Last week was tough in Arkansas – the Governor kept us all waiting and still actively signed two very bad bills into law simultaneously making it harder to vote and seemingly easier to kill someone.

There was good news on the national front – Democrats in the Senate passed the $1.9 trillion COVID Relief bill – of course, that was with no support from ANY Republican members. This means there will be no lag in unemployment aid that is set to expire on March 14th. The legislation includes direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans, a $300 weekly boost to jobless benefits into September and an expansion of the child tax credit for one year. It also puts new funding into Covid-19 vaccine distribution and testing, rental assistance for struggling households and K-12 schools for reopening costs.

It’s a BIG DEAL and will help so many Arkansans.

The week we face similar bad legislation on the Governor’s desk, in committee and on the floor of the House and Senate.

Stay strong and safe,

Gracie Ziegler

AFDW President

gracieziegler@gmail.com

479-466-2735

BONUS for this week – Monday, March 8th is International Women’s Day – celebrate YOU and the women around you, even more, this week.

1. Watch Nancy Pelosi's virtual conversation with Hillary Clinton, Chrissy Teigen, and Amanda Gorman on Monday 3/8
2. Send a note to a woman in your life that inspires you
3. Take a nap! (seriously – take care of yourself)

Please contact the following committees and your elected officials about these #BadBills: 

On the HOUSE FLOOR, 1 pm on Monday

HB 1512, filed by Rep. Kendon Underwood and Sen. Bart Hester, will go to the full House on Monday. This bill would limit the state's ability to extend SNAP benefits to families who are having trouble meeting the work requirements.

Call your House Rep and ask them to oppose this bill.

EDUCATION COMMITTEE – SENATE, 2 pm on Monday

• SB314 Elliott TO ESTABLISH THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL BE RETURNED TO LOCAL CONTROL; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
• SB354 Irvin TO CREATE THE FAIRNESS IN WOMEN'S SPORTS ACT.

Please contact the Senate Education Committee members to ask them to support SB314 and oppose SB354

Contact information can be found here:  http://bit.ly/ARSenateEducationCommittee 

You can always use https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ to see what’s happening day-to-day. We’ve also made a page on our AFDW website to help make it easier to see a full view of meetings and bills to watch out for and contact committees about - check it out here: https://www.arkansasdemocraticwomen.com/arleg-watch 

Behind the Scenes!
We need your help to track bills, organize information, and support the information that needs to be shared. 

COMMITTEES OF AFDW

• Rules, Resolutions, and Revisions - review the Bylaws annually and make recommendations to the Executive Board 
• Programming - works to plan programming throughout the year and the AFDW annual convention every August
• Fundraising -  planning and  implementing fundraising events
• County auxiliary expansion - shall work with counties not yet affiliated to kick off affiliation and monitor progress, reporting, start-up, etc.
• Candidate recruitment - as simple as asking your friends and neighbors to run for office and helping them get the tools they need to move forward with filing

Additional work being done by volunteers

• Track Bills - we have a digital log of bills that are filed each week. Can you help by researching a few and adding notes and key points? 
• Organize Data - we're making it easier to contact different committees and groups. Can you help with some data entry work? 
• Communications - Share and Create Content - we want to make sure no matter where you are online or not, you can get up-to-date information from AFDW. We need members to share from our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to their own pages and groups to help signal boost and amplify.
  • Just click that SHARE button anytime you see new material. 
  • Share the information when you're talking to your friends on the phone or safely if you are gathering with friends or family. 
• Register Voters - it's never too early to register to VOTE. Be sure to ask everyone you know if they are registered and ask them to confirm their voter information is still accurate. You can do this by visiting VoterView.