Lincoln Meeting: January 12 – Nebraska Democratic Socialists of America

DSA Lincoln Meeting
Thursday, January 12 – 7:30pmThe Commons, 1239 South 14th St (14th & B)
Lincoln, NE
RSVP on Facebook here

At our last meeting, we formed an Organizing Committee – now we’ll be discussing our chapter’s constitution. Agenda forthcoming.

Want to help get the word out? Download this flyer template, make your own copies, and hand them out!

Meeting Agenda

Intro
1. Intro from Meeting Organizers
2. Go around the room
Discussion
1. Review of December meeting
2. Local Events Update
  1. Indivisible Lincoln Lunch – Jan. 14, noon, The Commons
  2. State CC meeting Jan 14 in Omaha
  3. Black Cat House 1601 B St theblackcathouse.org – Online Privacy Workshop: Monday, Jan 16: 7-9pm
  4. Lancaster County Democratic Central Committee Meetings
    Tue, January 17, 7pm – 9pm
    830 L Street, Suite 101
    Show up for 3, and you can vote!
  5. City Elections
    1. Candidate Filing Deadline: March 1
    2. Primary: April 4
    3. General: May 2
  6. What else?
3. Legislative update
  1. Use the Unicam’s site at http://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills to search for bills.
  2. Let’s start showing up to testify at committee hearings
  3. LB75 – Provide for restoration of voting rights upon completion of a felony sentence or probation for a felony
  4. LB25 – Change provisions for presidential electors
  5. LR1CA – Constitutional amendment to require voter identification
  6. LB173 – Prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity
Chapter Update
1. Review chapter constitution draft
2. Promoting DSA
  1. Button machines are $170 on ebay
  2. Looking for volunteers to help with legislative tracking, website mgmt, and graphic design.
  3. DSA national art
J20: What are we gonna do?
Next Time
1. Set next meeting date and time
2. Let’s plan a fun thing, too. Drinks? Game night? Potluck?
3. Write down the name of who you’re bringing to the next DSA Lincoln meeting here:____________________________________
4. Federal: call your congress critters and say “Hands off my SS/medicare/ACA”
  1. Representative Jeff Fortenberry: 202-225-4806
  2. Senator Deb Fischer: 202-224-6551
  3. Senator Ben Sasse (afrass): 202 224-4224
5. Review the draft constitution at https://dsanebraska.org/about/constitution-lincoln-chapter/
  If you have changes, write them down, bring them to our next meeting.

Minutes

The meeting began around 7:35 pm. Meeting organizers introduced themselves, then meeting attendees briefly introduced themselves and talked about why they were at the meeting.

The December 18 meeting was reviewed, and upcoming local events on the meeting agenda were announced. Meeting attendees also brought up other events:

an event at the Bay at 20th & Y st on January 28
The Women’s March in Lincoln at 2 pm, January 21
An MLK Rally January 14
Inauguration Day protests in Omaha

Newly introduced bills in state legislature were discussed as listed on the agenda. Additional legislative issues discussed included:

LB622 – Adopt the Medical Cannabis Act
LB 129 – Increase the earned income tax credit
State budget proposal which would raise sales tax and cut property tax, primarily benefiting landowners
An upcoming vote of the Liquor Control Commission on the liquor license for liquor sellers in Whiteclay, which sells millions of cans of beer to the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The vote was schedule Feb 7-8

The group reviewed a proposed draft constitution. Print copies were distributed to meeting attendees. There was a consensus to delay voting until there had been ample time for input from member.s The draft is available online at https://dsanebraska.org/about/constitution-lincoln-chapter/.

Other DSA members volunteered to help with graphic design and printing, and two meeting attendees volunteered to run the next DSA Lincoln meeting.

The next DSA meeting was set for February 12 at 2pm at the Commons. A DSA Happy Hour was tentatively set for Jan. 20 at the Cottonwood, pending approval from Cottonwood owners.