Monday, February 26, 2018

ACTION ALERT | Contact Sen. Majority Leader Ginny Burdick to move NPV bill out of Rules Committee

From the Oregon group on National Popular Vote:

The short session is now past the halfway point and we are at a critical time for National Popular Vote. 

In short: All eyes are on Sen. Burdick as she alone has the power to move the bill at this point. We need you to call Sen. Burdick TODAY 503-986-1700 and ask her to schedule a work session. A work session means a vote in the Rules Committee to move the bill out of Rules and onto the larger Senate. Call early & call often, talking points are at the bottom of this email. 


Status of the NPV bill: 
Sen. Michael Dembrow has drafted an amendment to amend SB 1512 to remove referral. This amendment restores the bill to the same text that has already passed the Oregon House four times, has passed in 10 states, D.C., and passed at least one chamber in 12 other states. This amendment is what we want & will be introduced today. 

What could happen: 
1. The Rules Committee could hold a vote for this bill during their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday or Thursday. Agenda's go out the day before the meeting. This vote decides if the bill can move out of committee to be considered by the full Senate.

2. The Rules Committee can schedule a vote for this bill at any time in the next week with permission of the Senate President. This also means the bill can be added to an agenda shortly before a meeting. 

Realistically we need this to be considered Tuesday or Thursday in order to have enough time for a vote to occur in the Senate and get through the house, we are hoping to make enough noise to make this happen Tuesday!

What we need from you: 

Call Sen. Burdick this morning. Get all of your friends to call. Share our posts on social media & help us get the word out! 503-986-1700

Sen. Burdick's office is tallying votes. As Chair of the Rules Committee and Senate Majority Leader she has a responsibility to all Oregonians to follow Sen. Courtney's lead and allow good governance to preserve so don't think you shouldn't call because you're not a constituent! 

Points You Can Make While Calling: 
  • Please allow our Senators to represent us by voting on National Popular Vote! 
  • Follow Sen. Courtney's lead in demonstrating good governance and allow a bill through that you may not agree with. Surely you see the merits in a bill you sponsored as recently as 2015. 
  • Please display leadership on this bill and allow your peers to vote on this bill, 1 person 1 vote extends to Senators too!

Thank you! This bill would not be nearly this far without the support and activism from all of you, now lets get this over the finish line!!

Click here for more on NPV in Oregon.