Quote of the Day

Legislative Session Ending - Two Key Bills Need UU Support

Who already supports SB840?
Kuehl (Principal coauthors: Senator Ortiz, and Assembly Members Chan, Goldberg, and Leno) (Senate Coauthors: Alquist, Cedillo, Chesbro, Escutia, Figueroa, Florez, Lowenthal, Migden, Murray, Perata, Romero, and Soto)

Assembly Coauthors: Bass, Berg, Bermudez, Chavez, Chu, Coto, Dymally, Evans, Hancock, Jerome Horton, Jones, Klehs, Koretz, Laird, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Montanez, Mullin, Nava, Oropeza, Pavley, Ridley-Thomas, Salinas, Torrico, Vargas, and Yee

Who already supports AB32?
AUTHOR(S) Nunez and Pavley; Principal coauthor: Nation;

Assemblymember - Coauthors: Bass, Berg, Chan, Chu, Cohn, Dymally, Evans, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock, Jones, Karnette, Klehs, Koretz, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Montanez, Mullin, Nava, Oropeza, Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldana, Wolk, and Yee;

Senator - Coauthors: Bowen, Chesbro, Escutia, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Romero, Simitian, Speier, and Vincent.

Should UULM-CA Support Prop 89? - Your Input Needed

We covenant to affirm and promote respect for the rights of conscience and the use of the democratic process in our congregations and in society at large.   -Fifth UU Principle

While AB583 passed the Assembly, unfortunately it never came to a vote in the Senate Elections Committee, despite powerful testimony from civil rights advocates from the Greenlining Institute, and the "conversion" testimony of a prominent Republican Senator from Arizona, a state that along with Maine has been a pioneer ing "clean money" state.  Senator Debra Bowen (a UU), did her best to get AB583 through the Senate Elections Committee she chairs, but the other votes on the committee were not there, so it was not brought to a vote.

In the meantime, the CNA qualified the Clean Money and Fair Elections (Proposition 89) for the November ballot. Prop 89 has a larger sweep than AB583, targeting elections for candidates and ballot initiatives. Proposition 89 will unleash a major debate in California. In addition to the CNA, proponents include: the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and the Greenlining Institute. Opponents include the Chamber of Commerce and the California Teacher’s Association.

Will Prop 89 help make democracy work? Please take some time to read the pros and cons and consider offering your opinion in our Virtual UU Meeting House. Remember, this forum is a public representation of California UUs, and we ask that your comments help us in the search for truth in a manner that is respectful of the dignity and worth of those with whom you may disagree. "We need not think alike to love alike."

Enter the Virtual UU Meeting House

Boston Collaboration: A Little Tooting of Our Own Horn 

 

Does UU social justice work sometimes feel like alphabet acronym soup?

UUA, UUSC, UU-UNO, UUJEC, UULM-CA, TOMATO, CHICKEN NOODLE. . .

-Participants in the statewide UU justice networks conference




Most UUs want a coordinated, effective movement through which to put their faith into action. At the prodding of the UU Legislative Ministry, CA, and with the financial help and coordination of the UU Service Committee, representatives of emerging statewide networks from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Washington, and California gathered in Boston last weekend with the hope of working toward greater collaboration between the UUA, UUSC, and statewide UU advocacy and justice networks. While each UU organization (and each local congregation) will have its own justice priorities, we agreed to ask our respective boards to hold  a space open in our planning for a “collaborative issue” upon which we can all work together.

We chose Stopping Climate Change & Global Warming as the collaborative priority - the UUA is already engaged, UUSC will be seeing how this fits into their Environmental Justice work, and the state-wide advocacy networks are interested in supplementing the UU Ministry of Earth's Green Sanctuary Program to educate and organize UUs around public policy and legislation.

Here in California, our UULM Boards will consider this request at their mid-August meeting. Given the severe threat to water supply in California, working to stop climate change is a natural extension of our Water Justice work. However, we also recognize that our current resources are stretched very thin. If you think your congregation would be interested in collaborating with other UU congregations in California to support appropriate legislation to halt climate change, please let us know. If AB32 passes (see above) it will enter into a two year period to work on implementation. The details will be important to our ultimate success. We will need your help. 

The "Boston Collaboration" also decided that since so many statewide networks are already working on health care reform, and since polls of UUs identify Health Care Reform as a top priority, we will sponsor health care reform workshops at GA. Perhaps this will build momentum toward eventually engaging the resources of the UUA and UUSC to join with statewide advocacy networks.

Building habits of collaboration takes time and intention. In your local congregation, please consider creating room for a “collaborative UU issue” as you set priorities for your justice ministries.

We make a bigger splash when we jump in together!

An Inconvenient Truth

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