Take Back Kentucky Legislative Action Alert
Support: House Bill 70 – Restore Former Non-Violent Felon’s Right to Vote
2/22/2016
Call 1-800-372-7181
Sponsor(s): D. Owens, G. Brown Jr., L. Belcher, T. Burch, M. Denham, D. Floyd, J. Glenn, D. Graham, J. Greer, J. Hoover, M. Marzian, J. Richards, T. Riner
Status:
- May 19, 2015 – Prefiled by the sponsor(s).
- Jan 05, 2016 – introduced in House; to Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H)
- Jan 21, 2016 – posted in committee
- Feb 01, 2016 – reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
- Feb 02, 2016 – 2nd reading, to Rules; posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Wednesday, February 3
- Feb 04, 2016 – 3rd reading, passed 82-9
- Feb 05, 2016 – received in Senate
- Feb 08, 2016 – to State and Local Government
- Feb 11, 2016 – reassigned to Judiciary(S)
Committee: Senate Judiciary
Timeframe: Committee meets @ 10AM every Thursday in Annex Room 154
Message is for: Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, All Senate Leadership, and Your Senator.
Message: “Pass HB 70 as is, no amendments, and restore non-violent felons voting rights. The time is now for them to come in out of the darkness and start being participates in society with proper representation”
Optional: E-mail the legislators on the committee. Example e-mail address:Firstname.Lastname@lrc.ky.gov . If that doesn’t work they have a contact page on their informational page.
Information: TBK has been a supporter of HB 70 and continues to do so. For some of our newer subscribers this may come as a surprise or maybe not. We understand it is a rather complex subject matter to some, or maybe shaped by preconceived notions. However, we feel once all the arguments are heard and biases are put aside, this is an easily understood liberty issue we all should get behind.
Reasons to support HB 70:
- This legislation is for non-violent offenders
- If the Judicial/Prison system has deemed someone safe to be in society then they should be able to vote in that society, they have paid that debt off.
- Further if they must now live in society and pay taxes in that society then they should have representation in that society.
- Voting is a fundamental right of being a Citizen and you become a Citizen again once you have paid your debt to society.
- In today’s society with the increasing laws it is quite possible anyone could become a felon quite easily, in fact writing a cold check over a certain amount can do it. Studies have also shown that on average the US Citizen breaks 3 Federal laws or regulations every day that would make them a felon if caught, things most people would probably never consider a violation.
- Remember that the DHS Lexicon published a few years ago along with several state agencies across the country even labeled people with certain beliefs as potential terrorists. Some of those people include Gun Advocates, Pro-Life, Libertarians, Animal Rights Activities and Environmentalists. With such a broad brush by our government it is quite clear anyone could become a potential felon.
Considering all these points, not restoring a FORMER Felon’s right to vote is creating a group of 2nd Class Citizens in this country.