Massachusetts and Connecticut have banned high capacity magazines. Almost every state including Massachusetts and Connecticut does not allow  concealed carry of firearms on K-12 School property. This is the third year in a row, since the Sandy Hook massacre, that these bills  are being “held for further study” here in Rhode Island.  We urge the Governor, the Speaker and the Senate President to do everything necessary to have these bills voted out of committee.  It is time for the Judiciary Committees to stop hiding behind a pretext of study. In a recent poll, the vast majority of Rhode Islanders said they want a vote.  It is time to respect not only their wishes but their health and safety as well.  We want a vote.

The League of Women Voters of Rhode Island is a member of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence,  an organization that was created by concerned citizens of Rhode Island  in 2013 after the Rhode Island General .Assembly failed to pass common sense gun legislation. With the coalition, we recognize gun violence as a public health issue. Using common sense means and methods, we seek to reduce injuries and deaths from gun violence.

The time to act is now.  Please do your part by contacting your legislators today, before they adjourn without doing anything for another year.

To contact your senator visit this page on the RI government site; for your Assembly person, go here. You can also contact  Senator President Paiva Weed (sen-paivaweed@rilegislature.gov) and Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello (rep-mattiello@rilegislature.gov).

Legislative Update March 7

LWVRI Weekly Legislative Alert

No League Testimony Scheduled; Report on Past Week’s

Hearings—Voting and Elections, Open Meetings

Coming Up: Gun Safety Bills

As of Friday, March 4, there were no bills on which the League will testify scheduled for hearings on March 8 and 9, and the Committee calendars had not been posted for March 10. When the calendar is posted, if there are items of interest to the League for which we will need your support, we will post more information and send a supplemental Call to Action. Meanwhile, here’s the report for the past week.

On Tuesday, March 1, LWVRI President Jane Koster,  the League’s chief lobbyist, presented testimony in support of five bills. The first four related to voting and elections.

•  H 7416, which would prohibit state vendors from making political contributions to candidates that if elected, would have the authority to award state contracts to them.
•  H 7146, which would prevent a person from being a candidate for public office who owes fines, fees, or penalties of ($2,000) or more for campaign finance violations, unless that person is currently compliant with a state board-approved repayment agreement.   
•  S 2513 which would establish a system for the electronic registration of voters. 
•  S 2358, which would create a procedure for in-person early voting for all general, primary and special elections.

All were held for further study except for S 2513, the electronic legislation of voters, which was recommended for passage by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The companion bill in the house, H 7024, was already passed.

The fifth bill, H 7601, concerned open meetings. This bill would exclude  weekends and state holidays from the calculation of the 48-hour public notice requirement for a meeting of a public body. It was also held for further study.

This past week, March 1-3, two new bills of interest the League related to gun safety to were introduced in the house and referred to the House Judiciary Committee.  Both were submitted at the request of the Attorney General.  They are:

• H 7850, which would make it unlawful to carry a rifle or shotgun in a vehicle or on one's person, visible or concealed, except at one's residence, place of business or land. This bill was sponsored by Representatives Diaz, Shekarchi, Almeida, and Maldonado
• H 7583, which would make it illegal for any person, entity, or dealer to sell, loan, transfer or acquire a firearm from any person, entity or dealer with the intent to avoid the application/disclosure process . This bill was sponsored by Johnston and Canario.

These bills have not yet been scheduled for a hearing. 

Gun Safety and Equal Pay

Gun Safety and Equal Pay

The house committees are busy introducing bills at the State House and at the end of this week there are two in particular that caught our attention. If you are represented by members of the committee that will hear these bills or by one of the sponsors of the bill, this is your opportunity to make a difference by emailing , phoning or writing them to express your concern as their constituent.  Legislators pay more attention to their constituents.  Take the time to take action. Thank you!   

GUNS. The first is H 7680, introduced by Nardolillo, Chippendale, Price, Roberts, which was sent to the House Judiciary Committee.  The bill would prohibit the use of state funds, personnel or property to enforce federal firearms laws or regulations.  The League opposes this bill. If any of the sponsors or committee members represent you, contact them and let them know that this bill thwarts public safety. Here are the members of the House Judiciary Committee.

Representative Edith H. Ajello:   rep-ajello@rilegislature.gov

Representative Joseph S. Almeida:   rep-almeida@rilegislature.gov

Representative Christopher R. Blazejewski:   rep-blazejewski@rilegislature.gov

Representative Dennis M. Canario:   rep-canario@rilegislature.gov

Representative Doreen Marie Costa, Vice Chairperson:   rep-costa@rilegislature.gov

 Representative David A. Coughlin, Jr.:   rep-coughlin@rilegislature.gov

 Representative Robert E. Craven, Sr.:   rep-craven@rilegislature.gov

 Representative John G. Edwards:   rep-edwards@rilegislature.gov

 Representative Blake A. Filippi:   rep-filippi@rilegislature.gov

 Representative Cale P. Keable, Chairperson:   rep-keable@rilegislature.gov

 Representative Carol Hagan McEntee:   rep-mcentee@rilegislature.gov

 Representative Jeremiah T. O'Grady:   rep-ogrady@rilegislature.gov

FAIR PAY. The League supports H 7694, introduced by Hearn, Messier, Costa, Ajello, and Tanzi. Known as the Fair Pay Act, it would increase  protections from gender discrimination with regard to pay.  This bill will be heard by the House Labor Committee.

Here are the members of the House Labor Committee:

Representative Stephen M. Casey:   rep-casey@rilegislature.gov

Representative Michael W. Chippendale:   rep-chippendale@rilegislature.gov

Representative Arthur J. Corvese:   rep-corvese@rilegislature.gov

Representative John G. Edwards:   rep-edwards@rilegislature.gov

Representative Deborah A. Fellela:   rep-fellela@rilegislature.gov

Representative Antonio Giarrusso:   rep-giarrusso@rilegislature.gov

Representative Kenneth A. Marshall:   rep-marshall@rilegislature.gov

Representative Carol Hagan McEntee:   rep-mcentee@rilegislature.gov

Representative Daniel P. McKiernan:   rep-@rilegislature.gov

Representative Joseph M. McNamara:   rep-mcnamara@rilegislature.gov

Representative Helio Melo:   rep-melo@rilegislature.gov

Representative Jared R. Nunes:   rep-nunes@rilegislature.gov

Representative Thomas A. Palangio, Vice Chairman:   rep-palangio@rilegislature.gov

Representative K. Joseph Shekarchi, Chairman:   rep-shekarchi@rilegislature.gov

Representative Stephen R. Ucci:   rep-ucci@rilegislature.gov

Representative Thomas Winfield:   rep-winfield@rilegislature.gov

Gun Control—Searching for Safety in Rhode Island 

There has been a lot of press recently about gun control and gun safety in Rhode Island. In October the Providence Journal ran a week-long series on the cost of gun violence in the state (http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131012-the-cost-of-a-bullet-price-of-gun-violence-takes-widespread-toll-in-rhode-island-1.ece). 

Two more recent articles are of particular interest. One published on Wednesday was a survey conducted by the Providence Journal and WPRI ( http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131119-journalwpri-12-poll-nearly-half-of-rhode-islanders-polled-say-states-gun-laws-dont-go-far-enough.ece); the other, in today's paper, discusses  where Rhode Island stand as far as reporting mental health records to a national gun check database. (http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131120-report-ri-still-not-contributing-mental-health-records-to-national-gun-check-database.ece). Mayors Against Illegal Guns rates Rhode Island among the worse as far as gun control (http://www.demandaction.org/fatalgaps).

Both Pro Jo articles are worth a read, but you might also like to check out this podcast from Backstory Radio with the American History Guys (http://backstoryradio.org/shows/straight-shot-guns-in-america-rebroadcast/). This particular episode brings an historical (and some times surprising) perspective to the issue of gun control. Backstory is a great podcast, by the way; check out the one on domestic spying.

You can check out the League's position on gun control on our website www.lwvri.org.

Members to select Advocacy priorities for 2014
The League of Women Voters of RI's annual Advocacy Committee meeting to organize our efforts for 2014 will be held November 11, 10:00 am – 12:00 Noon at Susan Escherich’s house, 133 Terrace Avenue, Riverside, RI.

The LWVRI is partnering with organizations such as Common Cause, ACCESS RI, the Coalition for Reproductive Justice, and ACLU to act on bills of mutual interest to our organizations. So far, our members have indicated interest in the following areas of advocacy. They will form subcommittees to track legislation introduced in their areas of interest, and work with the Advocacy committee to determine which hearings need to be monitored and which bills need response from us.
The meeting is open to members only.

We are excited that so many of you have already volunteered, and hope that others of you will contact us to join one of these subcommittees or to propose another area of interest to the League in which you would like to volunteer. Remember that we can only take action on issues on which we or the national LWV have a position.  You can see these positions on our web site at www.lwvri.org.

Please contact Derry Riding at 209-5091 or Susan Escherich at 433-4896 to tell us your ideas and how you would like to help.  If you cannot make this meeting, please email Susan Escherich at sescherich@verizon.net to tell us which of these subcommittees you would like to help.

Advocacy Subcommittees

1. Accountable Government, open records, ethics

2. Women’s Issues/Reproductive Justice

3. School Funding Issues

4. Election Procedures – voter id, early voting, removal of master lever

5. Environmental Issues

6. Gun Control

7. Civil Liberties

The League just received notice that the Barrington Public Library and East Bay Citizens for Peace present a talk by Professor Carl T. Bogus, Roger Williams University School of Law, on "GUNS: PUBLIC POLICY, POLITICS & LAW" on Tuesday, September 17th, at 7 PM at the Barrington Public Library (www.barringtonlibrary.org, 401-247-1920 x 2 for more information)
Professor Bogus will discuss the issues of gun control and gun rights in America including why gun control is so politically difficult to achieve. He will address the legal framework of the Second Amendment, and how different kinds of gun control either have reduced or increased homicides, injuries and suicides in the past. Time for questions and answers will follow.
Free and open to all

The LWV Newport's Coffee with the Legislators Part

If you missed the LWV Newport's Coffee with our Legislators, you can view the event on the Web site of the Jamestown Record.
http://www.jamestownrecord.com/Special.Features/lwvri.3.23.13.htm

Thanks to the Jamestown Record for this great service.
Patty MacLeish, LWV Newport County