Nearly a year after the passage of health care reform, the Alliance for a Just Society convened members of its Health Rights Organizing Project, a national collaboration of grassroots community organizations working on health care, to reflect on that victory and to develop next steps in the long march towards an equitable health care system. This was the first face-to-face meeting of the coalition since health reform was made law in March 2010. Continue reading
On Bankers’ Lobby Day (February 7), members from Washington Community Action Network quarantined the state Capitol building in Olympia to protect lawmakers from from lobbyist “germs” of misinformation. Lobbyists were there to dissuade lawmakers from voting for House Bill 1847, which would eliminate outdated tax breaks for big Wall Street banks and private jet owners and help raise revenue in a state is facing a $5.6 billion budget deficit. The revenue raised would go directly to saving the state’s Basic Health Plan. Continue reading
On Thursday, February 3, the Washington State Legislature Transportation Committee held a public hearing on SB 5407, a bill that would take away the ability of undocumented, tax-paying immigrants to obtain Washington state driver licenses. The bill would make people provide a social security number or proof that they are in the US legally to get a a license. At the public hearing, several organizations including Washington CAN!, OneAmerica, El Comite, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, churches and faith groups, expressed their concerns about the bill. Continue reading
On Wednesday, January 26th, Washington CAN! members gathered outside the CHASE building in Seattle to take action against one of corporations who, by successfully lobbying for tax exemptions, is responsible for the current state budget deficit and state fiscal crisis. This is the start of a series of direct actions planned against greedy banks and corporations. Continue reading
All across the country, lawmakers are faced with grim state budget shortfalls that will mean devastating cuts to the social safety net. As a result of the national recession, Washington state faces one of the worst economic downturns in over 80 years. In the past two years lawmakers have balanced the state budget by cutting $5 billion in critical services including health care, education, the environment, services for individuals with differing abilities, and other safety net programs. Many of the programs that have been eliminated or are slated to be eliminated are programs that communities of color rely on.
In response to these crises, Washington CAN!, and Alliance for a Just Society affiliate, kicked off a season of direct action on Martin Luther King Day to advance policies that increase revenues and preserve public programs that are critical to communities. Continue reading
On Tuesday, October 26th, at 11:30 a.m., more than two dozen homeowners, friends, and community members marched into Chase Bank in downtown Burien, Washington and demanded an end to foreclosures in the state.
These homeowners represented just a handful of the 225,000 underwater homeowners in the state of Washington. The action, organized by Washington CAN!, was part of a national campaign to end foreclosures and to call for a write-down of principle for people at risk of losing their homes. Continue reading
Last week, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) finalized their recommendations to President Obama on how to implement a critical piece of health care reform: medical loss rations. Their recommendation is a significant victory because, according to the Washington Post, it largely favors “the views of consumer advocates over those advanced by the insurance industry.” Continue reading
In September, NWFCO joined more than 230 people from around the country for the “Banking for a New Economy” Summit in Chicago, Illinois. We came together to build a national movement for bank accountability – reminding ourselves that the banks created the greatest economic crisis since the Depression, and now we have to make them fix it
At the summit, NWFCO’s Betsy Dillner talked to a group of grassroots leaders and organizers from across the country about our work in Washington state to organize “underwater homeowners” – those who owe more on their homes than their homes are currently worth. (When the big banks created a housing bubble and then crashed the economy, housing prices plummeted, leaving hundreds of thousands of people underwater.) Continue reading
For nearly ten years, the wealthiest Americans have been getting a free ride in the form of tax cuts, tax breaks, and loopholes. This fall, Congress is expected to take up discussions around the Bush Tax Cuts and NWFCO affiliates in Montana, Oregon, and Washington are working with the Americans for Responsible Taxes to ensure that the current tax cuts for top 2% of Americans (individuals earning over $250,000 a year) expire, and that tax cuts for the middle class are made permanent. Continue reading
