{"id":50,"date":"2016-08-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calchurches.planetpov.com\/impact\/index.php\/2016\/08\/09\/interested-in-government-reform-two-opportunities-for-your-voice\/"},"modified":"2016-08-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T00:00:00","slug":"interested-in-government-reform-two-opportunities-for-your-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/2016\/08\/09\/interested-in-government-reform-two-opportunities-for-your-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Interested in Government Reform? Two Opportunities for YOUR VOICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t<\/span>\"Picture\"<\/a><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Dear Friends:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>California Church IMPACT has been working with Common Cause on several political reforms.\u00a0 We now have two things on the docket that may be of great interest to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>The first<\/strong> is SB 1107 (Allen and Hancock-D) that would allow local governments to create and maintain a dedicated fund to provide public financing of elections.\u00a0 In the post-Citizens United<\/em> Supreme Court ruling, the flood of money into elections has been awesome – and not in a good way.\u00a0 This bill will help underfunded and new candidates compete at the local levels.\u00a0 We think this is an opportunity that we cannot afford to pass up.\u00a0 It gives us a signficant alternative to fund raising as the primary function of elections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Is it perfect? Of course not. What in elections ever is? But it is a critical step in a good direction, and we urge you to contact Assembly Appropriations and urge passing of SB 1107 out of that committee.\u00a0\u00a0 We need your comments before August 11.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Please send your emails to Appropriations Chief Consultant Pedro Reyes at Pedro.Reyes@asm.ca.gov<\/span><\/a> or FAX your letter to Assembly Appropriations Chair, Lorena Gonzales at 916-319-2181.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Then please start contacting your own Assembly Members to urge passage on the Assembly Floor.\u00a0 Go to our action link here\u00a0<\/span><\/a> to contact your Assembly Member.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>The second<\/strong> action is more complex.\u00a0 The Fair Poltical Practices Commission (FPPC) is undertaking a sweeping “clean up” of the Political Reform Act.\u00a0 First introduced in 1974, it is one of the strongest in the nation, directing what is and is not lawful with respect to campaigns, money, political action committees, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>However, over the years as more and more issues have come up and the laws expanded and amended, the law itself has become unwieldy and overly complicated.\u00a0 This “clean up” is meant to organize related issues into sensible categories and to clarify language so everyone can understand the “rules of the game”.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>The work is now done, and the first draft is available for public comment until September 30.\u00a0 We invite you to make your comments if this is an area that interests you.\u00a0 It is 176 pages long, but not all of it needs to be your concern if there are specific issues you prefer to discuss.With the help of another ally, CA Forward, you can gain access to this document for review.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Please visit http:\/\/www.cafwd.org\/pra\u00a0<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 You may also sign up for updates about the project.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Public comments may be made at www.cafwd.org\/pracomment\u00a0<\/span><\/a> or directly to FPPC via email at:<\/span>
<\/span>pracomment@fppc.ca.gov.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>While so much of our joint work is about specific justice issues, occasionally we have to take care of democracy itself.\u00a0 We hope you will take such steps as you can today.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Thank you!<\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends: California Church IMPACT has been working with Common Cause on several political reforms.\u00a0 We now have two things on the docket that may … Read More ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/churchimpact.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}