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| The Nashville Voter
Volume 75, No 9-- September 2022
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| Welcome to this issue of the LWVN Voter. You'll notice that the Emma page design allows you to access the LWVN Calendar by pressing a button at the top of the page!
Please note, you can increase your screen size within your personal information manager (i.e., Microsoft Outlook). In the Microsoft Outlook Message Bar at the top of the e-mail page, choose "Other Actions'' and then in the dropdown menu choose "Zoom." The Zoom window allows you to increase the file size; try 140% for easier onscreen reading.
Also, please note that if you want to share/forward this newsletter to others, you MUST click on the envelope icon at the upper right side of this emailed version.
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League Events (https://lwvnashville.org/event-calendar/)
September 17th from 9:00am to 4:00 pm. Tennessee Health Care Campaign's 2022 Health Policy Conference: Building Bridges to Health Care Access. This conference will feature sessions on the state of mental health and maternal health access in Tennessee, updates on TennCare enrollment and ACA premium assistance, & strategies for strengthening the coalition for Medicaid expansion advocacy in 2023. Attend in person at Nashville School of Law or via Zoom. https://tnhealthcarecampaign.org/2022-annual-advocacy-conference/
September 19th at 5:30pm CDT and September 23rd at Noon. Help TN Vote: Pollwatching Training. Take a front row seat to see democracy in action. The League of Women Voters has a long tradition of providing the eyes and ears of elections across the country with non-partisan pollwatching. Be part of that tradition! Visit LWVTN.org more information.
September 21st at 1:00-2:00 p.m. via Zoom. League of Women Voters of Williamson County: Mechatronics, an engineering system to be used by Ford to assemble autos in Tennessee’s Blue Oval City Forum. Kevin Sizemore, Fairview High School Mechatronics teacher will be our presenter. He will be giving us a guided tour of his classroom / lab and will discuss this new and exciting field of study that combines mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. To receive a ZOOM link to attend, please register here: Registration link.
October 3rd, 4th, and 6th. Help Register High School Students at Cane Ridge High School. Email Beth Gordon at bethgordon524@gmail.com to volunteer.
- Oct. 3rd and 4th (Monday and Tuesday) 7:30am-likely noon
- Oct. 6th (Thursday) 10:15 am - 12:45 pm in the library
October 7th at Noon. Hot Topic: Reproductive Justice Post Dobbs v. Jackson: How Women and Their Healthcare are Impacted in Tennessee. Dr. Ellen Clayton from Vanderbilt University Medical Center will present the background to the SCOTUS ruling as well as the triggering of the Tennessee Human Life Protection Act. The discussion will focus on the physical, mental, emotional and economic health of women in Tennessee, as well as the legal barriers placed on health professionals providing life-saving, comprehensive and confidential care. Click here to register.
October 19th at 1:00pm. League of Women Voters of Williamson County will talk about Vote411 from the national, state, and county level. Attendees will be invited to ask questions and learn how to find reliable information for the general election. Register at the John P. Holt Brentwood Library calendar page.
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| President's Message
The Healthcare and Public Health Committee wrote a position paper for the LWVN on Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Services. This position paper is well researched and lays out many ideas about policy regarding maternal health. I hope that you take the time to read it. Link here. This was a group effort, and I want to thank all the members that contributed to the research, writing, and revising of this position statement:
Jeanne Ballinger, Constance Caldwell, Linda Halperin, Ursula Jean Heitz,
Ann Lucas, Pat Post, Patricia Scott, Clare Sullivan
Thank you for all your hard work!
Every month I am amazed at the work that goes on in the LWVN! The Board is hard at work planning and working in the community to register and educate voters. Members are welcome to attend board meetings. If you are interested, please email me at lwebbteacher@gmail.com, and I will send you the link for the meeting.
President
Lara Webb
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Health Care/Public Health Committee
By Constance Caldwell and Claire Sullivan
Lest We Forget
The Public Health Committee's position paper on Reproductive Justice in Tennessee, now available on the LWVNashville website, will be reviewed by the state League and we hope will contribute to the LWVTN legislative agenda in 2023. Our Committee members have assisted the Hot Topics Committee in identifying speakers on the topic of reproductive justice for October, and we look forward to learning more from them about how the legal and medical communities plan to respond. We also continue to monitor the Metro Nashville Board of Health meetings. The Metro Nashville Department of Public Health has adopted a new strategic plan to increase health and well-being of all Nashville residents. We are learning what we can do about it and will share that information with you in upcoming VOTERs.
Reminders to LWV members that one of our partner organizations--the Tennessee Health Care Campaign--is holding its annual health advocacy conference this Saturday, September 17, both in person at Nashville School of Law and virtually. Key topics that will be discussed are access and outcome disparities in maternal and child health, mental health and substance abuse treatment, pending TennCare redeterminations and expected loss in coverage for thousands of Tennessee families, and the importance of self-care for those engaged in health care and change efforts. The new Health and Human Services Director for Region IV will be speaking about federal efforts aimed at achieving the conference theme: Building Bridges to Healthcare Access. Social Work CEUs are available.
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Hot Topics
By Karen Wieckert and Melissa Hanson
Attendees at the September Hot Topic, "Sidewalks, Trees & AirBnBs -- Local Policy-Making in the Shadow of the USA's 2nd-Most Preemptive State Legislature" learned a great deal about the intersection of various local legislative rulings with the Tennessee Legislature when Angie Emery Henderson (District 34), spent a brief afternoon with the League.
The preemption doctrine refers to the idea that a higher authority of law will displace the law of a lower authority of law when the two authorities come into conflict. Many may recall that in Tennessee, preemption has affected prevailing and minimum wages laws, LGBTQ rights, community oversight of police, and marijuana decriminalization to name just a few policy issues. Of late, Metro's sidewalk construction bill, ride share (Uber, Lyft, etc.) regulations, and AirBnB restrictions have come under the preemption fire. Councilwoman Henderson pointed meeting attendees to the National League of Cities (nlc.org) which has produced a "Preemption Wheel" graphic to illustrate State and Local overlap and conflict while also sharing numerous examples from Title17 (Zoning) of the Municipal Code.
We also learned more about additional organizations that lobby State officials such as American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Beacon Center of TN, part of the State Policy Network (SPN), that provide bill language and fund PR campaigns that in many cases undermine local voices and authority.
For more information, readers are also encouraged to visit sourcewatch.org to understand how" model bills" reach into almost every area of American life, including those of Middle Tennessee residents.
Reproductive Justice Post Dobbs v. Jackson: How Women and Their Health Care are Impacted in Tennessee
The October Hot Topics presentation will consider consequences of the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) Dobbs v. Jackson overruling of the over 50-year Roe precedent supporting a national right to abortion.
Dr. Ellen Clayton from Vanderbilt University Medical Center will present the background to the SCOTUS ruling as well as the triggering of the Tennessee Human Life Protection Act. The discussion will focus on the physical, mental, emotional and economic health of women in Tennessee, as well as the legal barriers placed on health professionals providing life-saving, comprehensive and confidential care.
Dr. Clayton is an internationally respected leader in the field of law and genomics who holds appointments in Pediatrics and Health Policy Departments in the Medical School and in the Law School as well as the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University. She has helped to develop policy statements for numerous national and international organizations, the Public Population Project in Genomics, Human Genome Organization, Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences, American Society of Human Genetics, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. An active participant in policy debates, she has advised the National Institutes of Health as well as other federal and international bodies on an array of topics ranging from children's and women’s health to the ethical conduct of research involving human subjects. Professor Clayton has worked on a number of projects for the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) and is Co-Chair of the Report Review Committee, which ensures the quality of Academy reports.
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Environment Committee
By Russanne Buchi-Fotre and Kalen Russell
October 20th is #ImagineaDayWithoutWater. This day focuses people across the world on the importance of water resources. The Environment Committee encourages all members to use that day to:
- Consider your water usage in the household and yard, and ways you can reduce;
- Think about how your yard can be made water-wise;
- Familiarize yourself with Metro Water Services
- Delve into Metro's Watershed resources;
Feel free to use all your social connections, online and off, to spread the word.
On September 24th from 2:00-4:00 p.m there will be a Plant Swap at Russanne’s. Bring what you have to share or just come get some! For more information email Russanne here: Russanne@comcast.net
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Metro Council Meeting
By Pat McCauley and Jack McFadden
Here’s a recap of last month’s Metro Council Meeting:
- A resolution appropriating the amount of five-hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the funding of a grant to Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi was deferred to the Oct.4, 2022 council meeting.
- Mayor Cooper spoke at Council; largely to promote the success of the Hub Nashville, an online information portal. It also includes a “neighborhood improvement tracker” where people can see how long it’s taking the city to respond to complaints (e.g. pothole repair, etc.)
- One bill passed out of reading was an ordinance to ban use of License Plate Readers (LPRs) by law enforcement officers attempting to track persons suspected of violating anti-abortion laws.
Other issues discussed or in early readings included: development projects relevant to the downtown historic district, a Nations scrap-yard that citizens are unhappy with, initiatives relevant to affordable housing and homeless shelters, health and mental health issues pertaining to the homeless, a proposal by the mental health mobile crisis center to create a treatment center, and support for Partners in Care, a program pairing police with mental health professionals on 911 calls. Also discussed were safe transportation measures—such as enhancing traffic calming efforts and support for Nashville Vision Zero, a plan to eliminate pedestrian deaths.
Metro Council Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of every month. Meetings start at 6:30 p.m. and are open to the public. Here’s where you can watch Metro Council Meetings:
- Stream.Nashville.gov
- Comcast Channel 3
- AT&T Uverse Channel 99
- Metro Nashville Network Roku Channel
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Williamson County Update
By Bette Holmes
LWVWC’s program October 19th, (FIRST DAY OF EARLY VOTING!) will feature the one-stop-shop voters’ guide, VOTE411.org. Want to learn about how to check on what voting districts you are in? Want to read about candidates, stating in their own words, what they wish to accomplish if elected? Want to double check on where and when you can vote in your county?
Guest Speakers:
- Megan Brown of LWVUS will present a national overview of VOTE411;
- Lindsay Brazier will explain VOTE411’s role in Tennessee; and
- Leslie Collum will demonstrate use of the VOTE411.org voter tool in Williamson County on behalf of Peg McCree.
Attendees will be invited to ask questions and learn how to find reliable information for the Nov. 8 General Election, as well as future elections.
Please invite a friend and Zoom with us at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19th. To assure your Zoom link please register on the John P. Holt Brentwood Library’s calendar page available on October 1st: https://brentwood-tn.libcal.com/
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Membership Committee
By Reba Holmes
Annual Membership Drive
Our annual membership drive continues…
Membership allows you to share a year’s worth of experiences promoting democracy, educating others in the community, participating in political discourse, and registering new voters, to name a few. Plus, the annual membership includes membership to the national, state, and local LWV organizations.
We Are Looking For Volunteers
We are thrilled to announce that we have established a Membership Committee to provide guidance during the annual membership drive and develop other vital programs related to membership. We invite you to join the new committee to serve as a communication lead, recruiting lead, social media lead, etc.
Membership Committee Job Description:
- The committee will provide a strategic vision to increase membership, focusing on effective, comprehensive growth, new member integration, and membership retention.
- Develop a program designed to mentor new members, specifically young adult members
- Increase awareness regarding the League throughout our community by working with other portfolio managers to develop a communication and outreach program
- Develop annual renewal implementation procedures, timeline, communication, and follow-up
- Develop a strategy to recruit potential members across various demographics
Work in partnership with other portfolio managers, e.g., Voter Services, Education, Metro Council, etc.
Meeting Schedule: The initial meeting will be held in October via Zoom. We will meet monthly after the first meeting.
If you are interested in serving on the committee please send an email expressing your interest to lwvnash@gmail.com.
Share Your Comments
We want to hear from you. Share your comments regarding why join the League of Women Voters, Protecting Voting Rights, Fairness in Voting, etc. Email your comments to lwvnash@gmail.com.
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Please let us know if there is a death in your family so that the membership may be aware of your loss.
Thank you!
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| Stay Informed about Upcoming Calendar Events!
If you get the electronic version of the Voter, we want you to know that the upcoming calendar events are available on our wonderful, new website – www.lwvnashville.org. On The calendar scrolls on the events of the current and upcoming events thanks to Tracy Depp, who keeps the calendar current. If you haven’t taken a look, do so to make sure you mark your calendar so you won’t miss a thing!
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ATTENTION: The Nashville Voter is a digital publication. If you have received this copy of the Voter in the mail, it means the League of Women Voters of Nashville does not have an e-mail address for you. Please help us by sending your e-mail address to LWVNash@gmail.com. Being on the LWVN e-mail database ensures your receipt of all LWVN newsletters, event invitations, meeting announcements, and Call to Action alerts.
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| 2022-2023 LWVN Board of Directors
Co-Presidents: Lara Webb
Immediate Past President: Madeline Garr
1st Vice Presidents: Melissa Hanson and Karen Weickert
Secretary: Elise Lamar
Treasurer Susan Mattson
Portfolio Chairs
Communications: Ophelia Doe
Community Connections: Sabina Mohyuddin and Katelyn Benhoff
Education: La'Kisha Harris and Harper-Grace Niedermeyer
Environment: Russanne Buchi-Fotre and Kalen Russell
Health Care/Public Health: Constance Caldwell and Clare Sullivan
Membership: Reba Holmes
Metro Government: Pat McCauley and Jack McFadden
Voter Services: Beth Gordon and Emily Grohs
Williamson County Representative: June Bond
Nominating Committee Chair: Senator Brenda Gilmore
Nominating Committee Members: Betsy Walkup, Constance Caldwell, Hasina Mohyuddin, June Bond, and Brenda Wynn
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