President's Message

I know you are all busy looking forward to an exciting and busy month before the next Presidential election, but please make sure that you take every opportunity to raise the visibility of your local League in your community.   A strong League presence at the local level will help promote membership and a stronger League in the future.  We want the public to continue to look to the League for quality unbiased information on important public issues as well as candidates. 

Our educational program on state campaign finance reform for this fall is one way in which the state League is acting to help strengthen local Leagues.   We would like to do much more to support local Leagues in other aspects as well in order to increase League visibility, membership and influence. This will take more resources at the state level and we don't see raising member dues as a way to grow and strengthen our future.

 Instead, we are looking to strengthen the League for the future by increasing the depth and diversity of our funding sources, beginning with a campaign to significantly increase individual donations to our Education Foundation. We are confident that those who believe in the mission of the League, both members and non-members, will respond to a clear message about what we do and how we can do it better in the future.  Having the resources to do it better will benefit all of us and ensure our ability to continue as a strong and visible force for the future.

Voter Guide Part II:

Candidate Information

Vote 411, the electronic voter guide, is up and running. The program went live for the September state primary on August 23rd and approximately 50% of the candidates participated. The Presidential, US Senate and US Congressional races are now live for the general election (Nov. 6) and the NYS Senate and NYS Assembly races will go live on Monday, Oct. 1. All five of the US Senate candidates has submitted responses and 64% of the Congressional candidates (to date); LWVUS has secured participation by the 4 US Presidential candidates who met the national League's criteria for participation, but the LWVNYS paper Voter Guide, Part II, will also include names and contact information for the other 2 Presidential candidates who will be on the ballot in NYS. The success of this program had not been possible without the tremendous assistance of Chris Alexander, Francine Rodger, Donna Dardaris and Barb Thomas of Saratoga LWV, Anne Burton of Rensselaer LWV, and Katrina McEwan of the state League. We are also very grateful for the assistance of most of our local Leagues in the efforts to get responses from the candidates. The hardest part of this effort is getting the candidates to respond. Thanks to all - and watch for more info on the state website. The races in NYC, Westchester County, Buffalo/Niagara and Broome/Tioga have been coordinated by the local Leagues in those areas and updates on their candidates may vary from the state League information; thanks to those local Leagues for their direct participation in the development of the program, too.

A printed copy of the candidate information for the races for US Congress, NYS Senate and NYS Assembly will be created and distributed to all local Leagues as a word document next week. Local Leagues can revise the document to delete races not in their area and then can print out the remaining document to be a printed version of the candidate information (a local Voter Guide). Anyone having difficulties working with the document can contact Katrina in the state office for assistance.

Click here for flyers to advertise the Vote 411; feel free to print out and distribute the flyers in your communities. We encourage all Leagues and members to inform the public as to the information available on this website. An educated voter is one of our primary goals.

National Voter Registration Day was held on September 25. This day was organized by a group of national organizations, including the League of Women Voters. Many local Leagues participated in this event. If your local League registered voters, send the state office photos and a list of the number of events you held or people you registered - we'd love to publicize the success of this day. Nationally, 249 leagues from 44 states held events. 

The Health Benefit Exchange is an organized marketplace where individuals and employers will be able to easily compare health plan options, access tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies and enroll in qualified health plans. There are two programs, the Individual Exchange and the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP. All plans offered through the Health Benefit Exchange will be required to offer the ten Essential Health Benefits as determined by the Affordable Care Act and there will be certification procedures for determining qualified health plans. Each qualified health plan offered through the Exchange will have a quality rating and actuarial value assigned.  Read more here.

Transportation:  Gladys Gifford (schuford@earthlink.net)

Now is the time, prior to the NYS legislative session, to monitor the results of our previous efforts and gather materials to help us support a sustainable and effective transportation system throughout our state.  

As always, transportation is a concern in the NYS budget.  We joined with many other groups to safeguard transit funding-- and we succeeded!  Appropriate action: remind NYS legislators to support continued and improved transit funding in the 2013-14 budget. 

The BRIDGE Act (aka S1071B) was passed by the Senate in 2012 but died in Assembly.  Reminder: this bill pushes NYS to abide by the law enacted in 1991, a "lock-box" which intended for the gasoline tax to be used for road and bridge repair and maintenance.  Appropriate action: to urge legislators to revive this bill.

The new Federal transportation bill, "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century" (MAP-21), may have significant impact on NYS transportation projects.  MAP-21 took effect on 10-1-12 and is set to expire on 9-30-14. This new bill weakened provisions for transportation alternatives by allowing states to opt out of the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) previously established. (The RTP is a small fund which supports local efforts for rails-to-trails and other alternative non-motorized pathways.)  However, NYS and most other states chose not to opt out of the RTP.   Other provisions that have bearing on NYS: this bill reduces the local match for Interstate road projects to from 20% to 5%, thus creating more incentive for expressway construction; deletes dedicated funding for bridge repair; deletes flexibility for use of Federal transportation dollars, i.e., states cannot move money from freight or road to transit as needed; reduces funding for transportation alternatives; eliminates TIGER grants but increases loans; improves requirements for transit planning outcomes and continues transit funding.  

Of special note for local Leagues: the bill creates new rural planning entities that will represent smaller communities at the NYSDOT.  Of special concern: the bill encodes "streamlining" which may be an euphemism for blocking public comments on transportation projects and environmental concern. Appropriate action: maintain relationships with our Congressional representatives, especially to monitor closely the outcomes of MAP-21.

 

Two presentations were made for the League's Membership and Leadership Development (MLD).  Thirty-five (35) from 15 local Leagues attended a session in Farmingdale on Long Island; thirty (30) people from 16 local leagues attended the session in Liverpool (near Syracuse).  The very fact that so many leagues attended (and stayed for whole agenda) attests to the need for training each year...outside what is done at convention.  All attendees felt the discussions were important, especially the opportunity to exchange ideas with other leagues. A huge thank you to the organizers:   Dare Thompson, Cheryl Feldman, Joan Johnson, and Lisa Scott. See summary of the two sessions by Dare Thompson.

Kelly Rose of the Oneida League commented on the MLD training, "The Membership and Leadership Development meeting in Liverpool was a smashing success! I returned home energized...well, at least as League business goes!"

All but five local Leagues have responded to the state League's survey on youth programs. Once we have responses from those five, we will again have information on all youth programs organized by our local Leagues across the state.  For a summary of all the youth programs around the state, see theYouth Programs Report. These programs will also be posted on the Youth page of the state League website (click on Youth Programs on left side of homepage) so other Leagues can replicate the programs in their own areas.

Students Inside Albany Conference (April 14-17, 2013)

SIA remains the youth program in which the majority of the local Leagues participate.  LWVNYS won an award at the 2012 LWVUS national convention for this program.   Information with suggestions for recruitment of students for 2013 SIA (April 14-17) will be emailed to all local leagues in the next week or so. Every League who sent one or more students this past year has indicated that it is planning to do the same in 2013.  In addition, there are several leagues that have not yet sent a student who are planning to do so.  We have set a maximum limit this year of 60 students( 6 more than attended this year).  A League cannot send more than two students; the first student is free (except for cost of transportation) and the 2^nd student will cost $600. In addition however, each of the ILOs will be able to send a student if that youth comes from an area in which there is no local League. So, watch for the information and start recruiting for a participant.  

Local League News