Social Justice Opportunities
March 27, 2024
Minnesotans Won’t Back Down
Forwarded from Diane Dobitz for us to consider and act on.
Minnesotans won’t back down. We’re working hard to make our state safer from gun violence—and we know that every piece of gun safety legislation gets us closer to that goal.
The gun industry knows that too. That’s why gun-lobby-backed politicians are trying to fight two of our common-sense gun violence prevention bills. But we’re not going to let them win.
Click here for more on EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY
Two important bills that would help ensure guns stay out of the wrong hands, by requiring secure firearm storage and reporting of lost or stolen firearms, are being considered in our state legislature.
Secure firearm storage promotes responsible gun ownership while keeping our kids safe from the unthinkable tragedy of an unintentional shooting. Requiring the reporting of lost and stolen firearms decreases illegal gun activity.
Both of these bills would help save lives by making sure guns stay out of the wrong hands—we need to make sure they pass out of our state Senate. Let your state senator know that you want them to vote YES on these important gun safety bills!
Thank you for advocating for a safer Minnesota,
Minnesota Legislative Team
Everytown for Gun Safety
URGENT REQUEST ~ CONTACT SEN. FRENTZ WHO IS OPPOSING THE PLASTIC WASTE REDUCTION BILL (March 12, 2024)
Hi everyone,
I am emailing to ask if you could please email, call or send a letter to Senator Nick Frentz about the Plastic Waste and Cost Reduction bill House file # 3577 introduced by Rep. Jordan and Senate file # 3561 introduced by Senator Kelly Morrison. He is opposing it right now. We are not sure why. It is an excellent bill to reduce plastic waste. It won’t be introduced in the Commerce committee if he doesn’t say yes to it being introduced. It just passed in the environmental committee so Commerce is next. If he doesn’t agree to introduce it, the bill will be tabled. So it is important to let him know you support this bill.
I am attaching a letter you can print, sign and send or copy and paste into an email. I am also sending a call message that you can call in. Calling his office usually goes to voicemail so you have to leave a message with your name, saying you are a constituent of his district. Otherwise his aid will answer the phone and you just read the script.
Senator Nick Frentz, Capitol Office
95 University Avenue W.
Minnesota Senate Bldg., Room 3109
St. Paul, MN 55155
Legislative Assistant: Travis Urness 651-296-6153
email: sen.nick.frentz@senate.mn
Here is a script with talking points and attached are the letter and a description of the bill. Thanks!
Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act (SF3561 / HF3577) -1. State your name and make it clear you are a constituent2. Ask for their support of the SF3561 – the Packaging Waste and Cost Reduction Act. The bill has moved out of the Senate Environment Committee and needs a hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee3. Share some reasons why the bill is important to you. Here are some examples:● There is too much unnecessary packaging and single-use products.● We cannot keep burying our waste in landfills and burning it in incinerators. We need a comprehensive solution that supports reduction, reuse, and recycling● Producers should be responsible for the unnecessary, problematic and toxic packaging they are putting into the environment
● Residents will no longer need to cover the cost of their curbside recycling.
● The bill supports good green jobs that our community needs
● The bill will help Minnesota manufacturers easily access recycled material. Minnesota buries and burns over 1 million tons of recyclables worth an estimated 143 million dollars. By recycling more, we can create a reliable domestic supply of recycled metal, paper, plastic, and glass to make new products.
The Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA) liason for the UUFM is Diane Dobitz and she will be working with them on pro-democracy work and providing updates to our congregation. If you have questions contact Diane at (507) 995-9715 or at dianedobitz1@gmail.com .
“UUFM, A GOOD TROUBLE CONGREGATION”
Gun violence in its myriad forms is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very big epidemic.
If your own legislator agrees, goody!, but they need you to call, write, send a LTE, and show up so every legislator knows that a real majority of Minnesota agrees it’s time to protect our kids.
Please show up as you’re able — call, write, and be annoying if you need to…. pester your friends in the suburbs and Greater Minnesota to contact their elected representatives at the state, county, township and city levels.
AND in 2024, Please teach friends who share your values how to act on them. Teach them how to do these 5 steps, and then pester them to make sure they did:
- Google “who represents me MN”? Or go to this website, and put in your address, to get a map of your state and federal legislators:
https://www.gis.lcc.mn.gov/iMaps/districts/
- Put your state senator and state representative on speed dial and add their email addresses to your contact list favorites.
- Yes, it is just fine to send them a request or a thank you note about each thing you care about. More is better. Put your full address in the note, so they know it is from someone who could vote for them, which will prioritize your letter. They will tally all supportive or opposed messages. Emails count as much as snail mail. Form letters count as much as personal letters. Tweets do NOT count. Silence cannot be counted. Just talk to them. (Courteously , please, we side with love, and we are talking to humans who literally are getting death threats.)
- Once you have done this, teach it to somebody else.
- Extra credit: Add your county commissioner, and your city council person, to your phone contact Favorites. In Minnesota, your county commissioners implement federal and state policies for your elections, and run human services for children, elders, and vulnerable adults, environmental services such as water and trash, libraries, and much of your law enforcement, including jails and sheriffs. Hardly anyone pays any attention to them except when there’s some disaster. So add them to your speed dial and your contact list, and talk to them. Ask them to do good stuff and thank them when they do it well. Like all humans they are influenced by folks whom they perceive to be an attentive part of their community.
If you decide to take action on any of these steps above please let Diane know.
MUUSJA is also offering an online Zoom movie series called First Friday Films Against Facism, which starts February 2nd, 2024, next Friday evening, at 6:30pm, beginning with “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and continuing once a month through the election.
Everyone’s invited, email kwmuusja@gmail.com to get the Zoom link or sign up here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrfuihpzotGdwPk4gXnSgyR4WZu7C7HAz7
MUUSJA also has lots of other resources and events—check them out at https://www.muusja.org/ for more information!