Action News! March 2023

March 2023 Action News!

Dear Joleen,

Last week was a big week for us! Not only did we have close to 100 members attend our Lobby Days training and make legislative visits at the Capitol, but we also had almost 200 members and supporters at our Women Power Texas fundraising dinner. I want to thank each and every one of you who attended these events, as well as those who made financial contributions, participated virtually, spread our message on social media, and wrote letters and made phone calls to your legislators.

March is Women's History Month, and I hope that everyone will celebrate and reflect on women's contributions to American history and culture. This month is an opportunity to recognize the trailblazers who have paved the way for women's rights and to continue the fight for gender equality. Below, you'll find an interview that our veryown Elaine Wiant, LWVTX Treasurer, did about women's history with KXXV News.

The League of Women Voters of Texas is proud to be a part of this important history. For over 100 years, the League has been a champion of women's rights and has worked tirelessly to promote civic engagement and democracy. We have fought for voting rights, equal pay, reproductive rights, environmental justice, and many other issues that affect women and their families.For information and resources about the fight for women's right to vote, clickhere, and for the history of LWVTX and LWVUS, clickhere.

As we celebrate Women's History Month, let us remember the progress we have made and the work that still needs to be done. Join us in breaking down barriers and continuing to empower voters and defend democracy. Thank you for your continued support!

In League,

Your Texas League in Action

Rochelle Garza speaking to crowd at 2023 MDW

Women Power Texas ~ A Making Democracy Work Dinner

Thank you to everyone who attended our "Women Power Texas ~ A Making Democracy Work Dinner" on Monday, February 27th, 2023 at the UT Etter-Harbin Alumni Center in Austin, Texas. Our keynote speaker wasRochelle Garza, and our Making Democracy Work honorees wereTexas Gun Sense,Texas Impact, and theTexas Tribune.

We are grateful to our generous sponsors and raffle donors, especially our top sponsors:Crossroads CattleandMethodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. A special thanks to the hard work of the Making Democracy Work Dinner Committee: Deb Treese, (VP of Development/event chair) and Emily Gupton, Dorothy Marchand, Abbie Stone, Elaine Wiant, and Joyce LeBombard, as well as LWVTX staff and interns.

Close to 200 League members, supporters, and their guests helped raise over $40,000 to help fund our mission to empowering voters and defending democracy. If you were unable to attend and want to support this effort, clickhere.Your support is invaluable to us, and we could not achieve our goals without you!

Donate Today!

LWV Texas Lobby Days

The League of Women Voters of Texas Lobby Days were held February 27th & 28th in Austin. Eighty-two League members from all across Texas attended the training and legislative visits. Here is a special shout-out to the local Leagues whobrought more than five members to LWVTX Lobby Days 2023: LWV Austin Area, LWV Comal Area LWV Hays County, LWV Houston Area, and LWV South Central Texas.

The Lobby Days training focused not only on background information regarding the League's priority issues, but the key legislation to watch for this session as well. Special thanks to the informative, engaging, and empowering presenters:

Laura Subrin Yeager,Just Fund It TX-education
Blake Rocap, Legislative Counsel,Avow Texas- abortion rights
Kristen Lenau, MPH,Texas Women's Healthcare Coalition- women's health
Christina Delgado,Community Justice- gun safety
Stephanie Swanson, LWVTX Board Member/Issue Chair - voting rights and election laws
Elisabeth MacNamara, LWVTX Vice-President of Advocacy - the do's and don'ts of talking to your legislators

Thank you to everyone who attended!

Photo credit (LWVTX group photo at Capitol Rotunda): Hal Jennings; (LWV Corpus Christi meeting with legislator, Stephanie & Elisabeth training): Debbie Noble

88th Legislative Session Advocacy Update
by Elisabeth MacNamara

Things are starting to move in the Senate. The deadline for filing new bills is Friday, March 10th. LWV Texas Issue Chair of Voting Rights, StephanieSwanson, presented testimony against SB 711 on behalf of LWV Texas at the Senate State Affairs Committee Hearing on March 2nd, 2023. Read her testimonyhere.

Keep an eye out for information about the letter the League joined supporting HB 12 which extends postpartum coverage under Medicaid from two months to 12 months and a“Week of Calls” with our partner organization, the Texas Women's Healthcare Coalition, in support of this bill.

As we enter the next phase of the legislative session and shift focus to defending long held League positions on issues we care deeply about, bear in mind that, as Dr. King once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Whether it is in the legislature or on the ground in our communities educating and supporting voters, the League of Women Voters Texas is following that long arc and doing everything we can to bend it toward justice.

Photo credit (Texas State Capitol):Hal Jennings

Take Action!

League of Women Voters of Texas Top Priority Issues

Use our Action Center to write a letter to your legislators and take action on the League's top four priority issues:

Local Leagues in Action

LWV Houston

Congratulations to Dr. AnnieBenifield, president of LWV Houston, who was presented the Yellow Rose Award for exceptional community service! The Yellow Rose of Texas Commission is the highest award bestowed to women by the Texas Governor. Read more about the Yellow Rose Awardhere.

LWV Cy-Fair

Advocacy in action: members of LWV Cy-Fair presented testimony at the Jones Road Groundwater Plume Superfund Site Community Meeting on Feb. 27th, 2023, in support of the environmental health of their community. More infohere. Watch the LWV Cy-Fair statementhere.

LWV Amarillo

LWV Amarillo members Claudia Stravato,Michelle Hoggatt,Leslie Schmidt, andSonya Letson met with legislators at LWV Lobby Days, includingRepresentative Four Price (pictured), Representative John Smithee, andChief of Staff for Senator Kevin Sparks.

LWV Williamson County

Members of LWV Williamson County, Karen Darby and Felicia Miyakawa, visited Senators Schwertner, Senator Flores, Representative Bucy, RepresentativeTalarico, and Representative Caroline Harris at LWVTX Lobby Days.

Your Texas League in the News

Voting in Texas through the decades: How women have fought for their rights
Paige Ellenberger, KXXV |March 1, 2023

After nearly a century of protesting and fighting for their rights, women convinced lawmakers at the time to ratify the 19th Amendment.

Texas was the first southern state to acknowledge the change.

“Texas was kind of progressive in a way,” admitted Elaine Wiant, the treasurer at The Texas League of Women Voters.

Read the full articlehere.

Two GOP legislators in Harris County want to let the state replace local elections administrators
Natalia Contreras, Votebeat and The Texas Tribune|Feb. 27, 2023

Some Texas voting rights groups worry the Legislature will use the problems in Harris and those lawsuits as “an excuse” to advance bills such as these. The League of Women Voters of Texas in a statement last week said such legislation, if passed, “is fraught for potential abuse, infringes on the rights of county governments to select their own elections administrator, and demeans the meaning of local governance.”

Read the full articlehere.

LWV Texas Files Amicus Brief in Support of Crystal Mason-Hobbs

The League of Women Voters of Texas is continuing to support Crystal Mason-Hobbs in the appeal of her conviction for illegal voting and has filed (along with the Texas State Conference of the NAACP) an amicus brief in support of Ms. Mason-Hobbs in the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, Texas.

Read the full press releasehere.

In Other News

Women's History Month

Every year, March is designatedWomen's History Monthby presidential proclamation. Women’s History Month is a celebration of women’s contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987. From Abigail Adams, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth to Rosa Parks, Gloria Steinem, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the timeline of women’s history milestones stretches back to the founding of the United States.

Pictured:Travis County women register to vote in the Texas Primary election in July 1918.

Learn more about Women's History Monthhere.

League of Women Voters of Texas
1212 Guadalupe St. #107
Austin Texas, 78701
(512) 472-1100
lwvtexas@lwvtexas.org
lwvtexas.org

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