Oregon's elections are dominated by huge contributions. The Oregonian says that campaigns for the Oregon Legislature are the most expensive in America per capita, except New Jersey. Single Individuals and single corporations often make contributions in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates. It now costs $600,000 to $1 million to win a contested race for the Oregon Legislature, even though a seat in the House can be won with as few as 12,000 votes. No wonder that the long-standing State Integrity Investigation of the Center for Public Integrity and Public Radio International in November 2015 gave Oregon an overall F grade on avoiding corruption in state government, as well as Fs on political financing, executive accountability, lobbying disclosure, and ethics enforcement agencies. Oregon's overall rank fell from 14th to 42nd, the biggest drop of any state. It's time for Oregon to join the other 45 states with limits on political contributions.

Any day now, the full California Assembly will take a final vote on AB 700, the California DISCLOSE Act (Gomez-Levine), and strike the biggest blow yet against the unlimited secret money unleashed by Citizens United. AB 700 requires that ballot measure ads and ads about candidates by outside groups clearly disclose their top three true funders — on the ads themselves. TV and video ads will display the top 3 true funders in easy to read text on a black background on one-third of the screen for a full 5 seconds. There are similar powerful rules for ads on radio, in print, online, even robocalls. Equally important are rules for earmarking to identify true funders when they try to hide behind shell groups with misleading names. It's time to stop the deception! Assemblymember Baker is a key vote. Sign and share the petition urging her to vote “Yes” on AB 700 before it's too late!

Congressional gerrymandering in Ohio by Republicans has ensured that they control 12 of 16 districts; even though our state is considered balanced - or "purple". These districts as drawn have no regard to city, county or township lines; such as Scioto County being split in half between the 2nd and 6th Congressional Districts. For more, please read: http://workplace.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2016/01/24/1-help-to-end-gerrymandering.html

The Cannabis Advocacy Community is a broad spectrum of voices including social justice, industrial hemp, and patient's rights. The Marijuana Task Force created by the Ohio House is not diverse - and also includes two architects of ResponsibleOhio - the corrupt Issue 3 campaign using the Ohio Constitution to create a cartel. This hurts Ohio as a state and Ohio's future standing in the national cannabis economy and policy.

The idea that the wealthiest few so control the legislature as to prevent it from imposing common-sense, data-driven taxation policies is harming the labor force and thereby the chances at Washington state improving economically. It's past time that the state of Washington enact a progressive income tax.

Establish food sovereignty and security for the State of Indiana. Indiana is one of the worst States in the Union in providing fresh, quality food to thousands of residents who need it. In addition, many urban and rural residents in our State live ten miles or more from a supermarket, farmer's market or food pantry. Establishing a local foods production and distribution law is the first step in reorganizing our food system to meet the needs of all of our residents and put an end to draconian laws that prevent access to fresh, healthy food and eliminate the rise of "food deserts" once and for all.

I am starting this petition because i am worried about the establishment rigging our caucus and primary processes.

Donald Trump's racism and bigotry is being welcomed with open arms by Florida Republicans. Right now, Republican legislators are trying to enact two pieces of legislation inspired by Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric - further spreading fear and xenophobia across Florida. Both of these proposals are nothing more than attacks on immigrant families, and would place undue burden on local governments, school districts, and law enforcement across the state of Florida. One of the proposals, sponsored by Republican Representative Carlos Trujillo of Miami, would charge immigrants with a third-degree felony if they violate a deportation order. The second proposal, sponsored by Republican Representative Larry Metz of Yalaha, would fine local government, law enforcement and school personnel who do not report undocumented immigrants. I am sick and tired of politicians attacking immigrant communities! Neither of these bills seek to find a common sense solution to address our nation’s broken immigration system, and would only undermine the trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement. An editorial from the Tampa Bay Times recently called these proposals “burdensome” and told the Florida Legislature that immigration policy “should be addressed by Washington,” not Tallahasse. Florida politicians should not get a free pass as they attack immigrant communities. Please join me and tell Florida Legislators to reject anti-immigrant legislation inspired by Donald Trump.

I started this petition not because of my own interests, but because of those around me who are directly impacted by the ongoing budget crisis that Rauner has perpetuated. The state can't pay it's bills. Tax refunds won't process until March (if they actually do process) which negatively impacts the people who count on those refunds to help pay bills. We voted for the right to recall our Governor and it a think it is high time we exercised that right. Here are the details of the vote below. The Illinois Governor Recall Amendment, also known as House Joint Constitutional Amendment 31, was on the November 2, 2010 ballot in Illinois as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment where it was approved. The proposal allowed voters to recall the governor and required that at least 20 state representatives and 10 state senators, equally balanced from each party in each chamber, sign a notice of intent to recall the governor before a petition can begin to be circulated. So contact your state Senator and state Representative and ask them to create and sign the required notice of intent to recall the governor. I don't want to wait an additional three years to see what kind of mess our state is in should Rauner serve out his term.

The traffic court system disproportionately impacts low-income and people of color in San Francisco by creating an endless cycle of court-ordered debt that is difficult to break. Current policy in San Francisco uses driver’s license suspensions as punishment for people who cannot pay exorbitant fines and fees. “Quality of life” citations, such as jaywalking or sleeping in a public place, also lead to bench warrants and driver’s license suspensions. Unpaid fines and fees then get transferred to a private debt collection agency that aggressively pursues any outstanding debt. Due to exorbitant fine amounts and reduced access to courts, driver’s license suspensions create barriers to sustainable employment, harm credit, and keep people in long cycles of poverty that are impossible to overcome. License suspensions and attempts to collect these fines and fees from low-income people have no positive impact on public safety. In reality, these practices undermine public safety by limiting the ability of low-income people to access living wage employment, social services, and pay for essentials such as food, clothing, and shelter. Debt Free San Francisco is a coalition that includes Community Housing Partnership, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, All of Us or None, and the Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco. We are working to eliminate the impacts of court-ordered debt on our communities, and urge the City and County of San Francisco to end practices that result in crippling debt for its residents.

The Flint water crisis has once again drawn this law's fatal flaw into the spotlight. What good is a Freedom of Information act if the very arms of government that often need investigating the most are protected from any form of legitimate recourse to find out "who knew it, and when did they know it?" A CEO I knew once said, 'if a policy is stupid, send me a memo with the subject line of "this is stupid." Well, let's send both the governor and our legislature a "this is stupid" memo that will resound through the halls of Lansing so loudly, they'll have no choice but to change it.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in Congress to repeal provisions of the recently passed visa waiver program reform bill that categorically barred European citizens from the program who happen to be dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan. Different countries have different laws about nationality, which means, for example, that some European citizens are "nationals" of Iran if their father happened to be Iranian, even if they never set foot in Iran in their entire lives. [1] Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI), John Conyers (D-MI), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) have introduced H.R. 4380, Equal Protection in Travel Act of 2016. [2] Similar legislation is also being introduced by Senators Jeff Flake (D-AZ) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). [3] The Obama Administration supports the legislation. [4] Because the visa waiver program is reciprocal with Europe, passage of this legislation will protect US citizens who are dual nationals from discrimination when they travel to Europe. Urge Members of Congress to co-sponsor this legislation to repeal discrimination by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/congress-visa-waiver-iran-iraq-syria-sudan-217714 2. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4380 3. http://www.niacaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Flake-Visa-Waiver-Bill.pdf 4. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/congress-visa-waiver-iran-iraq-syria-sudan-217714