1. PAY EQUITY FOCUS:
AAUW-PA Public Policy will focus on a statewide campaign to achieve the approval of strong Pay Equity and related Economic Sufficiency legislation by the Pennsylvania Assembly and Governor. It will work with coalition/allies in this initiative.
BACKGROUND:
1. On March 6, 2015 HR 75 on Pay Equity was, by the General Assembly with Senate concurrence, referred to the Labor and Industry Committee, directed “ the Joint State Government Commission to study workplace pay disparity in this Commonwealth” and “ that the area of review include a study of the Equal Pay Law, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to determine their effectiveness in deterring wage disparity in the workplace; a review of current Federal and State law to determine if additional policy initiatives, outreach programs or legislation is needed to ensure equal pay in this Commonwealth; a review of current training and funding mechanisms to determine if government agencies have the tools and resources they need to identify and pursue equal pay violations; and a study of Federal policy initiatives addressing wage disparity as they may apply… “
On January 28 the House and Senate referred SB195/HB250 to the Labor and Industry Committee. The bill resolved to set the minimum wage to $8.75 on 7/1/2015, then to $10.10 on 1/1/2016, then COLA. Additional Senate sponsored bills were referred to the Labor and Industry Committee: 1/28/15--Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers (SB 196), 1/28/15--Cola for Minimum Wage(SB197), 1/28/15--Collection of Underpaid /unpaid Wages(SB198), and 2/2/15--Elimination of the CC Deduction for Tipped Wages(SB 199); 2/26/15 Paid Family Leave (HB 624) and 3/6/15-- (SB541); 4/20/15- Mandatory Statewide Employer-paid Sick Leave (SB221) and 2/26/15-Paid Sick Leave for Certain Employees(HB 624).
At the present time there is no General Assembly proposed legislation on issues such as Affordable Child Care
2. At the present time (May 2015) the Governor has defined addressing public school education and its financing as a priority. It is probable, then, that issues such as Equal Pay will remain at the Committee level for the immediate future. It is reasonable to believe that 2015-2016 may be a year, however, in which the above list of bills could be addressed. At the least, it will be a year to bring strong pressure on both the Legislature and the Governor demanding action on these bills. (For the purposes of the AAUW- PA Public Policy Challenge, the focus will be on PA legislation. However, remaining alert to calls for PA member action on proposed federal legislation, such as Paycheck Fairness (SB 862 and HR 620) certainly is expected)
Main Activity GOTV: AAUW-PA will initiate a campaign on Voter Registration Law to open up registration opportunities for all voters. It will identify and work with coalitions/allies in this initiative.
Background: There is no pending Voter Registration legislation on the books. The last bill HB 954 of 2011-12 requiring Voter IDs was struck down and not contested.
We note as well the formation in 2013 of the non-partisan Pennsylvanians for Fair Elections in conjunction with the League of Women Voters LWV of Greater Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania’s Voter Regulations are restrictive, even in comparison with states contiguous to it. Sorely lacking, for example, are provisions for “no excuses” absentee ballot, online requests for absentee ballots, and online voter registration. (See Ohio for comparison)
GOALS
A. During 2014-15 branches over time see themselves more assuredly as part of an active public policy coalition of 40 branches with power to effect legislation and change in their state as well as in their local communities and districts. As members and branches experience this growing perception and change of self-image, they will increase commitment to and engagement in advocacy at all levels.
B. At the branch, district, and statewide levels, AAUW-PA will develop coalitions and mobilize for advocacy on Pay Equity and related legislation (i.e. Minimum Wage, Paycheck Fairness, Family Paid Leave) and Voter Registration laws. In 2014-2015 AAUW-PA’s forty(40) branches were challenged to meet the Public Policy Goal of having all forty act to initiate at least one public policy activity during the year. With only a few exceptions, they rose to the challenge, with some taking this step for the first time. Ten (10) branches worked on AAUW-PA Mini-Impact Grant Award projects. Beyond this, participation of members from across the state in Advocacy/Lobbying training rose from approximately 15 in 2013-2014 to 45 in 2014-2015. A number of branches worked with partner organizations (e.g. LWV and C/Us, the YWCA, Neighborhood Centers, a county Women’s Advocacy Coalition). We believe we are ready to stretch toward a major statewide initiative in coalition building and legislative advocacy. The goals summarized in this Impact Grant application constitute the AAUW-PA Public Policy Challenge for 2015-16. .
In 2014-2015, AAUW-PA joined with the Campaign for Fair Funding PA coalition. AAUW-PA Public Policy Co-Chairs attended a number of events sponsored by a variety of organizations working on issues related to Education: NAACP PA Education Funding Workshop; Educational Policy and Leadership breakfast for Education status report, Communities in Schools breakfasts, Planned Parenthood Dinner. If branches are to become more invested in coalition building and legislative advocacy, the entire leadership at the state level must model both on behalf of AAUW-PA.
· In May 2015, branch presidents/public policy officers will receive a letter describing the 2015-2016 Public Policy Challenge on Pay Equity and Voter Registration Legislation and Coalition Building Worksheets for brainstorming (See Appendix A). The goal of the survey is to have all 40 branches create a coalition building list of organizations, individuals, and groups including those with which members already have, or have had, some affiliation. The letter also encourages branches to make early arrangements for 2015-2016 Candidate Debates, Issues Forums and Town Hall Meetings. This is timed to coincide with the transition to new officers and program/event planning for 2015-2016.
· The June 2015 AAUW-Public Policy Monthly Highlights e-mail ‘newsletter’ to branch presidents, public policy officers and state board members again will describe the 2015-2106 Challenge and encourage branches to plan related programs as well as advocacy initiatives. Highlights will also provide a copy of Impact Grant Application Timeline for reference. Again, this is timed to coincide with the transition to new officers and program/event planning for 2015-2016.
· The July 2015 Summer AAUW-PA meeting will feature presentations by Ron Cowell, President, The Educational Policy and Leadership Center. (AUW-PA remains committed to continuing its advocacy on Education; its year-old Education Committee will facilitate this to a large degree). Mr. Cowell will speak to the value of coalitions and strategies for building coalitions in his presentation. The Public Policy Co-Chairs’ Power Point presentation will include an outline of goals, illustrations of activities and summary of the plan for tracking, publicizing up-to-date legislative status information and for providing resources/tools for lobbying on Pennsylvania Pay Equity and Voter Registration issues.
· Beginning in August, monthly Public Policy Highlights will feature coalition building tips, best practices, and success stories on coalition building and advocacy
· In September Public Policy Co-chairs will call every branch president/public policy officer to answer questions, offer suggestions, and provide cheer leading for branch planning and actions of Impact Grant goals.
· In October our three District Meetings will include presentations on an aspect of the goal issues (most probably on Pay Equity/Economic Sufficiency); Power Mapping breakout sessions; and attention to media use and strategies.
· In Fall 2015, branches/members will initiate meetings with new and/or potential coalition partners on women’s economic issues; they will be following tracking reports and responding to calls for letters to newspapers and legislators, phone calls and visits to legislators. In short, they will be rising to the 2015-2016 Challenge of Coalition building and action.
· By January 2016 advocacy coalitions among AAUW-PA branches and other organizations will be planning for a RALLY/Lobbying event in Harrisburg and locally. Rally and Lobby date(s) will be dependent on Legislative calendar and progress/status of bills.
C. While AAUW-PA and its branches will turn attention more to Harrisburg and issues related to Voter Voting Restrictions, in fall 2015 branches also will be encouraged to stretch beyond present comfort zones in local voter registration drives:—those who have never held a voter registration, those who have worked entirely on their own, and those who have collaborated with C/Us or the familiar ones such as LVW will reach out to join with or invite additional and less familiar organizations to work with them. They will include in their target populations under-represented individuals.
· As an incentive to, and support for, both the branches and possible, new collaborators, each branch will receive a digital and one hard copy of a Voter Registration Toolkit for their use and for distribution to other organizations. (See the 2014 Voter Toolkit created by the Bucks County Women’s Advocacy Coalition (BCWAC), including AAUW –Levittown-Lower Bucks and Doylestown branches, and distributed to county organizations and agencies serving under-represented populations.) ** Final Approval from BCWAC to use sections of this is pending.
D. Finally, AAUW-PA at every level will address the use of media from two perspectives: 1) increased proficiency, confidence about, and use of social media; 2) attention to strategies for garnering media coverage of programs and events including those related to AAUW-PA Public Policy Challenge issue and activities.
SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES
A. Ideally, AAUW-PA and coalition partners will be successful in advocacy: Pennsylvania will have enacted strong Pay Equity laws/economic sufficiency laws. Short of this, AAUW-PA at every level will have increased its visibility, name and mission recognition and heightened legislator awareness of its issues and constituent power.
B. AAUW-PA branches will have participated in and measurably increased Pay Equity and related women’s economic issues ADVOCACY activities in Pennsylvania.
C. AAUW-PA branches will have become active collaborators in initiatives to move the PA General Assembly to revisit the state’s Voter Registration Regulations to address proposals for NO excuse absentee ballots, online requests for absentee ballots, and early voting.
D. AAUW-PA—it members, branches, and state board will have measurably increased the breadth and depth of collaborative partnerships for work at local, district and state levels.
E. AAUW-PA branches will report a broadened population of individuals they registered to vote, an expanded group of partners for GOTV Voter Registration, and an extended range of sites.
F. AAUW-PA will have measurably increased its member capacity to use social media on behalf of AAUW-PA, its members and its mission and made measurable progress in securing media coverage for its programs and activities.
CHALLENGES
A. The big question looming over plans for legislative advocacy on Pay Equity or Voting Regulations is: how protracted and all-consuming will be the legislative debate on Governor Wolf’s budget and his proposals related to Public School Education Funding? The second challenge is the general tenor of the legislature, with a Republican majority. (Illustrated by the Senate’s passage of the “Pre-Emption and Local Employer Leave Act” passed on April 14, 2015) There is no immediate or obvious ‘solution” to these challenges. However, a lesson learned this year in our work on Education is broadly applicable as one option: legislative staff is very attentive to a staggered campaign of letters to the editor (a “say it once, say it again, and say it again over time” strategy) from a broad spectrum of constituents. A Public Policy task will be to say it again, and again, and again to branches that staggered campaigns are a most effective way to get the attention of legislators, and to help organize such campaigns, especially on the Pay Equity bills sent to committee chairs and members, as early as possible in 2015-2016. SPPCs also will be reaching out for advice about additional strategies and approaches to many others, from AAUW staff, SPPCs from other states to leaders of organizations in Pennsylvania sharing our goals.
B. Changing perceptions—like those of the power potential of 40 branches—does not happen easily or quickly. Persistence, cheerleading, modeling, providing tools and resources, and staying in touch (monthly highlights, phone calls, etc.), a sense of humor, high expectations balanced by the realism of “stumbling forward’ (to borrow a phrase from Susan Gobreski of Education Voters PA) and “strategic patience.” are what we will bring to this challenge.
C. The pull of public policy issues and advocacy is still not strong among most of our PA branches. The prior AAUW Public Policy Impact grants awarded to AAUW-PA have demonstrably helped to move members and branches beyond voting to support public policy resolutions at an Annual Meeting while for the most part still sitting back to let a few do the advocacy work to bring about change. As we’ve worked this year with help from the 2014-2015 Public Policy Grant, however, we believe we have seen from the work of branches and heard from more members than anticipated, a growing respect for the value of public policy initiatives. We aren’t at critical mass yet, but the numbers and attitudes about engagement are definitely on a significant upswing. One challenge is to identify and provide the incentive(s) that will spark and/or keep the flame alive when the going or progress seems slow or out of reach.
MAIN AND SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES
Main Activities Examples / Supplemental Activities ExamplesTown hall meeting with elected official(s) / Call-in day to elected official(s)
Issue forum with coalitions and allies / Online and offline petition
Candidate forum with coalitions and allies / Voter registration
In-district meeting with elected official(s) / College or university tabling event
State capital legislative advocacy day / House meeting/party with advocacy action
Petition or postcard delivery to elected official(s) / Twitter storm targeting elected official(s)
Public rally / Submit letters to the editor
Voter education / Write a blog post with a personal story
Member-led organizing and advocacy training / Voter guide
Tweet chat with coalition and allies and/or elected official(s) / Other activity
Other activity: Coalition Building
Main activities chosen: ALL IN BOLD. In 2014-2015 all of the Main activities listed with the exceptions of Tweet Chat with coalition and allies and/or elected officials and a Voter Education program were held by at least one branch, often by at least two or three branches, or by AAUW-PA itself. It is expected that this will be the case for 2015-2016. “Other activity” includes Branch boards/committees/members’ participation in the Coalition Building Worksheet exercise and Power Mapping sessions as well as Coalition outreach meetings/events as fundamental activities. We also will give special attention to the Tweet chat with coalition and allies and/or elected officials, beginning with planned Twitter training (possible Webinar). Focus will be on coordinating and sequencing these activities for maximum impact in relation to the legislation outline in our Goals statement.