Burgundy and Gold

Here are links to some helpful websites:

www.ladiesauxvfw.org   - Information can be obtained concerning the special “Legislative Alerts”

www.vfw.org                       -Also has updated information on legislative issues

www.house.gov                 -U.S. House of Representatives

www.senate.gov                -U.S. Senate

www.whitehouse.gov       -Whitehouse

http://capwiz.com/vfw/mlm/signup.html   - Sign up for VFW Washington Weekly

 

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IMPORTANT PROGRAM DOCUMENTS

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We have provided a place here for you to download all of the information that we distribute to you through our Program Book and Bi-Monthly Chairmen's Bulletins.  You will need Adobe Reader, it is a Free program and can be downloaded here  Get Adobe

PROGRAM

            Legislative PAC Program

 

 

   BLACKOUT SHEET as of Jan 11, 2010

   Blackout Sheet as of Feb 14, 2010

Legislative and Political Action Committee Update February 2010:

Ladies there is an ACTION ALERT, a need to write letters to Senators in your district. The VFW Department Chairman Bill Manes just emailed this to me.  Assembly Bill 498 is sponsored by the VFW, Department of California.  The bill has recently been passed by the Assembly and will now face committee hearings in the State Senate.  It is important that we have some legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of this bill, particularly in the Senate Committee on Transportation. Mr. Manes  is “requesting that you contact the Posts who have members who are constituents of the Senator, and get them to send letters on behalf of this bill.  Post and District officers could send letters on behalf of their organizations, but the important goal is to get at least a dozen letters from individual constituents to each Senator. 50 letters would be even better! as per Bill.”

The purpose of the bill is noted in the sample letter copy below:

The Honorable _________

California State

Senate, District#

State Capitol

Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Senator ___,

I am a member of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post ____ in ________.  I am writing in support of the bill AB 498 which has been passed by the State Assembly and will be referred to the Committee on Transportation and Housing.  I request your support of this bill in the Committee.

Currently, the ex-Prisoners-of-War are not required to pay fees for the specialized license plates on their vehicles.  This bill would allow them to obtain the California Veterans License Plate instead of the ex-POW plates, under the same conditions.  For some of these veterans, the display of the ex-POW plates tends to identify a particularly traumatic experience in their lives.  This bill would provide a simple remedy for such a problem. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely, (Sender’s name and address)

Senator Tom Harmon District 35:  covers Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Los Alamitos,  Seal Beach most of Fountain Valley, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, La Palma, Tustin, and small portions of Anaheim, Buena Park,  Santa Ana and  Westminster

State Senator Alan Lowenthal is the Chair of this Committee, and represents the area of some of the Posts in District 4 and Senator Oropeza is a member of the Committee and represents part of District 4.

State Senator Bob Huff is the Vice Chair of this Committee, and represents the area of some of the Posts in Districts 5 and 6.

State Senator Roy Ashburn is a member of this Committee, and represents the area of some of the Posts in Districts 9 and 24  

 State Senator Mark DeSaulnier a member of this Committee, and represents the area of some of the Posts in District 25.

Ladies I have been trying to email you this information and I have had some undeliverable mail.

Please update your email address with the Department office.  Please email me at RPellechi@yahoo and I can provide a soft copy of this action alert letter.

In December the National President Jan Tittle and her traveling party visited a National Guard Unit in Rancho Cordova.  Several of the Guard Officers raised their concerns about the benefits of the National Guard.  I contacted the California VFW legislative chairman Bill Manes and he confirmed this concern about the benefits not being the same as for other veterans.  There is a

VFW priority goal “Military Quality of Life.” This goal is to “ensure the active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops receive increased pay, affordable healthcare and adequate housing and work facilities for themselves and families.  The VFW is aware of the differences in the benefits for the National Guard.

Finally I have a personal goal to be 100% in reporting by March 31^st.  Well we are at 38.33 % for Legislative reports and only 25% for PAC donations.  I will begin calling the Auxiliary presidents next week requesting reports being sent in and PAC donations.  Please bring your reports to the Department of California Ladies Auxiliary meeting in Merced March 12 and save the postage!

Remember to “Quack for PAC” or ”Pass the bucket for PAC.”  Send all PAC donations to the Washington DC office  200 Maryland Avenue N.E. Washington DC, 2002 30 days after the fundraiser.

 “It is time for America’s Military Heroes…Service to Our Veterans is Love in Action…”

These sentiments speak to the importance of our legislature and the VFW Political Action Committee.

 Call me at 916-688-8974 or email RPellechi@yahoo.  I will update the black out sheet soon

 

Rebecca Pellechi

Department Legislative and Political Action Committee Chairman