4.4.2022
JCRC ADVOCACY ALERT
Greetings!

There is only six weeks left in the Missouri General Assembly Session. While bills are still being heard in both House and Senate Committees, it is also time to contact our legislators directly about bills that are moving to the floor of both Houses.
 
This week we want to highlight:
SB 843 – LGBT Discrimination - Trans Youth Health Ban
 
Contact your House and Senate members and ask them to vote no on this bill if it comes to the Senate floor. More information is below.
 
In addition, this week a Senate Committee will be hearing a version of the “Get The Lead Out of School Drinking Water recently heard in the House. See information below on how to support this legislation.
Thank you for your advocacy,
Cheryl Adelstein
JCRC Deputy Director
JCRC Testimony
Testimony in Support of SB 1075 - Get the Lead out of School Drinking Water
Testimony Opposed to SB 843 – LGBT Discrimination
Testimony in Support of HB 2894 - Criminal Justice Reform
Take Action - Missouri General Assembly
.‣‣‣Contact your Senator in opposition to SB 843
Topic: LBGT Discrimination 
Deadline: This Week

SB 843, a health care ban targeting transgender youth, passed out of the Senate Seniors, Families, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee. Please help stop this attack from moving forward with Senate Debate.
 
This bill seeks to ban life-saving, medically necessary and affirming health care for transgender youth. The bill outlines several specific avenues of safe, developmentally appropriate comprehensive care for transgender and gender-expansive youth that would be banned and whose providers would face punishable consequences.
 
This bill overlooks standard best practices backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other mainstream medical associations and penalizes healthcare professionals for doing their jobs — making collaborative decisions with parents and families that help affirm, celebrate, and save the lives of our most vulnerable young people.
 
Please contact your Senator directly to help protect Missouri's trans youth or you can click here to send an e-mail. Here is a link to JCRC's prepared testimony.
‣‣‣Contact the Senate Commerce Committee in support of SB 1075  
Topic: Environmental Justice 
Deadline: Wednesday, April 6
 
The Senate Commerce Committee will hear SB 1075, a bill to provide funds to “Get the Lead out of School Drinking Water.” The House heard a similar bill a few weeks ago. As you cannot provide written testimony to Senate Committees, directly contact members of the Senate Commerce Committee by phone and email and ask them to support this legislation. Here is JCRC’s prepared testimony to use as a guide. 
Upcoming Programs:
Still Behind Bars: Criminal Legal Reform
Thursday, April 14
7 PM CST | 8001 Dale Ave, 63117
Sponsored by Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice
*Proof of COVID vaccination required for entry
In theory, after inmates have “paid their debt to society,” they are able to return to society and create a normal, fulfilling, and productive life. In Missouri that is far from true. Instead, these individuals face a multitude of barriers to employment, education, housing, food support, voting rights, and more. Burdensome parole requirements set the stage for recidivism – at great cost to them and to taxpayers as well.
 
The criminal justice reforms passed in last year’s legislative session are a step in the right direction. But they do not fully address the situation, nor are they fully implemented. In this program, we’ll gain an understanding of the status quo, what additional reforms are needed, and how we can help make them happen. 
 
Our speakers both have intimate knowledge of Missouri’s prison system and include Beth M. Huebner, a professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Shawntelle L. Fisher, the founder and leader of SoulFisher Ministries. 
Profit and Punishment: A Lecture by Tony Messenger
Sunday, April 10
7pm | First Unitarian Church, 5007 Waterman Boulevard
A First Unitarian Church of St. Louis 2022 Clark Lecture
Let Our People Vote: Jewish Community Virtual Phone Bank
Tuesday, April 26
5pm - 8 pm
In February, the Jewish Community came together to education our community about threats to the Citizen Initiative Process in Missouri. If you missed the event, you can view it here. Unfortunately, this important democratic tool is currently under attack in the Missouri General Assembly and today we need your help to ensure the people continue to have the power to pass important policies for our communities, such as Medicaid Expansion.
 
Now it is time to take action. Please volunteer to participate in a virtual phone banking event sponsored by the Jewish Community in support of Missouri’s Citizen Initiative Petition process. You can do this from home, and training will be provided.