Vanderburgh County Democratic Party
Central CommitteeEdie Hardcastle, Chair; ediehardcastle@gmail.com
Nick Iaccarino, Vice Chair
Alex Burton, Political Director
Cheryl Schultz, Treasurer
Melissa Moore, Secretary
Democratic Indiana State Representative Ryan Hatfield files his candidacy for re-election while holding his daughter.
Indiana House approves Hatfield amendment to lower prescription drug prices
January 29, 2020
News & Media, Member Featured
Indiana House Democratic Caucus
INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D-Evansville) today offered an amendment to House Bill 1005, that allows Indiana to import certain prescription drugs, already used in the United States, from Canada to help lower prescription drug prices.
“Hoosiers have been crippled by the high cost of prescription drug prices for far too long,†said Hatfield.
“This amendment will allow us to import certain prescription drugs from Canada to ensure that Hoosiers have a safe and effective pathway to more affordable health care.
“Promoting competition in the prescription drug industry, through similar legislation, has already been implemented by the Republican governor in Florida and supported by President Trump,†continued Hatfield. “Accessible health care is not a partisan issue.â€
Currently, Colorado, Florida, Maine and Vermont have passed similar legislation to create a drug importation program.
This amendment passed with a vote of 49-44.
Indiana has the 3rd worst maternal mortality* in the country, a rate that puts Indiana on par with Iraq and Samoa. From 2013 – 2017, the U.S. had a maternal mortality rate of 29.6 out of 100,000 births; Indiana had a maternal mortality rate of 50.2 out of 100,000 births. Mexico, at 38 per 100,000, had a lower maternal mortality rate than the state of Indiana from 2013 – 2017. To give those numbers some perspective, in 2015, Australia had 6, Germany had 6, the United Kingdom had 9.
Likewise, our infant mortality rate is the 7th highest in the country.
In June, Democratic State Senator Jean Breaux introduced an amendment that would combat these abysmal numbers by providing Medicaid resources for pregnant women. But the decision was voted down along party lines, with 100% of Republican senators voting against women and children.
Note: Should you attempt to find data on maternal mortality rates from Indiana on the State Department of Health website, the data is not available. Links that might appear to get to that data only take you in a circle. You are instructed to send email to KAle@isdh.IN.gov , presumably, to obtain it. https://www.in.gov/isdh/27319.htm
Renewable Energy Day, January 7, 2020. Activists met with their legislators to ask them to transition Indiana to renewable power.
Action Request:
HB 1414
Call Your State RepresentativesThere’s a bill at our Statehouse that needs everyone’s action to stop it. It’s currently in the House.HB 1414 would block the electric utilities from retiring a coal plant unless the federal government mandated the retirement. Alternatively a coal plant could be retired if proved to not be in the public interest, which would add time, red tape and expense to the retirement process.
Indiana law requires investor-owned utilities to create a plan every two years to identify resource investments to meet electricity requirements. Utilities are directed to choose the resources with the lowest reasonable costs taking into account risks and uncertainties over a 20-year planning horizon. HB 1414 overrides this consumer protection law. Â Not the utilities, the customers, the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC), the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), the Mid-continent Independent System Operator (MISO), nor Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has said there is any need to change the current planning law or to stop coal plant retirements.
Coal plants are being retired because the 20-year planning analyses indicate that maintaining the coal plants cost the ratepayers more than newer, cleaner alternatives. That is exactly how the process was designed to work. Â The coal industry should not be allowed to override laws created to protect utility customers from abuse.
This bill is not necessary; coal is not required to provide reliable electricity. This bill forces ratepayers to pay for the most expensive and highest risk source of generation. Coal pollution raises our health costs and shortens our lives.
Arctic ice is melting, oceans are rising, and forests are burning. We need to quickly move away from fossil fuels. Delaying the transition is immoral. This bill is immoral.
(***If you don’t know who your Senator or Representative is, find out here.)
State Senator Vaneta Becker, Senate District 50 1-800-382-9467 or s50@iga.in.gov State Senator Jim Tomes, Senate District 49 1-800-382-9467 or Senator.Tomes@iga.in.gov State Representative Matt Hostettler, House District 64 1-800-382-9841 or h64@iga.in.gov State Representative Ron Bacon, House District 75 1-800-382-9841 or h75@in.gov State Representative Wendy McNamara, House District 76 1-800-382-9841 or h76@in.gov State Representative Ryan Hatfield, House District 77 317-232-9622 or 1-800-382-9842 or h77@in.gov State Representative Holli Sullivan, House District 78 1-800-383-9841 or h78@iga.in.gov
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pushed back on the GOP’s argument that Democrats are using the impeachment procedures to oust President Donald Trump from office, and said that the impeachment trial is about the high crimes and misdemeanors he committed through his office. Jeffries cited the work Democrats have done with the President on bipartisan bills that addressed lowering healthcare costs and criminal justice reform. “We don’t hate this President, but we love the Constitution,” he said. “We love our Democracy.” Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in December on two articles – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate will now decide whether to convict trump of those charges and remove him from office, or acquit him.
Saturday, February 8
9:00am – 11:00am
Evansville Central Library
200 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Evansville Indiana 47713
Local state legislators are invited to make themselves available to answer questions from the audience on the second Saturday of each month during each year’s legislative session.
Doors open at 9 am. Sessions start at 9:15 am and end at 11 am.
MYL sponsors are the Evansville Teachers Association, the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, League of Women Voters of SWIN, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 136, Teamsters Local 215, United Neighborhoods of Evansville, and Valley Watch.
Sessions are made available for streaming on the WNIN website under Regional Voices. Direct links will be posted as they become available.
Any Democrat interested in attending this precinct committee training session is welcome, even if they are not currently precinct committee-persons. It’s an excellent opportunity to find out how things work.
Mardi Gras Fundraiser
for
At-Large City Councilman
Jonathan Weaver
Tuesday, February 25
5:00 – 7:00pm
Myriad Brewing Company
101 S.E. 1st St., #1
Evansville, In 47708
History of Women’s Suffrage and “First†Women in Politics – the Southwest Indiana Experience
Roberta Heiman for LWVSWIN has developed a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation that she is presenting to local civic organizations and classrooms.  She will reach several thousand people with this talk during 2019-2020.
