January 5, 2024
Work on legislation against book banning, help register Democrats, protest improper denials of Medicaid for children, and more!
JAN 5
*** SUBMITTING YOUR ACTIONS TO ROGAN’S LIST ***
We’ve set up a “tip line” so Rogan’s List subscribers can send in their ideas or submissions for action items at roganslisttips@gmail.com. Please don’t hesitate to email and pass on your suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- PROTEST IMPROPER DENIALS OF MEDICAID FOR CHILDRENPandemic-era protections and expansions of Medicaid coverage, which lasted from February 2020 to March 2023, have expired, and states are now returning to the routine renewal processes for determining Medicaid eligibility. Some 2 to 3 million children have lost their Medicaid health care coverage as a result. Sixty percent of these children come from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas—all Republican-led states—while “the 10 states refusing the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults have disenrolled more kids than all of the expansion states combined.” These 10 states are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Let’s tell our Members of Congress to pass legislation to protect children’s access to Medicaid during and after this “unwinding” period, and if we are in the states that are disproportionately disenrolling children, let’s tell our governors and state legislators that we expect them to adopt the enrollment-protecting strategies in HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra’s letter. Let’s also comment favorably on this Interim Final Rule that will help prevent improper disenrollments. (h/t West Virginia Citizen Action Group)
- 2024 WOMEN’S MARCHKeeping with the tradition started in January 2017, the 2024 Women’s March is scheduled for the weekend of January 19-21. “Reproductive freedom is bigger than Roe. Our lives are bigger than Roe, and the fight is bigger than abortion. This year, democracy itself is on the line.” We can keep up with what is happening by following their Facebook page and we can check here to find an event or to volunteer to host one.
- SUPPORT (OR INITIATE) STATE LEGISLATION REPLICATING THE NEW LAW AGAINST BOOK BANNING IN ILLINOISOn January 1, Illinois became the first state to institute a law that disqualifies libraries who ban books from receiving state funding. In order to receive funding, libraries must abide by the American Library Association Bill of Rights, which states that materials cannot be excluded due to “origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation,” or removed “because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” Let’s check with our state legislators to see if there’s similar legislation in progress, and strongly recommend that our state initiate and pass a similar bill.
- FIND WAYS TO HELP GOTV AT FIELD TEAM 6 VOLUNTEER FAIR THIS WEDNESDAY If we are looking for ways to gear up our activism but don’t know where to start, we can check out Field Team 6’s Volunteer Fair, this Wednesday at January 10 at 5p PT. At this event, hosted by Field Team 6, Demcast, and The Union, we can find out about some of the most effective ways to change hearts and minds through conversations. We’ll learn how to reach out to like-minded people and get them voting by using several different methods, including voter drives, phone banks, text banks, postcarding and more! We can even help behind the scenes! Click here to find out more and register for the Field Team 6 Volunteer Fair. Let’s have fun and save Democracy together!
- CONSIDER VOTING BY MAIL IN 2024One great way to make sure that we remember to cast a ballot in every local, state, or national primary or general election that we’re eligible to vote in in 2024 is by planning to vote by mail. Here’s a general primer on voting by mail. Rules about mail-in voting vary by state; this tool from the nonpartisan National Association of Secretaries of State can help us find the official rules in our own state. The rules will tell us how to request a mail-in ballot, what to do if we change our minds and decide to vote in person rather than by mail, what deadlines to watch out for, and more. Let’s get information about mail-in voting (also called absentee voting) here, and, if it makes sense for us, apply for our mail-in ballots today!
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
- MI: REFORM COMPENSATION LAW FOR THE WRONGFULLY CONVICTEDProPublica reports that Michigan’s Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act, which is supposed to provide $50,000 for each year a person is wrongfully imprisoned, deprives many exonerated individuals of any compensation. The Act limits compensation to those whose cases were overturned based on “clear and convincing” “new evidence” that the person was not the perpetrator or an accomplice. Those whose convictions were overturned based on suppression or insufficient evidence, inadequate assistance of counsel, official misconduct, and other reasons, are not entitled to compensation. Advocates and two state Supreme Court justices have called for the legislature to reform the law, but leaders of neither political party have done so. If we’re in Michigan, let’s share the link to the ProPublica story, with Governor Whitmer and our state legislators and tell them that we want them to pass legislation reforming the Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act to cover all who have been wrongfully convicted.
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