Civil & Human Rights

PDA: Put the Constitution Behind Pay Equity

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Announcement from the Progressive Democrats of America (Arizona):

Put the Constitution behind Pay Equity

Help end discrimination on the basis of sex permanently by ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment. Bring HCR2016 to a vote in the Arizona Legislature.

Currently, ERA ratification is stalled in the Arizona House Judiciary Committee. This is the last week for bills to be heard. If HCR2016 is not heard this week, it will be dead for this session.

Contact Judiciary Committee Chair Eddie Farnsworth (efarnsworth@azleg.gov, 602-926-5735) and tell him to put HCR2016 on the committee's agenda. The women of Arizona deserve economic equality.

You can also contact your representatives and senators about the ERA. Tell them that you support the ERA and encourage them to vote for ratification when it is considered by the full legislature.

Arizona House roster http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=H

Arizona Senate roster http://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp?Body=S

Deadline Looms: ERA Ratification Assigned to Judiciary Committee in AZ Legislature

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Rep. Victoria Steele’s (D-9) bill to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (HCR2016) was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee late last week. (You’ll remember that mid-week, I reported it was languishing on the desk of House Speaker Andy Tobin.)

This week is the last week for bills to be heard by committees of the Arizona Legislature. Currently, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet onThursday, Feb. 20, 2014. ERA ratification is not on the agenda, but– hey– it’s only Monday. Agendas and committee meeting dates routinely shift around in the Arizona Legislature. Arizona women deserve economic equality. It's time to make some phone calls to Phoenix!

Bills can be killed in multiple ways: they can be voted down in committee, voted down by the Legislature, or just plain ignored by the Speaker or the committee chair. If the HCR2016 isn’t heard this week, it will die in committee. Arizona women deserve economic equality. Tucson's favorite "moderate" LD9 Rep. Ethan Orr is on the Judiciary Committee; he could be an important swing vote on the ERA.  [Contact information for committee members after the jump.]

(Update) Kansas Senate blocks religious bigotry bill – same as Arizona’s religious bigotry bill

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The New York Times today has an update on the surprising move by the Tea-Publican controlled Senate in the Kansas legislature blocking the same model legislation for religious bigotry that is in the Arizona legislature. In Kansas, Right Joins Left to Halt Bill on Gays:

A bill that would have allowed individuals to refuse to provide business services to same-sex couples in Kansas because of religious beliefs met a surprising and quick end last week when conservative senators sided with liberal advocates in saying that the measure promoted discrimination.

The bill had passed the House, 72 to 49, last Wednesday and it appeared that it might also easily sail through the Senate. Both chambers are controlled by conservative Republicans who in recent years have passed some of the most conservative legislation in the country, whether on gun control, abortion rights or taxes.

Susan Wagle, a conservative Republican who is president of the Kansas Senate, raised opposition to the House measure, saying she had “grown concerned about the practical impact of the bill” and “my members don’t condone discrimination.”

Ms. Wagle was backed by Senator Jeff King, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who said he would not hold hearings on the House bill. Instead, Mr. King said, his committee would hold hearings on the broader topic of religious freedom in Kansas and explore whether the Legislature needed to take any further steps to shore up those protections.

Felony disenfranchisement is a vestige of Jim Crow

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Jamelle Boiue writing at The Daily Beast expounds upon Attorney General Eric Holder's call to end felony disenfranchisement of former prisoners who have served their sentence and repaid their debt to society. The Jim Crow Zombie That Won't Die:

Felon disenfranchisement laws are, literally, a vestige of Jim Crow. It’s time for them to go.

Nationwide, five million Americans are barred from voting because of felony convictions. In recent years, a coalition of reformers on the left and right (including former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky), have moved to either mitigate the effects of this, or push for full repeal of these felon disenfranchisement laws.

And for good reason. As is true of most things in the criminal justice system, this is a status quo with particular harm for African Americans. Thanks to the rampant racial disparities in arrests and prosecutions, blacks—and black men in particular—bear the brunt of these policies. More than thirteen percent of black men are unable to vote because of a felony conviction, with no regards to the nature of the offense or time served.

Indeed, for reasons you can imagine, the biggest impact is felt in the states of the former Confederacy, where disenfranchisement laws are especially draconian, and several states—Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi—have lifetime voting bans.

Kansas Senate blocks religious bigotry bill – same as Arizona’s religious bigotry bill

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this week the radical Tea-Publican House in the Kansas Legislature passed a religious bigotry bill nearly identical to the religious bigotry bill currently in the Arizona Legislature. These bills are almost certainly model legislation from the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) that I posted about earlier. The Arizona Republic:One step forward, two steps back on religious bigotry.

The Kansas City Star reported, Kansas House passes bill allowing service refusal to gay couples:

The Kansas House has approved a bill aimed at keeping individuals, groups and businesses from being compelled to help with same-sex weddings.

The House’s 72-49 vote Wednesday sends HB 2453 to the Senate.

Supporters describe it as a religious freedom measure. Opponents contend it will encourage discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The bill would bar government sanctions when individuals, groups and businesses cite religious beliefs in refusing to recognize a marriage or civil union, or to provide goods, services, accommodations or employment benefits to a couple. Anti-discrimination lawsuits also would be barred. Individual workers and government employees also would get some protections.

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The bill covers private and public employees. Government agencies would still be required to provide services, but individual clerks could refuse to serve same-sex couples based on their religious beliefs on marriage.

Businesses would still provide services, provided it was not unduly burdensome to do so.

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The bill’s true purpose is to enable discrimination by government employees, said Thomas Witt, spokesman, for Equality Kansas.

In other words, a return to the "good ol' days" of state-sanctioned segregation — this time against gays and lesbians.