From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Wed Jun 1 11:49:52 2016 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2016 11:49:52 -0700 Subject: Please call your CA assembly member now to oppose AB 2844 Message-ID: Please call your CA Assembly member now and ask them to oppose AB 2844. This bill attempts to restrict our right to boycott and is intended to silence those critical of Israel's occupation, apartheid and other violations of human rights and international law. The bill is scheduled to be heard on June 2, so please call now. Sacramento area Assembly member numbers are below, if you aren't sure who your Assembly member is, go to: http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ Simply identify yourself and say you are calling to ask the Assemblymember to vote no on AB 2844. You can give a short reason for your opposition or just say you want them to vote no. More info: Although AB 2844 has been amended for the time being to remove specific reference to Israel and immediate imposition of sanctions against companies who boycott Israel, it still is attempting to undermine our constitutionally protected right to boycott. As currently written, AB 2844 would waste our taxes by requiring the CA Attorney General to: 1) maintain a list of all companies that "engage in discriminatory business practices in furtherance of a boycott of any sovereign nation or peoples recognized by the government of the United States" and 2) determine the constitutionality of banning such companies from entering into public contracts. Discrimination is already illegal. Boycotting human rights violating governments should not be penalized. Although this bill is part of the Israel lobby's attempt to try to stop successfully boycott and divestment practices aimed at changing Israeli abusive policies, it would apply to any governments. For more information, below is the floor alert being sent to all Assembly members Sacramento Area Assembly members: Kevin McCarty Tel: (916) 319-2007 Fax: (916) 319-2107 Ken Cooley Tel: (916) 319-2008 Fax: (916) 319-2108 Jim Cooper Tel: (916) 319-2009 Fax: (916) 319-210 9 Bill Dodd Tel: (916) 319-2004 Fax: (916) 319-2104 Beth Gaines Tel: (916) 319-2006 Fax: (916) 319-2106 James Gallagher Tel: (916) 319-2008 Fax: (916) 319-2108 If you can, please also call these Assembly leaders: Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon 916-319-2063 Majority Floor Leader Ian Calderon (916) 319-2057 Majority Whip Miguel Santiago (916) 319-2053 Democratic Whip Nora Campos (916) 319-2027 Asst. Majority Whip Evan Low (916) 319-2028 Minority Floor Leader Chad Mayes (916) 319-2042 The important thing is to call today! They will be voting on so many bills Thursday that they won't have time to read up on all of them in their latest, amended forms. Assembly Floor Alert Why AB 2844 still must be defeated Coalition to Stop AB 2844: stop.1551.1552 at gmail.com; 916 407-2814 (message line) AB 2844, narrowed by constitutionality concerns to the extent that its own author no longer supports it, remains highly problematic for many of the same reasons that plagued it from the start. It should be defeated altogether. BACKGROUND In its April 17 analysis, the Assembly Judiciary Committee identified "insurmountable" constitutional defects of the then-current version of AB 2844. These included conditioning a government benefit (contracting) on businesses waiving their right to free speech in the form of boycott, and singling out boycotts of only one country - Israel - for such a penalty. The analysis emphasized that political boycotts are protected by the First Amendment unless they involve other kinds of unlawful conduct. Amendments incorporated on April 26 failed to address either problem adequately. In its title and extensive declaratory language, AB 2844 still singled out critics of Israeli policies. Although it made a boycott punishable only if it constitutes a "discriminatory business practice," such practices are already prohibited under California law, as noted in the Appropriations Committee analysis of May 9. Thus the implication was that boycotts of Israel are per se "discriminatory," in which case the bill was unconstitutional for the same reasons as the original version. THE LATEST VERSION OF AB 2844 AB 2844 as passed by Appropriations on May 27 was further amended to remove mention of Israel. The Attorney General (AG) is charged with compiling a list of all companies that "engage in discriminatory business practices in furtherance of boycott" of any recognized sovereign country. Additionally, the AG is charged with determining the constitutionality of banning such companies from entering into public contracts. Nine committee members, including the bill's author, Assembly Member Bloom, voted not to send it to the floor. A bare majority, however, advanced the bill. The defects of the latest version of AB 2844 are as follows: . AB 2844 still alludes - if surreptitiously and deceptively - to boycotts of Israel. The title, "Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions of Recognized Sovereign Nations or Peoples," borrows the name specific to the call by Palestinian civil society to use economic and moral pressure to influence Israel to end its human rights violations (commonly referred to as "BDS"). Additionally, even if not mentioned in the bill, Israel is currently the country whose policies are most commonly challenged by boycotts called for by human rights advocates; proponents and authors of the bill openly identify themselves as hostile only to boycotts of Israel. . AB 2844 still unconstitutionally singles out politically motivated boycotts for special scrutiny. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that it is precisely political expression, including political boycotts, that must be accorded the highest First Amendment protection against government interference. . As before, the bill requires the AG to extensively investigate California businesses to compile the list of those that engage in "discriminatory business practices in furtherance of a boycott." The Appropriations analysis estimated a cost of $1.2 million a year for this task. Not included is the cost of litigation over constitutionality, or costs incurred by other public agencies. . Given their track record, Israel advocacy groups are likely to inundate the Attorney General's office with complaints alleging that any boycott of Israel is a priori "discriminatory." . Existing law already prohibits companies from engaging in discriminatory business practices, and in fact bans such companies from public contracts. Therefore AB 2844 is at best entirely superfluous, adding only the unconstitutional singling out and scrutinizing of companies that engage in political boycott, and by implication, especially those regarding Israel. It's worth noting, however, that the bill language requires similarly unconstitutional targeting of boycotts regarding any number of other countries. . Every civil rights legal organization that has weighed in on AB 2844 has warned of the constitutional defects that arise when the state seeks to suppress political boycotts. These include the ACLU, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild and Palestine Legal. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Mon Jun 13 15:46:37 2016 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2016 15:46:37 -0700 Subject: Protect free speech & economic activism: Help stop AB 2844! Latest Alert Message-ID: Please take action and share this alert: Protect free speech & economic activism: Help stop AB 2844! (Last updated 6-12-16 ? Check back for further updates) CA Assembly bill AB 2844 attacks non-violent efforts to end Israel?s violations of international law and human rights including its occupation, illegal settlements, home demolitions, apartheid laws, and extrajudicial killings. TAKE ACTION NOW: Call or email your CA state Senator and members of the Judiciary Committee ? see contact info below. You can simply state your opposition to AB 2844 or use the talking points below. The CA Senate Judiciary Committee will hear the bill on Tuesday, June 28, 1:30pm. Please contact SabeelSacramento at gmail.com if you can attend the hearing and/or help with lobbying. Contact information: ?You can find your State Senator member here: http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov ?Sacramentans: For those who live in the Sacramento Area, our State Senator is Richard Pan. Email him at senator.Pan at senate.ca.gov or click here to email him through his website. You can also call him at (916) 262-2904 or send a fax (916) 914-2179. Tweet: @DrPanMD ? Members of Senate Judiciary Committee: Send one message to the Judiciary Committee by cutting and pasting their emails: Senator.Jackson at senate.ca.gov; Senator.Moorlach at senate.ca.gov; Senator.Anderson at senate.ca.gov; senator.Hertzberg at senate.ca.gov; Senator.Leno at senate.ca.gov; Senator.Monning at senate.ca.gov; Senator.Wieckowski at senate.ca.gov Or contact each Committee member separately: Hannah-Beth Jackson Chair: Senator.Jackson at senate.ca.gov. Click to email thru website. Phone: 916-651-4019. Tweet: @SenHannahBeth John M. W. Moorlach: Senator.Moorlach at senate.ca.gov. Click to email thru website. Phone: 916-651-4037. Fax: 916-651-4937. Tweet @SenatorMoorlach Joel Anderson: Senator.Anderson at senate.ca.gov. Click to email thru website . Phone: 916-651-4038. Fax 916-691-4938. Tweet: @JoelAndersonCA Robert M. Hertzberg: senator.Hertzberg at senate.ca.gov. Phone: 916 651-4018 Fax: 916-651-4918 Click to email thru website. Tweet: @SenateHertzberg Mark Leno: Senator.Leno at senate.ca.gov. Phone: 916-651-4011. Fax: 916-651-4911. Click to email thru website. Tweet: @MarkLeno Bill Monning: Senator.Monning at senate.ca.gov. Phone: 916-651-4017. Fax: 916 651-4917. Click to email thru website. Tweet: @billmonning Bob Wieckowski: Senator.Wieckowski at senate.ca.gov. Phone: 916-651-4010. Fax: 916-651-4910 Click to email thru website. Tweet: @BobWieckowskiCA Sample talking points: The following points apply to AB 2844 as introduced. The bill was significantly amended by the Assembly Appropriations committee in May, removing the most egregious points. However, the author has stated his intention to reinsert language during the Senate proceedings in a way to accomplish its original intention. Therefore the following are still of great concern: ? AB 2844 violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. ? AB 2844 seeks to penalize companies who choose not to do business with Israel as a means of suppressing those who oppose the Israeli government?s well-documented abuses. It would deny businesses the ability to make even economic decisions. In fact, the state of Illinois is now facing possible lawsuits from businesses due to similar legislation it has passed. ? Your state tax dollars should not be used to promote the Israeli government while it is engaged in egregious well-documented violations of human rights and international law. And California legislators need to be on the right side of history and not be bullied by the Israel lobby to defend Israel?s abuses. ? Boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) are time-honored non-violent tactics that have been used by human rights advocates around the world to help bring about justice, including ending apartheid in South Africa and supporting the civil rights movement in this country. ? Contrary to the claims of AB 2844?s author, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, the tactics of BDS are NOT being used to ?attack Jews? or ?destroy the state of Israel? ? they are being employed by those supporting Palestinian human rights to end Israel?s abuses. ? AB 2844 is an attempt to silence those many Jews, including Jewish Voice for Peace, and many others who support using BDS as a tool to end Israel?s occupation and other violations of Palestinian rights. Support Palestinian rights: Sign petitions & take actions www.sacbds.org/petitions -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: