This breaking NPR two part report I think is a must read/listen and I would love to know if people know much about ALEC’s history in Vermont.  My understanding is that a number of VT legislators are members.  

—

By Laura Sullivan

“When you walk into the offices of the American Legislative Exchange Council, it’s hard to imagine it is the birthplace of a thousand pieces of legislation introduced in statehouses across the county.

Only 28 people work in ALEC’s dark, quiet headquarters in Washington, D.C.  And Michael Bowman, senior director of policy, explains that the little-known organization’s staff is not the ones writing the bills. The real authors are the group’s members – a mix of state legislators and some of the biggest corporations in the country.

“Most of the bills are written by outside sources and companies, attorneys, [and legislative] counsels,” Bowman says.

Part 1: Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…

Part 2: Shaping State Laws With Little Scrutiny

http://www.npr.org/templates/s…

Vermonter Selected To Participate in United Nation’s Review of US Government’s Failure to Ensure the Human Right to Healthcare

Burlington, VT – A representative from the Vermont Workers’ Center’s Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign has been selected to participate in a national delegation traveling to the United Nations in Geneva to report about the status of human rights in the United States. Mary Gerisch, who lives in Bennington, has been an active leader of the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign for over two years. Next week Ms. Gerisch will travel to Switzerland to take part in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights record of the United States, and will inform representatives from other countries about the struggle for the human right to healthcare in Vermont and across the United States.

The Vermont Workers’ Center has collaborated with groups across the country in submitting a report to the UN on the status of economic and social rights in the United States. The 26-page report “Toward Economic and Social Rights in the United States: From Market Competition to Public Goods,” is released today in an updated version, which includes a case study of the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign. The report documents evidence of the denial of human rights in education, health, housing, work, and social security. The report’s authors call on the government to use public dollars for the benefit of the people, and to strengthen the public sector in order to meet everyone’s needs, leaving no one behind. Earlier this year the Workers’ Center also gave evidence at a consultation organized by the U.S. Department of State, held in New York City. These submissions, along with Ms. Gerisch’s upcoming presentations at the United Nations, form a strong body of evidence showing that the United States and the state of Vermont have failed to live up to their human rights commitments.

“It is disgraceful that the federal government does not recognize that we all have economic and social rights,” said Mary Gerisch. “Vermont should lead the way and ensure that people’s fundamental needs, such as healthcare, housing, and education, are met. At the Workers’ Center we are fighting to make that happen, and I will do my best to represent Vermonters in Geneva.”

The UPR is a new human rights monitoring mechanism of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council. Every four years, the UPR assesses each country’s adherence to its human rights obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various human rights treaties. The first Universal Periodic Review of the United States will take place on November 5 in Geneva, Switzerland.

RESOURCES:

– VIDEO interview with Mary Gerisch about her upcoming trip to Geneva where she will to testify at the United Nations on the state of healthcare in Vermont and the efforts of the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign – http://vermontworkerscenter.bl…

– REPORT to the UN Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review of the United States of America: “Toward Economic and Social Rights in the United States: From Market Competition to Public Goods”- http://www.nesri.org/UPR_Repor… .

– Vermont Workers’ Center video submission (one minute clip) to the U.S. State Department’s consultation, February 26, 2010: http://www.vimeo.com/10229823

– UNITED NATIONS website for the Universal Periodic Review: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodi…

BACKGROUND: In 2008, the Vermont Workers’ Center launched the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign to change what is “politically possible” for healthcare reform. On May 1, 2009 over twelve hundred people participated in the Healthcare Is A Human Right rally at the Vermont Statehouse and was reported to be the largest weekday rally in the history at the state capitol. On the first day of the legislative session, over 200 hundred people attended a rally to deliver 5000 postcards to Senate President Peter Shumlin and House Speaker Shap Smith calling for Vermont to lead the country by developing a healthcare system that works for everybody and treats healthcare as a public good. Momentum for action grew throughout the session, until S.88, a bill that was previously considered to be going nowhere, passed with overwhelming support and was allowed to go into law by Vermont’s Republican Governor. This new law, Act 128, requires the design of a healthcare system based on human rights principles, which is to be implemented by July 2012. This summer the Vermont Legislature hired the world’s pre-eminent healthcare system architect, Dr. William Hsiao and his team of the Public Health Department at Harvard University to develop the healthcare system designs. The failure of the federal healthcare reform law to address the roots of the healthcare crisis has turned attention once again to Vermont and this new opportunity to lead the country in developing a health system based on human rights.

Vermont Workers’ Center lead organizer James Haslam was recently featured in Thom Hartmann’s “Big Picture” radio show and talked about the “Healthcare Is A Human Right” campaign.

http://www.workerscenter.org/n…

People’s Forum on Healthcare, Kids & The Economy

With local candidates for the Legislature respond to critical issues facing Vermont families

When: 6:30pm, Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Where: Williston Central School (off Williston Rd/Route 2)

What: The final forum in this statewide series of 15 candidate forums being organized by Vermont Workers Center – Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign, Vermont Early Educators United – UPV/AFT, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living across the state. Every legislative candidate on a ballot was invited and hundreds of incumbent legislators and challengers participated in this unprecedented forum series which drew around a thousand total participants.    

Each forum has three sections:

1. Healthcare: Developing a healthcare system that works for everyone

2. Early Education: Affordable childcare, access to quality early education and raising the standards in the profession.

3. The Economy: Access to jobs and the impact of cuts to public services on Vermonters.

Local members from the sponsoring organizations will present on each issue area and candidates will field questions. There will be snacks and refreshments.

The forum will have Chittenden County Senate candidates and Burlington and Winooski candidates for the House of Representatives from South Burlington, Williston, Richmond, Shelburne,Charlotte,  Hinesburg, Bolton, Jericho, Underhill and St. George.  The fourteen forums were held Montpelier (Sept 30), White River Junction (Oct 5), Essex Junction (Oct 6), St. Albans (Oct 7), St. Johnsbury (Oct 12), Rutland (Oct 13), Brattleboro (Oct 14), Morrisville (Oct 17), Middlebury (Oct 18), Bennington (Oct 19), Barre (Oct 19), Newport (Oct 20), Burlington (Oct 21) and Randolph (Oct 25).  The next big event for the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign is a rally scheduled for the first day of the legislative session delivering thousands of petitions calling on the new legislature and administration to move forward with the new healthcare system designs currently underway based on the success of Act 128 and the hiring of Dr. William Hsiao.

More info on Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign: www.workerscenter.org/healthcare

Burlington People’s Forum on Healthcare, Kids & The Economy

Local candidates for the Legislature respond to critical issues facing Vermont families

When: 6:30pm, Thursday, October 21, 2010

Where: Burlington: Main Street Landing at Lake & College, Theater building at bottom of College Street



What: More than twenty candidates have confirmed for what is the expected to be the biggest of a statewide series of 15 candidate forums being organized by Vermont Workers Center – Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign, Vermont Early Educators United – UPV/AFT, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living across the state.

The forums have three sections:

1. Healthcare: Developing a healthcare system that works for everyone

2. Early Education: Affordable childcare, access to quality early education and raising the standards in the profession.

3. The Economy: Access to jobs and the impact of cuts to public services on Vermonters.

Local members from the sponsoring organizations will present on each issue area and candidates will field questions. There will be snacks and refreshments.

Every state legislative candidate on the ballot has been invited. The Burlington forum will have Chittenden County Senate candidates and Burlington and Winooski candidates for the House of Representatives.  The twelve forums have already been held (Montpelier, White River Junction, Essex, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, Rutland, Brattleboro, Morrisville, Middlebury, Bennington, Barre and Newport).  After tonight there will be a forum in Randolph (Oct. 25) and Williston (Oct. 26).  For details see www.workerscenter.org/forums.

More info on Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign: www.workerscenter.org/healthcare

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

When: 6:30pm, Sunday, October 17, 2010

Where: VFW Hall, Pleasant Street, Morrisville

What: The Vermont Workers Center – Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign, Vermont Early Educators United – UPV/AFT, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living are organizing 15 “People’s Forums” around Vermont with state legislative candidates from the local area. The forums will have three sections:

1. Healthcare: Developing a healthcare system that works for everyone

2. Early Education: Affordable childcare, access to quality early education and raising the standards in the profession.

3. The Economy: Access to jobs and the impact of cuts to public services on Vermonters.

Local members from the sponsoring organizations will present on each issue area and candidates will field questions. There will be snacks and refreshments.  

Remaining Forums in this statewide series:

Oct. 18: Middlebury, www.workerscenter.org/oct18forum

Oct. 19: Barre, www.workerscenter.org/oct19forumbarre

Oct. 19: Bennington, www.workerscenter.org/oct19forumbennington

Oct. 20: Newport, www.workerscenter.org/oct20forum

Oct. 21: Burlington, www.workerscenter.org/oct21forum

Oct. 25: Randolph, www.workerscenter.org/oct25forum

Oct. 26: Williston, www.workerscenter.org/oct26forum

House Appropriations passed S.88 yesterday 7-3 and is headed for House floor vote Thursday and Friday and the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign is pushing for a strongest possible version we can for the final bill. We need all the help we can get building for a huge rally on May 1st at the Statehouse. We want to be continuing to build momentum for Vermont to lead the way over the Summer, into the Fall and into 2011.

Here is the release about the rally.    

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HUGE STATEWIDE HEALTHCARE MARCH & RALLY TO BE HELD IN MONTPELIER

This May 1st, thousands will gather at the Statehouse lawn for biggest rally in Vermont’s history

MONTPELIER – US Senator Bernie Sanders will join Vermonters from across the state on Saturday, May 1 at a huge “Healthcare Is A Human Right” March and Rally at the Statehouse. The Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign was launched in 2008 by the Vermont Workers’ Center to build a grassroots network across the state that’s strong enough to change what’s “politically possible” in healthcare reform.  Last year the Campaign held the first “Healthcare Is A Human Right Rally” at the Statehouse. With over twelve hundred people participating, it was the largest weekday rally in the state’s history. That momentum led to state health reform being taken up by the Vermont legislature, even in the midst of federal health reform.

“We knew the federal reform would fail to address the roots of the healthcare crisis.  Health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and other powerful interests with  big money at stake have too much control over Congress to let them make the kind of changes that are necessary to reform our mess of a health care system. While there are some good things in the federal bill, it is really up to states like Vermont to make the much needed changes,” said Peg Franzen, the Policy Committee Chair for the Campaign. “Together with the thousands of our supporters who believe we must do this on a state level, that is exactly what we are doing.”

The “Healthcare Is A Human Right” Campaign has increasingly been getting Vermont national attention because it is one of the few states where momentum has actually built up enough for the state’s legislatiors to address the crisis.  This past Fall and winter, for example, the campaign held eleven People’s Forums around the state on the healthcare problem.  Almost eighty state legislators attended the forums with over eight hundred participants testifying about the healthcare crisis, laying out the practices and principles that comprise the right to adequate and affordable healthcare. These principles were included in S.88 “Healthy Vermont” Bill,  a comprehensive healthcare bill that passed 28-2 on April 7th in the Vermont Senate and is expected to be voted on in the House of Representatives this week.

The bill calls for the hiring of consultants to design three health care models.  One of these three must be a single payer system that is administered by the government, is publicly financed, and is completely decoupled from employment. All three of the models must meet the “Healthcare is a Human Right” principles of universal access and coverage, be comprehensive and affordable, be transparent in design, and must ensure public participation in the design, implementation, evaluation, and accountability. The designs also have to include implementation timelines beginning no later than July, 2012.

Busses, vans and carpools have been set up statewide for transportation to the rally.  In addition to Senator Sanders, the celebration rally and march will include performers from Bread & Puppet, Sambatucada, a fife & drum marching band and other local musicians and artists.  This family event will have a kids tent on site and sign language interpreters available.

The “Healthcare Is A Human Right” Campaign has local leaders and organizers spread throughout the state in every community and they are available for interviews by any news organization.

###

( – promoted by GMD)

Big news this week for the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign.  

S.88 Could get voted out today of the House Healthcare Committee (see: http://www.workerscenter.org/n… ).  

Vermonters all over the state are calling for action.  (see: www.workerscenter.org/takeaction )

On Sunday the Burlington Free Press endorsed the bill in an editorial. (see:  http://www.burlingtonfreepress… )

There is a benefit concert in Burlington, “Grassroots Rockin’ for Healthcare Reform”. (see: http://www.workerscenter.org/a… )

The May 1st Healthcare Is A Human Right rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders is shaping up to be one of the biggest rallies at the Statehouse in Vermont’s history.  (see: www.workerscenter.org/may1 )  

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

http://workerscenter.org/node/482

This week that is the question being asked by Vermont’s joint legislative healthcare committees. We say Yes! The current version of S.88 calls for implementation in 2012 of a real universal healthcare system (see our breakdown of the bill here: http://www.workerscenter.org/n…  ). The new federal health bill will set up healthcare insurance state exchanges in 2014 which could mess this up. But the new bill does establish the right of state’s to make their own universal single-payer healthcare system in 2017. But Sen. Bernie Sanders and and others are pushing to pass new legislation to move that date up until 2014.

From David Reynolds, Senior Health Policy Advisor for Senator Bernie Sanders, who is speaking today at a joint meeting of the Senate-House health committees:

“Since last week, the one question I have been repeatedly asked in various forms by single payer advocates, legislators, and policy makers in VT is:

Should Vermont continue to pursue a single payer system given that the earliest date for waivers is 2017 and, before then, Vermont would have to set up an exchange?”

ANSWER: Yes, Vermont should proceed with legislation. We intend, before 2014, to seek a change in the waiver date to 2014. If Vermont and other states pass legislation to set up a single payer system, it will provide added leverage for us and our allies in the Senate to get this change adopted. ”

For the sake of the millions of people like us who suffer and die each year in our broken market based healthcare system, Vermont must continue moving forward to lead the country. We must not let the vested interests in the current system, may they be those directly profiting under the current system or those acting on their behalf, get in the way of real progress.

We must pass a strong version of S.88 which develops implementation plans of how Vermont would navigate the federal programs and receive waivers where we need them. The bill calls for this to be designed for January 2011 and implemented in 2012. We can start putting our system in place prior to the state exchanges and work with Sen. Sanders and the rest of our delegation to get any additional waivers we need to make it work. We cannot let this be an excuse to preserve the status quo.

James Haslam is the Director of the Vermont Workers’ Center,  who coordinate the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign in 2008.  Check out: www.workerscenter.org

http://www.workerscenter.org/b…

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

While Congressional healthcare reform dominates national headlines, things are heating up in Montpelier for Vermont to lead the way for more fundamental change to truly fix the broken system.    

Yesterday, the Vermont Senate Appropriations Committee took testimony  from Sen. Doug Racine and the Senate Committee on Health & Welfare about S.88. In case you missed it, this is the bill their committee passed out unanimously (6-0) last Friday which would set up a commission to hire experts to design implementation plans for an overhaul of the healthcare system to be enacted in 2011 (see more here:.

The Appropriations committee room was packed, including six members of the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign. Everyone on both committees seemed to be in agreement that the current healthcare system is broken, that the work that Vermont is currently doing won’t fix the problem and that soaring healthcare costs are unsustainable, especially for the State Budget.

There was lots of discussion about whether the new version of S.88 bill, that Sen. Racine and his committee was asking for $400K would help us get to where we need to go.  Since the moment this bill passed out of committee, the  discussion that has been the discussion outside the statehouse as well. Leaders  throughout the healthcare reform movement , including  leaders of the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign are not unified on  what might happen if the bill passes. There are concerns about the language of the goals of the commission in its current form and our Policy Committee has made a list of ways the bill needs to  be strengthened.    

Some groups and individual single-payer healthcare advocates have called for the new bill to be completely replaced with the old language.  But it is highly unlikely given that the bill passed 6-0 out of the Senate healthcare committee, and four of those six were original sponsors of S.88.  So what should we do?  I think its clear we must strengthen and pass this bill in the Senate and the House.  There’s a bunch of ways to do that.  I know I could sleep a whole lot better at night if the Governor only had one appointee on the Commission as in the original bill…

… or maybe as Rep. Paul Poirier (I-Barre City), told our members on Monday night, that its possible to find a way to get rid of the commission all together and just order the work done by architects. (A lot of folks think we might have a perfect candidate you can join us to hear from tomorrow.  Dr. William Hsiao, who has experience designing healthcare systems around the world, will be speaking before Joint Healthcare Committees tomorrow at 2pm at the Statehouse in Room 11).  

The Senate Health & Welfare Committee did not pass exactly what we wanted. With the help of Con Hogan (see See VWC Blog on Feb 23 ) they tried to put a bill together that would be a “consensus bill” to get bipartisan support on. That is why the bill calls for the design of  three options, one of which is a single-payer and all of which need to meet the principles and goals (including our human right principles).  We think its unnecessary and only more costly to have three options but I think we can live with them, if it helps get legislators behind a bill that has at least one option design a implementation plan that will make healthcare be able to be treated as a public good.

A crew of our Chittenden County members  were at the Statehouse  and met with  Sen. Hinda Miller (D-Chittenden) yesterday.  When we talked about how we wanted to strengthen the bill, she said beware that “the perfect does not become the enemy of the good.”  That is a real danger. Now, our mission is to make sure healthcare is treated as a human right by holding public policy up to human rights standards and calling for a overhaul of the healthcare system to meet those standards. So the question has been how can we get this to be improved to make sure it accomplishes what we need it to, that is, it designs the plan to implement next year. We need to find amendments to strengthen it so we are sure it will do that and let’s work to get the members of the Senate Health & Welfare Committee to support those amendments.

In today’s Times Argus/Rutland Herald story they quoted me as saying “This will move us forward.”  When asked about the bill as we left the Appropriations Committee room what I actually said was  “we need to make it stronger, but we must move forward”.  

Let’s make amendments to it that can strengthen it in ways that we can get broad support for it so it CAN pass. After it passes, our work will certainly still need to be done. There is no way we can pass anything that the new Governor and Legislature could not totally undo.  So we need to continue momentum through the end of the legislative session. We need to fight to pass this bill and let’s organize a huge rally on May 1st at the Statehouse. Then we will continue organizing all Summer and Fall to keep the pressure up and make sure people running for office know what our mandate is.  And then as one of our leaders from Rutland said yesterday, “Our job will be to make sure “our” option is selected by the next Legislature in 2011.”

Let’s make it happen.

James Haslam is the Director of the Vermont Workers’ Center who launched the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign in 2008.  see www.workerscenter.org