Nevada Families Eagle Forum

186 Ryndon Unit 12, Elko, Nevada 89801, 775-397-6859

   www.nevadafamilies.org

Editor: Janine Hansen

March 2007

In the Year of Our Lord

Vol. 34, No. 3

 

Legislative Report and Alerts!

Victory on SB98 Pharmacists Rights of Conscience!!!

The Reno Gazette Journal on January 23, 2007 reported, “Pharmacy Board: (Senator)  “Schneider says he wants to ‘send a message’ and abolish the state Board of Pharmacy for not cracking down on pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control or morning after pills. “When the doctor prescribes something for the health of the patient, they (pharmacists) have to do it. If they don’t want to do that, they can go sell shoes,” stated Schneider. Senator Schneider leaves no doubt about what the purpose of SB98 was.

During the last two Legislative Sessions 2003 and 2005 we have been able to just barely defeat measures to deny pharmacists the right to conscience, essentially the right to refuse to fill prescriptions for abortifacients and birth control. These were promoted by Planned Parenthood. All health care workers’ indeed everyone’s right of conscience should be vigorously protected.

The Nevada Constitution guarantees the right of conscience in Art. 1 Section 4, “Liberty of conscience. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall be forever allowed in this state…the liberty of conscience is hereby secured…”

Because of your E-mails, Senator Schneider, the sponsor of SB98, decided to amend out the portion of SB98, which abolished the Board of Pharmacy. He amended in some controls on drug advertisement, which the Legislative Counsel Bureau said was unconstitutional.  So the threat this bill posed is dead for now. Several of the Senators on the Committee mentioned how many emails they had received.  Senator Carlton said that she had received a large amount of email for so early in the session. Thank you so much for your participation!  Grassroots lobbying works!!! 

We NEED your E-Mail Address!

 We need your help.  The Legislature moves very fast.  We cannot send alerts through the mail in a timely way. We need your email address.  We will be posting our Legislative calendar and alerts on the website at www.nevadafamilies.org but that usually takes a day or so--- so please send us your current e-mail address if you wish to receive the Alerts. AND update us on any changes to your e-mail address. If you sent us your email address & haven’t received email from us please send it again.

 

We need your e-mail address so we can send Legislative alerts.  You can mail them to us in the enclosed envelope or email them to director@nevadafamilies.org with “Leg alerts” in the subject line.  Please be sure to include your name and county with the message. 

 

We simply are not nearly as effective without your participation!!!  In addition, please go to www.leg.state.nv.us then on the right hand side go to “Who is my Legislature” and find out who your State Assemblyman is and who your State Senator is.  That way you will be able to specifically contact your own Assemblyman or Senator as their constituents, as well as contacting other Legislators. 

               

Alert: OPPOSE SJR2

Oppose appointing judges, support election of judges!

 SJR2, A proposed Constitutional Amendment provides for the initial appointment instead of election of our Nevada Supreme Court and District Court Judges. SJR2 would provide for the initial appointment by the Governor of District Court and Supreme Court justices from candidates recommended by the Commission on Judicial Selection. In other words, it is a closed process. After that there then would be a ballot question asking the voters if they want to retain that particular judge for a 6-year term.  The ballot question asking whether or not to retain him would have to get 60% of the vote each additional 6-year term he seeks. If he doesn’t get 60% the Governor appoints someone else. There is no candidate on the ballot against him. No competition or choice for the voters.

 SJR2 Takes away our right to vote for our Judges on the Supreme Court and District Court and makes them appointed positions. Contact them ASAP. The vote could be anytime.

 MESSAGE:  Vote NO on SJR2, We don’t want our judges to be appointed. We want to vote on our judges for Supreme Court and District Court!

 SJR 2 is sponsored by Senators Raggio, Hardy, Care, Coffin, Carlton, Amodei, Mathews, McGinness, Titus and Townsend.  Amodei is the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, McGinness and Care are members of the Committee. It’s very important that you contact all members of the committee.

 Please contact the Senate Judiciary Committee:

Chairman Amodei, 775-684-1470 mamodei@sen.state.nv.us

Senators:

Washington, 775-684-1480 mwashington@sen.state.nv.us

McGinness, 775-684-1442, mmcginness@sen.state.nv.us

Nolan, 775-684-1421, dnolan@sen.state.nv.us

Care, 775-684-6503, tcare@sen.state.nv.us

Horsford, 775-684-1429, shorsford@sen.state.nv.us

Wiener, 775-684-1422, vwiener@sen.state.nv.us

 Toll Free Numbers:  from Las Vegas 486-2626 (ask for message center)

From anywhere in State: 800-995-9086 (ask for message center), Reno, Sparks, Carson message center: 684-6789.  Nevada Legislative website: www.leg.state.nv.us

REAL ID –The Real National ID Card

 Real ID Act of 2005, which passed Congress hidden in a funding bill for the Iraq War, is a mandate from the federal government to the States, which will require them to link their record keeping systems (driver’s licenses) to national databases. In other words, it is a National ID.  Real ID will store every driver’s personal information and a photograph in a central database.  The specter of a National Identity card, long antithetical to liberty loving Americans and a windfall for identity thieves, was to be implemented by March 2008. 

However, some 12 states began a revolt including Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. Faced with concerns over privacy issues and the huge cost (in Nevada it is expected to cost $66 million over 4 years) Legislators balked.  

Missouri State Rep James Guest, a Republican, formed a coalition of lawmakers from 34 states to file bills that oppose or protest Real ID.  Guest said, “This is almost a frontal assault on the freedoms of America when they require us to carry a national ID to monitor where we are.”

            Nevada Legislators Senator Nolan and Assemblyman Atkinson have introduced a Resolution urging Congress to Repeal the REAL ID Act.  Because of the national outcry the Bush Administration has agreed to offer an 18-month extension to states who want to delay implementation. 

            Although Governor Gibbons has placed in his budget an initial $30 million for implementing REAL ID, another means of opposing REAL ID is simply for the State Legislature to refuse to fund it.  This could be accomplished in the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees.  Interestingly, the Federal Government recently offered to allow states to use 20% of Homeland Security funds to help defray the costs of REAL ID. 

Nevada Eagle Forum has made opposition to REAL ID a priority for our Legislative agenda. We have met with Nolan and Atkinson.  We will alert you when these important measures appear.

 REAL ID and the North American Union

In November, Phyllis Schlafly organized a special training conference in Washington D.C. with Dr. Jerry Corsi, the leading expert on the North American Union (the combining of the US with Mexico and Canada essentially erasing our borders and national sovereignty). 35 Eagles from around the country including your State Eagle Forum President Janine Hansen attended the week-long conference. NAU is officially known as SPP—the Security and Prosperity Partnership. www.spp.gov

Months later, while preparing for the hour- long television show, Liberty and Justice for All, I discovered a telltale connection between REAL ID and the North American Union. Dr. Robert Pastor who was the author of the Panama Canal give away (now controlled by the Chinese) is also the author of the Council on Foreign Relations’ blue print for the North American Union.  The CFR is considered by many to be part of America’s Shadow Government.  Robert Pastor, a professor at American University, also wrote the report of the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform, which calls for interoperable databases between states and the use of REAL ID (a national ID).

 Three of the 87 recommendations made by the Commission chaired by Robert Pastor include:

·         “The Commission recommends that states…organize and update their lists and that the US. Election Assistance Commission take the lead in making the lists interoperable …between states.”

·         “…states should require voters to present a REAL ID card at the polls.”

·         “States should make voter registration and ID’s accessible to all eligible citizens by using mobile offices and other means to register more voters and issue photo ID cards.”

             An article in Human Events by James Plummer on July 7, 2006 quotes Paul Rosenzeig Dept. of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary who touted something called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which is identified as a “passport card.”  This passport card is to be required by people entering the US from Canada and Mexico. The Government Accountability Office reported to Congress,  “that when states adopt driver’s licenses with enhanced security features in accordance with REAL ID Act, the document should be sufficient for land border crossings under the Travel Initiative.”         

            The Plummer article continues, “The REAL ID Act will force Homeland-Security-written standards onto state drivers’ licenses and link the state databases into a national ID system. 9/11 Commissioner Slade Gorton testified to Congress on how machine-readable REAL ID drivers’ licenses “can be combined with other requirements, like the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, for purposes like border crossing.”

            One of the major purposes of the Security and Prosperity Partnership is to create a seamless North American Union where there are no borders interfering with trade or the movement of people.  The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative through the use of the REAL ID will facilitate the disappearance of the American border merging us into a trilateral Mexico-US-Canada North American Union. Janine Hansen

 For more information on the North American Union visit www.eagleforum.org or search the web for Dr. Jerry Corsi.  

Alert: Full Day Kindergarten Boondoggle

 By the time you receive this newsletter AB157 will have been heard on Monday March 12, at 3:45 in room 1214.

Full Day kindergarten is a project of the Teachers Union and the Educrats to increase tax spending thereby increasing job security, union membership, and continue empire building. The cost is estimated at $186 million.  The Cato Institute Study, like many others, show that there are no long term benefits even to at risk children.  Dr. Raymond Moore in his book School Can Wait sites some 6,000 studies, which show the benefits of later school attendance and the negatives of going early.  Early school attendance is especially harmful to boys who lag behind girls developmentally at least a year. That’s one reason why so many more boys are in remedial classes.

 National Education Associations resolutions passed in 2006 call for: B-1 Early Childhood Education in the public school for children from birth through age 8…should include mandatory kindergarten with compulsory attendance.

 This bill will no doubt go to the whole Assembly.  You can leave a message for all members of the Assembly by calling Toll Free Numbers:  from Las Vegas 486-2626 (ask for message center)

From anywhere in State: 800-995-9086 (ask for message center), Reno, Sparks, Carson message center: 684-6789.  Nevada Legislative website: www.leg.state.nv.us

 MESSAGE:  Vote no on AB157 – Full Day Kindergarten.

 A Barrage of Eminent Domain Bills

 After the horrendous US Supreme Court Decision in Kelo v City of New London, which spurred the passage of Nevada’s Eminent Domain Ballot Question 2, PISTOL, the Legislature has come alive with good Eminent Domain bills.  The Assembly is considering AB102 and AB129, which prohibit eminent domain from being used to take private property for economic development (to increase the tax base).  In addition, AJR 3 is a compromise Constitutional Amendment worked out with the authors of PISTOL (which will be on the ballot again in 2008) to allay some of the fears of the government.  We support PISTOL but have agreed with the authors of PISTOL that this compromise, although not as strong as PISTOL, still protects citizens from the abuse of eminent domain.

 The Senate heard SB85, SB130 and SB16 all good eminent domain bills.  Your Eagle Forum team was there supporting these important bills and opposing continued government abuse of eminent domain.  For more information on the abuses of Kelo go to www.eagleforum.org

 Audit “so-called” Non Profits who Receive Tax Dollars

SB87 sponsored by Senator Amodei requires non government entities which receive tax dollars to agree to Legislative audits.  The Legislature and the public should know how our money is being spent. This is long overdue.  This bill passed unanimously out of Senate Legislative Operations and Elections and will now go to the Senate floor.  Your Eagle Forum team were the only ones who testified in favor of this bill besides the sponsor. 

 Elections, Petitions, and “so called” Ethics

There are so many bills good and bad in this category, which we have testified on that it is impossible to mention them all.  But, AB142 is absolutely undeniable the worst in years!  AB142 destroys free speech.  It forces lobbyists (paid or unpaid) to file a report listing all legislation which he opposed, supported or suggested a change. This must be signed under penalty of perjury.  We are following 300 bills.  In addition, it requires registration as a lobbyist if you want to talk to someone, anyone, in the Executive branch of government.  Did you ever attend a hearing of an agency or talk to the Governor?  It essentially makes the Secretary of State the Speech Police.  It makes violation of the registration requirements a misdemeanor and has a fiscal note for newly increased terms of imprisonment for all of us pesky citizen lobbyists who violate their fascist rules by exercising free speech without asking permission and registering.  Since our testimony, it has been placed in a “Working Group” of the Assembly Elections Committee for suggestions on how to change it.  I wonder if they ever read the First Amendment!

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