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Our Legislative Priorities for 2008

Submitted by legislative on December 13, 2007 - 6:32am.

In October, Virginia NOW’s legislative task force surveyed our membership about their legislative and policy priorities. We had 162 online responses and 6 emailed or snail-mailed responses. 

The survey described 10 policy/legislative issues and asked respondents to rank them from 1 (highest priority) to 10 (lowest).  The ten issues are listed below with the percent of respondents who ranked the issue as one of their top 3:
Health insurance (60%)
Access to contraception (48%)
Ending violence against women (46%)
Emergency contraception availability in the emergency room for rape victims (38%)
Getting women elected to public office (34%)
Child support enforcement (20%)
Universal pre-K education (20%)
Putting women’s needs in Virginia’s budget (19%)
Mass transit (13%)
Affordable housing (13%)

From the list of priorities, we grouped "access to contraception" and "EC in the ER" into the umbrella term “reproductive rights.”  Therefore, the top three legislative priorities for 2008 will be expanding health insurance coverage for women, ensuring reproductive rights including contraception, and supporting initiatives aimed at reducing domestic violence and sexual abuse against women and girls.

"Getting women elected to office" was ranked highest by 34% of the respondents, and we know that this will remain an important priority for Virginia NOW.  It is not a legislative issue, however, so it’s not included in our list of priorities.

Why are these priority rankings important for Virginia NOW members?  During the 2008 legislative session, over 4,000 bills are expected to be introduced as well as the biennial budget.  Given our limited resources, we want to focus on the issues that are most important to our members and provide you with accurate information and ask for your support (or opposition) to bills in a timely manner.  
Just because we will focus on these three areas does not mean that we will ignore other issues that rise to an increased level of scrutiny, depending upon their impact on women and women’s rights and issues.  

If you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact Tarina Keene (legislativevp@vanow.org) or NOW's lobbyist Becky Bowers-Lanier (becky@macbur.com) or Marj Signer (president@vanow.org). 

A note of interest: Eighty percent of the survey respondents are members of Virginia NOW.  Respondents also belonged to a variety of other organizations, including the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, Planned Parenthood, the American Assn of University Women, and at least 37 other organizations!

 

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