Preemption is popping up again in Pennsylvania

While it’s back to school for many of us, it’s back to work for Pennsylvania’s full-time legislature – which means some legislators are (once again) trying to overturn Philadelphia’s paid sick and safe days law passed in 2015.

Since 2013, Pennsylvania’s lawmakers have introduced and moved numerous pieces of legislation that would allow them to interfere with paid leave laws. The Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces and their members stopped each bill so far. However, the latest attempt, HB 861, would take away not just Philadelphia’s law but many other local measures protecting workers from wage theft, gender discrimination, and unequal pay.

This practice of state interference, also known as preemption, pops up again and again across the country. The National League of Cities 2018 preemption report lists 162 preemption laws that have passed nationwide - including 19 laws created in 2017. These laws invalidate local democracy in favor of corporate interests who feel they can oppose laws more easily in 50 state capitols than they can in local governments nationwide.

Our network in Pennsylvania could use your help ensuring that local laws remain in place to protect the people who support them. Paid sick and safe days, wage equity, and gender nondiscrimination create a more equitable workplace for everyone, especially women, people of color, and the LGBT community. Here's what you can do:

• Contact your local member of the PA House Committee on Labor and Industry to share your thoughts on HB 861. 
• Here's a sample phone script: "Hi my name is __________, and I live in __________, PA. I'm calling today to ask you to oppose HB 861. City and county residents and lawmakers should be able to decide the laws that are right for their community. Please do not pass a law that interferes with our local democracy."
• [UPDATED 10/2/18] - On October 1, HB 2071, which allows employers to opt out of certain local labor laws at their discretion, came out of committee and was immediately voted on and sent to the Senate. While this law was written in response to a Philadelphia ordinance regarding bulletproof glass, it is written in vague enough terms that it might be used to apply to other workplace laws. Please call your Senators and ask them to oppose this bill.
• Here's a sample phone script: "Hi my name is __________, and I live in __________, PA. I'm calling today to ask you to oppose HB 2071. City and county residents and lawmakers should be able to decide the laws that are right for their community. Please do not pass a law that interferes with our local democracy."
• Check back on this page for updates!

LIFT UP Pennsylvania Parents and Families on May 22!

PathWays PA and the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces are proud co-sponsors of this event! Please join us on May 22 in Harrisburg!

Help us bring some parent power to Harrisburg on Tuesday May 22! Whether you’re a parent or ever had one, it’s time to speak out! In celebration of Mother’s Day, we're calling on PA legislators to LIFT UP Pennsylvania parents and families!

Join us to:

• shine a light on the importance of paid leave, equal pay, minimum wage, and supporting pregnant and breastfeeding parents in the workplace. and
• bring forward challenges in our immigration and justice systems that have dire impacts on parents and families, and most especially on communities of color, including gun safety, the school-to-prison pipeline and maternal justice.

Are you a parent or caregiver, ever had a parent, or just like parents? Then bring yourself, your friends, and / or your group to join the action. Here's the plan for the day:

• 11am on the capitol steps: We're reading messages from parents across the commonwealth, and flying kites!
• 12pm: Rally and Press Conference in the main rotunda
• 1pm: Dropping off materials and messages (on kites!) to legislator offices.

This is a great and impactful way to make your voice heard. Everyone is welcome, whether you're a new advocate or old pro. Bring your kids, grandparents, neighbor or coworkers. We'll have lunch and shirts (but you need to RSVP to be guaranteed either) RSVP here -https://action.momsrising.org/survey/PA_May22/

See you there!!

Jessica's Story - Why We Need Paid Family Leave

In August 2013, I found a lump in my breast. It came out of nowhere. I have no family history, I don’t have the BRCA gene. But, at age 29, I had an eight month old baby - and stage II breast cancer.

Over the next six months, I took FMLA and (unpaid) administrative leave from my work so I could juggle treatment and motherhood. After six rounds of chemo, a bilateral mastectomy, and 6 weeks of radiation treatment, I returned to work – only to learn three months later that the cancer had spread to my bones. My company said I needed to wait at least another three months to be able to use FMLA again, but that was time I didn’t have. After going back on administrative leave, I was later forced to terminate my employment.

I’m coming up now on my two years since my second diagnosis. My cancer has stayed in my bones, which is good, but with Stage IV cancer, treatment is always changing. I’m at the hospital for chemo every three weeks, plus scans, plus doctor’s appointments – it’s been impossible to go back to work. I get Social Security, but it is not nearly what I was making before. My husband works, but living on one income is almost impossible in this country. And he doesn’t get any paid sick days, so it’s very hard for him to take time to help me when I am sick.

Being younger and having this happen to you – we never had a chance to build up a savings account or 401K. We were planning to buy a house, and we had to use all those savings for medical bills. Sometimes it feels like we are totally scrambling and losing everything because of something I couldn’t control.

It would have meant everything to have paid family leave, or for my husband to have it now. We wouldn’t have to worry so much about cutting things for our daughter. Eloise is 3, but she can’t go to preschool because we have to pay medical bills. If my job had paid family leave, maybe I wouldn’t have had to choose between treatment and my job. I wanted to find a way to continue to work. Even if I had paid family leave just that first time I was diagnosed, maybe we would have had enough money to buy a house. We could have had child care. Our savings could still be intact.

People ask me all the time “Well, don’t you have insurance?” They don’t realize that you’re still paying out of pocket for lots of tests, lots of treatment, and a lot of your time is spent out of work and in doctor’s offices. Insurance is great, but it can only take you so far. I want to work, not to be on disability. I want to have the option of maintaining a normal life while living with chronic – yes, eventually it will be terminal, but so far it’s been chronic – illness. I would love to continue to work because my family would be in a much different financial situation and I had a really good job.

I just don’t you think you should have to go bankrupt because you’re sick.

Preemption Threat Over, But Domestic Violence Bill Still Needs You!

Last night, Senator Hughes made a motion to revert HB 1796 to a prior printer’s number, eliminating the preemption amendment. The motion passed 26-22. Please take a moment to thank everyone who voted to help end the threat of preemption!

Thank you to everyone who made calls and spoke to their legislators, and a special thanks to our anti-domestic violence advocates and PCADV in particular.

The saga of HB 1796 continues, however. This bill, which passed unanimously in the House and was set to sail through the Senate until the preemption amendment was attached, is now marked as "over" for the day. In other words, the Senate doesn't plan to vote on it today, and since this is the last day of the session, it is the last day for votes. Unless we take action now, we will have to start over with this bill in January.

PCADV has put out an action alert asking everyone to reach out to their Senators right now. Please take a minute to do so.

STEP 1:
Please take the next 5 minutes and call your senators with the following suggested script— Harrisburg office numbers can be found here:

“My name is _______________ and I am a constituent of Senator ______________. I am asking the Senator to please support running House Bill 1796 for final passage today. It is currently marked “over" on the Senate calendar.
[If your Senator voted to revert the bill yesterday evening— click here to see roll call] I also want to thank the Senator for voting to revert House Bill 1796 to prior printer’s number 2870 yesterday.
His/Her vote supports victims of domestic violence who a faced with help or homelessness. Thank you for your time.”

STEP 2:
Click here to send a message to your Senator thanking them for their support on the motion to revert yesterday and urging them to run the bill today. If your Senator did not vote to support the motion to revert please change the message body to only include support for a final vote.

Finally, the gun rights legislation (the “Alloway Amendment”) that was nearly added to HB 1796 yesterday was instead added to HB 80. That bill is expected to run. You can call your Senators to comment on that bill as well.

Take Action: Stop Big Business From Vetoing Local Laws!

Right now in Pennsylvania, big businesses are trying to take away local rights to pass earned sick days and domestic violence leave laws.  Below is more information about this attempt, and ways that you can take action:

Don't Limit Our Rights in Pennsylvania

I want to have a voice in my community – that’s why I vote, take part in local hearings, and go to school board meetings.

I’m not alone. Pennsylvanians value our ability to make decisions that affect our schools, our neighborhoods and our communities. We know what works best in our backyards.

But some legislators in Harrisburg think they know better. They are trying to limit our rights and silence our voices with statewide legislation. What’s worse is that this legislation introduced by Rep. Grove (York) would hurt middle class and working women and families, like mine.

What we really need is for Harrisburg to stand up for all of us. To fight for policies that help create good jobs statewide, not to try to put an end to local efforts to support our families and strengthen our economy.

To read more and sign this petition, please visit http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/don-t-limit-our-rights-in-pennsylvania.

No corporate veto on our local laws

Right now in Pennsylvania, some legislators are trying to deny us our right to decide democratically what's best for our local communities. They are working with corporate lobbyists to push statewide legislation that would stop cities and counties from passing laws about paid sick days, living wages and other workplace reforms that would help middle class and working women and families – families like yours.

Instead of trying to block local efforts to support our families and strengthen our economy, our legislators should be working in Harrisburg to create jobs.

Tell them to stand up to the corporate lobbyists to vote against these efforts to stop local communities from voting on earned sick days, decent wages and other modern workplace reforms.

Please call your state representative right now and ask him/her to oppose HB 1807.

To find the phone number for your legislator, please visit http://act.keystoneprogress.org/call/HB19807Call/.