AND WE'RE BACK! (Pics or it didn't happen!) 

The Legislative session kicked back off on Wednesday with huge crowds to support gun safety in our communities. You can follow along with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition (and partners like us!). Even if you missed this rally (or were still waiting in the giant line to get in!), there will be plenty of  oportunities throughout the session to make your voice heard.

We are entering the Second Regular Session (the 2nd and final year of the cycle before the next election). That means it starts faster and ends sooner (hopefully by late April). We already have three priority bills scheduled for hearings: National Popular Vote today (with Mainers for Modern Elections),  a bill to expand comprehensive sexuality education tomorrow (with Maine Family Planning), and a bill to decriminalize drug use on the 17th, with the Maine Drug Policy Coalition. As always, we'll highlight bill schedules in the calendar below, and our bill tracker is refreshed and regularly updated here.

Our bill priorities are available here, with links to more information and resources. This will be updated regularly with huge thanks to Brenna Six Mayer, our MSW intern from Columbia University, who is supporting our policy work this year. Thanks, Brenna!

Also hot off the presses for this session:  freshly updated downloadables along with tools and resources in our Take Action Toolkit.

We hope to see you tomorrow at Gender Justice Day at the State House - a chance to connect with many 'outside the dome' orgs working on gender equity, skills building, State House tours, and more. Mileage and caregiving reimbursements are available. If you can't make it tomorrow, there will be chances to build those advocacy muscles All. Session. Long. We can't wait.

In solidarity,

Destie, Dania, Catie, Brook, & Brenna

HIRING CORNER! 

Are you looking for us?! We're looking for you! We're hiring an Advocacy Coordinator. If you love this newsletter and wish you could write it - along with leading action opportunities, election work, and feminist fun, take your resume for a spin over at the MANP job board.

Maine's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women is hiring their first executive director. They hope to have a diverse applicant pool, so please share this job description far and wide with your networks.

Weekly Calendar

The weekly House Calendar is here. The weekly Senate Calendar is here.

January 8

10:00 - LD 1578 - PH - An Act to Adopt an Interstate Compact to Elect the President of the United States by National Popular Vote (Bell)

January 9

1:00 - LD  254 - PH - An Act to Update the Sex Education and Consent Curriculum (Daughtry)

1:00 - LD 1421 - PH - An Act to Provide Funds to the Maine Indian Education School District (Brennan)

1:00 - LD 1642 - PH - An Act to Strengthen the Teaching of Wabanaki Studies in Maine Schools (Osher)

January 10

10:00 - LD 1834 - PH - RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish an Officer on Tribal Relations (Talbot Ross)

January 11

1:00 - LD 2001 - PH - An Act to Establish the African American Studies Advisory Council and Require Funding for African American Studies (Talbot Ross)

1:00 - LD 2075 - PH - An Act to Protect Health Care Workers from HIV (Perry)

**Not sure about the difference between a PH (public hearing) and a WS (work session)? Check out our How-To here!

January 9, 2024 / Gender Justice Day at the State House / 9am - 12pm  ...A way to connect women, girls, femme and nonbinary people to legislative advocacy and lift gender justice from the ground up! Learn more and register here.

January 25, 2024 / Paid Family & Medical Leave Online Listening Sessions Start / 5:30 - 7pm. The Maine DOL announced four informal listening sessions to gather more information from you – Maine people invested in the success of the new paid family and medical leave program.  To learn more visit here.

Maine Feminist Events Calendar

We're celebrating!! Last month, Lawmakers in DC started a *BRAND NEW* bipartisan, bicameral legislative working group on paid leave. Could this signal a changing tide for PFML?!

We’re working with partners to continue pressure on the House and Senate leadership to secure the $16B needed to keep childcare stable. The loss of pandemic-era funding is forcing thousands of childcare centers to close.  Now that Congress is back from the holidays, they must deal with the budget, and we can expect that childcare will be taken up no sooner than April. Now is the time to take action: a full toolkit on Childcare Stabilization is available here.

This weekend was the second anniversary of the armed insurrection at our nation's capital. This oldie but goodie reminds us of the deep connections between far-right extremism and misogyny: Misogyny in the Capitol: Among the insurrectionists, a lot of angry men who don’t like women

Whether it’s at 4 weeks or 24, returning to work after having a baby can be challenging in many ways. To support this transition our dear pals the Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition & Let’s Go! (a program at MaineHealth Community Health), developed a great toolkit of resources for preparing to return to work.