#saveaca

[tonomato39]

Voting in the 2018 midterm elections? Don’t forget the ballot measures!

Below is a list of important state ballot measures, organized by topic. This list is not comprehensive. You can find more in-depth information on several of these state ballot measures here. Your ballot may have local ballot measures, too. Find out what’s on your sample ballot here. Please read/skim through Ballotpedia’s summaries on your state’s ballot measures; some of the ballot measures have misleading names and/or language. Find your polling place here.

Administration of Government

Colorado Amendment V, Reduced Age Qualification for General Assembly Members Amendment

Florida Amendment 10, State and Local Government Structure Amendment

North Carolina Judicial Selection for Midterm Vacancies Amendment

North Carolina Legislative Appointments to Elections Board Amendment

Government Accountability:

Florida Amendment 12, Lobbying Restrictions Amendment

Massachusetts Question 2, Advisory Commission for Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Regarding Corporate Personhood and Political Spending Initiative

North Dakota Measure 1, Ethics Commission, Foreign Political Contribution Ban, and Conflicts of Interest Initiative

South Dakota Constitutional Amendment W, State Campaign Finance and Lobbying Laws, Government Accountability Board, and Initiative Process Amendment

Government Budgets/Spending:

Indiana Public Question 1, Balanced Budget Amendment

Banking

Colorado Proposition 111, Limits on Payday Loan Charges Initiative

Civil and Criminal Trials

Florida Amendment 11, Repeal Prohibition on Aliens’ Property Ownership, Delete Obsolete Provision on High-Speed Rail, and Repeal of Criminal Statutes' Effect on Prosecution Amendment

Louisiana Amendment 2, Unanimous Jury Verdict for Felony Trials Amendment

New Hampshire Question 1, Taxpayer Standing to Bring Legal Actions Against Government Amendment

Ohio Issue 1, Drug and Criminal Justice Policies Initiative

Washington Initiative 940, Police Training and Criminal Liability in Cases of Deadly Force Measure

Education

School vouchers:

Arizona Proposition 305, Expansion of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Referendum

Elections

Felony Enfranchisement:

Florida Amendment 4, Voting Rights Restoration for Felons Initiative

Additional link

Louisiana Amendment 1, Felons Disqualified to Run for Office for Five Years Amendment

Redistricting:

Colorado Amendment Y, Independent Commission for Congressional Redistricting Amendment

Colorado Amendment Z, Independent Commission for State Legislative Redistricting Amendment

Michigan Proposal 2, Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative

Missouri Amendment 1, Lobbying, Campaign Finance, and Redistricting Initiative

Utah Proposition 4, Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative

Voter ID:

Arkansas Issue 2, Voter ID Amendment

North Carolina Voter ID Amendment

Voter Registration/Voting Policies:

Maryland Question 2, Election-Day Voter Registration Amendment

Michigan Proposal 3, Voting Policies in State Constitution Initiative

Nevada Question 5, Automatic Voter Registration via DMV Initiative

Environment

Arizona Proposition 127, Renewable Energy Standards Initiative

Colorado Proposition 112, Minimum Distance Requirements for New Oil, Gas, and Fracking Projects Initiative

Florida Amendment 9, Ban Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling and Ban Vaping in Enclosed Indoor Workplaces Amendment

Nevada Question 3, Changes to Energy Market and Prohibit State-Sanctioned Electric-Generation Monopolies Amendment

Nevada Question 6, Renewable Energy Standards Initiative

Washington Advisory Vote 19, Non-Binding Question on Oil Spill Tax Repeal

Washington Initiative 1631, Carbon Emissions Fee Measure

Guns

Washington Initiative 1639, Changes to Gun Ownership and Purchase Requirements Measure

Health care

Abortion:

Alabama Amendment 2, State Abortion Policy Amendment

Oregon Measure 106, Ban Public Funds for Abortions Initiative

West Virginia, Amendment 1, No Right to Abortion in Constitution Measure

Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare):

Idaho Proposition 2, Medicaid Expansion Initiative

Montana I-185, the Extend Medicaid Expansion and Increase Tobacco Taxes Initiative

Nebraska Initiative 427, the Medicaid Expansion Initiative

Utah Proposition 3, Medicaid Expansion Initiative

Hospitals/Clinics:

California Proposition 8, Limits on Dialysis Clinics' Revenue and Required Refunds Initiative

Massachusetts Question 1, Nurse-Patient Assignment Limits Initiative

Universal At-Home Care:

Maine Question 1, Payroll and Non-Wage Income Taxes for Home Care Program Initiative

Human Rights

Civil Rights:

Colorado Amendment A, Removal of Exception to Slavery Prohibition for Criminals Amendment

Immigration:

Oregon Measure 105, Repeal Sanctuary State Law Initiative

LGBTQIA Rights:

Massachusetts Question 3, Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Veto Referendum

Additional link

Labor Rights

Minimum Wage:

Arkansas Issue 5, Minimum Wage Increase Initiative

Missouri Proposition B, $12 Minimum Wage Initiative

Marijuana

Colorado Amendment X, Definition of Industrial Hemp Amendment

Michigan Proposal 1, Marijuana Legalization Initiative

Missouri Amendment 2, Medical Marijuana and Veteran Healthcare Services Initiative

Missouri Amendment 3, Medical Marijuana and Biomedical Research and Drug Development Institute Initiative

Missouri Proposition C, Medical Marijuana and Veterans Healthcare Services, Education, Drug Treatment, and Public Safety Initiative

North Dakota Measure 3, Marijuana Legalization and Automatic Expungement Initiative

Utah Proposition 2, Medical Marijuana Initiative

Taxes

California Proposition 2, Use Millionaire's Tax Revenue for Homelessness Prevention Housing Bonds Measure

Florida Amendment 5, Two-Thirds Vote of Legislature to Increase Taxes or Fees Amendment

Oregon Measure 103, Ban Tax on Groceries Initiative

Oregon Measure 104, Definition of Raising Revenue for Three-Fifths Vote Requirement Initiative

Nevada Question 2, Sales Tax Exemption for Feminine Hygiene Products Measure

Nevada Question 4, Medical Equipment Sales Tax Exemption Amendment

New Mexico Bond Question B, Public Libraries

Washington Initiative 1634, Prohibit Local Taxes on Groceries Measure

Transportation

California Proposition 6, Voter Approval for Future Gas and Vehicle Taxes and 2017 Tax Repeal Initiative

Colorado Proposition 109, "Fix Our Damn Roads" Transportation Bond Initiative

Colorado Proposition 110, "Let's Go Colorado" Transportation Bond and Sales Tax Increase Initiative

Connecticut Amendment 1, Transportation Revenue Lockbox Amendment

[brianwithanh]

Hey, friends. This is important to me and my family. Please read it.

It’s SVTFOE hiatus, and you’re like “omg is Brian going to leak something about the new season” and I won’t (or will I?), but I am going to take time out of my day (during which I really need to write the music that brought you all here in the first place) to write about something very important to me. I hope over the years I have gained enough of your respect and trust that you will read this to the end. It’s about health care, but mostly about me and my family and how this bill screws us.

You probably know that the Graham-Cassidy bill is being set up for a vote sometime soon in the Senate (so that they can decide its fate before Sept 30, which is the deadline for them to only need 50 votes to pass it; after Sept 30, they will need 60, which would require bipartisan support). Let’s get it out in the open now: this is an unequivocally a bad bill. The last time the Senate brought forth a bill like this (the “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act / Obamacare), that bill had 12% support from the American public, and the Graham-Cassidy bill is WORSE than the “skinny repeal” bill in many respects. I’ll let Jimmy Kimmel explain, because he’s funnier than I am: 

K cool. We’re all up to speed. This bill sucks, all the major medical associations that you rely on oppose it, and the creators of the bill do not want you to know its details because they know you will hate it. 

Here’s how this all affects me, personally.

A lot of you know that I had cancer in my 20s. I’ve discussed it openly here. It sucked, it was out of my control and probably written into my DNA and thus unavoidable, and while I am totally in remission now, it is something I think about every day, as I am at higher risk for certain other cancers in the future due to my treatment.

I am also a creative professional, as is my wife. We do not receive insurance from our employers. We are eligible for health insurance through our unions, but we have to log enough official union hours to qualify. THE MUSICIANS UNION DOES NOT INCLUDE COMPOSERS. I can log union hours as an orchestrator or instrumentalist, but only if a show I am working on is a “union show” and I “hire myself” to orchestrate, which is weird. I have never composed for a union show. Some of us composers never will. (There are very few union shows. That’s a whole other issue.) Basically, it is almost a certainty that I will never qualify for health insurance on my own.

My wife, on the other hand, is part of the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA), and whenever she works on a show (she’s on The Flash, Tuesdays this fall on the CW!), it is highly likely that she will qualify for insurance. Very good insurance. But, she is under the same constraints as me, in that she must earn a certain amount of money in a year to qualify. If she works on a short gig, or if she goes on maternity leave and misses a TV season, then we will not qualify for union insurance and will have to purchase it out-of-pocket.

Okay, here’s where the Graham-Cassidy bill royally screws us over. Check out this map from the The Washington Post (or go here and then come back).

See California way over there to the left? We could lose $78 BILLION in funding if this bill passes. That is almost double the state that would lose the second most (New York). This funding is used to stabilize the health insurance market. It’s very complicated to explain why, so I won’t try to do that here because I’d probably get it wrong anyway. If you’re curious, Google (and time – health insurance is super convoluted) is your friend.

What will that loss of funding do? NO ONE FUCKING KNOWS. IT’S SO MUCH. UC Berkeley kind of guessed, hypothesizing that 6.7 million people would lose their insurance. Or that essential services would be cut. And that kids, or people with disabilities, or senior citizens would suffer the brunt. 

(Difficult to spot SVTFOE S3 spoiler, not located at the end of this post because I know some of you might just scroll to the end: I scored an entire episode for season 3 primarily with nylon Latin guitar, to reflect a specific character who is the focus of the episode. It doesn’t sound like any other episode to date.)

The Graham-Cassidy bill allows states to decide whether to let insurance providers charge more for people with preexisting conditions. How much more? Well take a look at this chart.

Hey look, there’s “other cancers” on the third line and there’s that absurd surcharge of $73,000. And oh look there’s fucking PREGNANCY (successful, perfectly healthy pregnancy, like my wife had), and there’s a rise in cost of $17,000. That’s an additional $90,000. Great. Would California eliminate pre-existing condition protections? I mean, probably not, we’re super progressive. BUT WHO KNOWS, WE MIGHT LOSE $78 BILLION IN FUNDING.

So what’s the better alternative? There’s enough discontent about Obamacare that, yes, the bill should be reviewed and strengthened. BUT. This should be done with MEMBERS OF BOTH PARTIES (and they’re trying right now, but the GOP is like nah, let’s pass this shitty bill instead because we hate Obama hardcore). If Graham-Cassidy fails, then the Senate will HAVE TO create a bipartisan solution, because they will need 60 votes to pass it.

Listen, I didn’t ask to get cancer. I have never smoked, I have maybe like 4 drinks a year. I exercise multiple times a week. Our home is vegetarian. I did everything right, and I still got sick. When Obamacare passed, I sighed a huge sigh of relief, because I was protected from being gutted by insurance companies (which are profit-based). Now? Now I’m pretty fucking stressed. If my wife and I aren’t working, it means we aren’t making any money, and this is exactly the situation in which the Graham-Cassidy bill would expect us to pay MORE money for health insurance. How does that make any sense?

What can you do? Call 202-224-3121. Tell them this bill sucks. ESPECIALLY CALL if you live in Arizona or Alaska or West Virginia or Maine. Your senators will most likely be the deciding votes. But everyone call. It only takes a few minutes but can protect millions of Americans like me.

Thanks for reading.

[odinsblog]

Either every American should have exactly the same kind of top notch healthcare that John McCain has, or McCain and everyone in congress should be forced to have the same crappy healthcare that Republicans are trying to force on average Americans.

Otherwise he can just go back to Arizona and STFU.

[stillwithhernothim]

#Repost @weareultraviolet ・・・ BREAKING: GOP senators just voted to move forward with #Trumpcare, BUT the fight to #SaveACA isn't over! Next there's 20 hrs of debate, so CALL. CALL. CALL. 📲 #StopTrumpcare #ProtectOurCare

[handmaidensofnaboo]

It’s NOT OVER YET.  

We are on STEP 2, follow along at @plannedparenthood‘s liveblog: http://buff.ly/2uYa8Ri

HELP SAVE LIVES AND KEEP CALLING.

💥📞💥📞BLOW UP THEIR PHONES💥📞💥📞 #saveACA 

don't know who to contact? click here: 

5calls.org

https://trumpcaretoolkit.org

[harmreduction]

Congressional Republicans are not giving up on their campaign to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid system. We can't give up either!

If they’re successful, they will completely unravel all the progress we’ve made to improve healthcare inequality and expand treatment for substance use disorders, including Medication Assisted Treatment. Medicaid pays for roughly 50% of all MAT in many of the States most deeply impacted by the opioid crisis. No matter where you live and who your Senators are - Democrat or Republican, liberal or moderate or conservative - your Senators need to hear from you today. The message is simple: “I am a constituent of Senator _____’s and am calling to urge him/her to vote no on the AHCA when it is brought to vote! We can't afford to play games with health care and Medicaid while we're in the middle of fighting the overdose crisis."

How to call: use these numbers to connect to your Senators - English 866-426-2631; Spanish 877-736-7831 Spread the word widely! We need everyone's help to shut this down and send the message that we won't let Congress sacrifice drug user health.

[sixbucks]

Take a break. Get your phone. Call these fuckers.

Tom Cotton (ask for Abigail Welborn, Health Legislative Assistant) 202-224-2353

John Boozeman (ask for Jennifer Humphrey, Health Legislative Assistant) 202-224-4843

[refinery29]

Signal boost this: today is the LAST day you can sign up for Obamacare in order to get health insurance for the year

Last week, the Trump administration announced that they were rolling back advertising for Healthcare.gov, the website where U.S. citizens can sign up for Obamacare. So writers and celebrities started making their own ads for you to share so that everyone gets health insurance.

Gifs: Colton Dunn

SEE MORE