Dear Colleagues, The General Assembly session has begun and Libertarians around the state are watching many bills that either enhance or threaten our remaining liberties. Here are some updates from our friends in the trenches.
************************************************************************** FIVE-MINUTE ACTION #1. MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION ************************************************************************** ROY SCHERER says: The scheduled hearing on the decriminalization bill has finally been posted online, and there have been further developments. Not only will they hear HB1134, decriminalization, but they willl also hear HB1136, medical marijuana. They will do this Wednesday afternoon, sometime after 1pm. If you care about this issue, and these bills, then if you have not already emailed the members of the subcommittee, you need to do so NOW, well before noon Wednesday (1/26/2010 - TODAY). The nine people who will vote tomorrow are: <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H39>Griffith (Chairman), <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H2>Albo, <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H139>Bell, Robert B., <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H161>Cline, <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H181>Gilbert, <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H195>Miller, J.H., <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H4>Armstrong, <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H108>Watts, <http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+mbr+H208>Herring Your message can be simple: --------------------------------- Dear Delegate Soandso: Please support Delegate Morgan's marijuana-law reform bills. Thank you, Yourname and town --------------------------------- [For a subjectline, use "Support HB1134" --------------------------------- To learn more about the decriminalization bill, go to < http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=101&typ=bil&val=hb1134 >. To learn more about the medical-access bill, go to < http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=101&typ=bil&val=hb1136 >. I'll tell you more after the hearing tomorrow. After this hearing, there will be another before the full House Courts of Justice Committee. After they approve the bills, the full House will vote on them. After that, we need to go through subcommittee, full committee, and floor vote in the Senate. After all of that, we need to get the Governor to sign the bills. Keep those cards and letters comin' in, folks! (And let me know whhat sort of replies you get, too -- email them to <[email protected]>. Anyone who would like to be added to my 'General Assembly Freedom Update' can simply drop me a note: "Roy B. Scherer" <[email protected]> or <mailto:[email protected]?subject=gaupdate_request> Confidentiality guaranteed." -- Roy ======================== WEB RESOURCES ======================== You need to keep tabs on what the legislators are doing. Remember, they work for YOU, and they spend YOUR tax money. Here are two websites that will help you do that. The Virginia General Assembly website is < http://legis.state.va.us/>. It has links to other agencies and branches of government. One of the more important links (top right) is "Who's My Legislator", which will ask your address and ZIP code, then show you which senators and delegates are working for YOU, and how to contact them. To find out anything about specific bills, or legislators, or what the Virginia law is on some topic, the Legislative Information System site is the place to go: < http://leg1.state.va.us/>. One note of caution, when looking uo a particular bill, is to use the format of "HB1134" rather than "House Bill 1136" or "H.B. 1136". =============================================================== ************************************************************************** 2. FIVE-MINUTE ACTION #2. LIFESTYLE ISSUES ************************************************************************** In 2006, The Libertarian Party of Virginia worked with Equality Virginia as part of the Commonwealth Coalition in an effort to defeat the Marshall/Newman Amendment. In 2009, our friends at EV are back on the front lines; and Libertarians are working with them to convince legislators to make sure all Virginians are treated equally under the law. DON'T FORGET TO ATTEND -- Equality Virginia's Lobby Day on February 2nd. <http://images.myngp.com/LinkTracker.aspx?crypt=IVi0ax2%2b6UBSinc%2fCPYaKSLXxlG2x9zWs283PTpdoqG9v%2buEpFO1NcCXI68N1LgUCFKTteKlp0l5oeV26PIY51v1Rci2vJs27fDy1nAGkq3DoM814ap%2bl7TfG5XkeSDQD4qely19xkyLCIwKmCCE10TZPxblOTH7B7Sbqf%2fCTkQbRytSz%2bjg6Q%3d%3d>Register now for Lobby Day and get ready to be an effective advocate by attending one of our webinar training sessions on either January 27th from 7pm to 8pm or January 30 from 11am-12pm. Sign up for the training by sending an email to [email protected]. More info on the training next week! This year EV has added a Virtual Lobby Day option for those of you who would like to participate but can't make it to Richmond for the day. http://www.EqualityVirginia.org/ EV has published <http://images.myngp.com/LinkTracker.aspx?crypt=IVi0ax2%2b6UBSinc%2fCPYaKTIiuEAybv0zC4e4Evsf47ENqFccoidCxFnAM8sO6BTtHW4fGtNzyiuYiL8jEOtIzLoS3gtj8YQ1%2fVh5S0ArQ%2fJmMRW4SXFC8mAphsLFdHmXD8%2fmcY2ACTAZZKOMUn327g%3d%3d>a list of all the legislation they are tracking and supporting this year on 'Richmond Sunlight'. This list of bills is updated automatically as bills move through the system so you can check back anytime and see where bills of interest are in the process. Some of the bills on EV's tracking list are key priorities for us (e.g., nondiscrimination legislation); others are being followed because of their potential impact on the community (e.g., bills defining who can make burial decisions). On Richmond Sunlight, you can vote for or against bills, and enter your "testimony" in the comments section for each bill. You can also keep up by watching live feeds of the House and Senate and following the House and Senate on Twitter. More info on all the ways you can engage on the General Assembly's website <http://images.myngp.com/LinkTracker.aspx?crypt=IVi0ax2%2b6UBSinc%2fCPYaKQ%2b34ncym5HJmgboydG1%2f4iaN7Pxuk0qAFVP5fRty0E8zgnR6%2f6HThQt2SVdsX7jLN78jVfbUUX8wYNN0WLc0O4%3d>here. ************************************************************************** 3. FIVE-MINUTE ACTION #3. GUN LAWS ************************************************************************** The Libertarian Party is the only choice at the ballot box when it comes to 100% support of the right of people to own & bear arms as a matter of basic human rights. Many Libertarians work with the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the state's pre-eminent voice for gun rights, to persuade lobbyists, the media, and citizens in general that guns save lives. Please take a few minutes and sign up for VCDL's email alerts, which during session, come at a rapid clip (it's not VCDL's fault!): http://www.vcdl.org/static/va-alert.html ************************************************************************** 4. FIVE-MINUTE ACTION #4. ABOLISHING TAXES ************************************************************************** One thing is floating around the General Assembly this time that took me by surprise: There seems to be some sentiment afoot to abolish Virginia's Corporate Income Tax. While I'd much prefer to see the Virginia individual income tax abolished, I'll take any tax abolition I can get. Besides, as we Mundanes know, corporations pay no taxes. Only consumers do -- soa repeal of the corporate income tax direcly benefits consumers. Bob Marcellus, a Richmond hedge-fund manager who served on the transition team's economic development work group, originally pushed the idea. Del. Bob Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, introduced the bill to eliminate the tax. Here is the bill summary: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?101+sum+HB119 The bill will have a tough row to hoe. Even if the proposal passes the Republican-controlled House, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, has said publicly that he and his fellow Democrats in the Senate favor continuing the annual state theft of private money. Further reading: http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/libertarian-%E2%80%9Cprosperity-plan%E2%80%9D-repeals-income-tax-ends-corporate-welfare ************************************* As we discover areas where we have common cause with other single-interest groups, we will add them to this periodic review. But in the meantime, sign up for Roy's alerts, and try to write to your representatives a couple of times a week and ask them to support the libertarian position on the bills reviewed here. Sign up for VCDL's alerts, also, and use their wonderful "write your reps" service to help lobby for the restoration of full gun rights in Virginia. Sign up for EV's alerts as well. And don't forget to write your legislators to ask them to support repeal of the corporate income tax. ############################################################# Have an announcement you'd like to post? SCC members & many committee heads are all authorized to post; or you may send your announcements to the List Master: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=announcement>. ################################################## Unsubscribe: Send an email to [email protected] with no subject and "Unsubscribe Announce" as the text. ############################################################# Libertarian Party of Virginia http://www.LPVA.com Phone: 703-715-6230
