Monday
was the 50th
anniversary of the day Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act, which
requires employers to pay women the same salary they pay men doing
the same work. Decked out in 1963 styling (our own Barbara Thomas
was rocking some bell-bottoms – I stuck to a dress suit), members
of the Women’s Equality Coalition held a press conference to say
that, 50 years later, women still don’t have equal pay and we can’t
wait another 50 years to take action on the issue – the legislature must enact the WEA now! WEA legislative champions, Assmeblywoman
Janet Duprey and Senator Liz Krueger joined us, as well as a former
Ms. New York (who we ran into in the LOB before the press conference
and was very happy to join us). Check
out
the Time Union coverage for video of the event (and to see hippy
Barb)!
Campaign
finance reform was highlighted on Tuesday, as the governor released
his three-part public ethics agenda, which includes campaign finance
reform. We were pleased to see Governor Cuomo bringing attention to
campaign finance reform in these closing weeks of session – his
leadership is critical for the passage of a comprehensive campaign
finance reform package. We must now urge legislative leaders to
bridge the difference between the three major reform packages and
bring a vote to the floor. Click
here
to read the League’s statement released Tuesday. Tuesday also saw
yet another anti-SAFE Act rally, though a considerably smaller one
than previous months’. The gun-violence issue has been put to rest
in the legislature and will now play out in the courts.
On
Wednesday, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (extreme “right
to life” advocates hailing primarily from western New York)
converged on the capitol by the busload, spreading misinformation and
straight-out lies about the reproductive health measure in the WEA.
My fellow, Sarah, even overheard some of them telling a senator that
“this [bill] is so radical that even pro-choicers don’t want it.”
Make sure to correct that lie and keep telling your legislators how
important it is to you that they pass the WEA this session! The
reproductive health measure of WEA is not an “abortion expansion”
as the pro-lifers are so fond of saying – It is merely a
codification of Roe into New York law!
As
we enter into the final week of session (session is expected to end
the end of next week), we see more and more power suits about the
capitol. The area outside of the Senate chambers has become much
denser with lobbyist (and constituents) jockeying to knock bills down
and get others through. As usual, the League will continue to
advocate hard for our issues through the end of session.
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