2025 Session: Aligning with the Trump Agenda
The 2025 Florida Legislature opens its 60-day session tomorrow (Tuesday, March 4), and whether it's rounding up immigrants, implementing a state DOGE initiative, weakening gun regulations, knee-capping citizen-led initiatives, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, or expanding school vouchers, the GOP supermajority appears hell-bent on finding ways to align with the agenda of the Trump administration. Lost in that mix are any meaningful efforts to address the issues Floridians really care about: affordable housing, skyrocketing property insurance, access to health care and reproductive health services, climate change, and voting rights.
With the Governor piling on with his extreme agenda, progressive ideas face an uphill battle in Tallahassee, and effective action will require strong partners and focused attention. In 2025, BAM is concentrating its advocacy in five priority areas: climate change, local control & protecting state parks; public health & reproductive rights; ending gun violence; voting rights, and public education. Find out more about these priorities and ways to track bills and advocate for issues you care about here. And take action today!
URGENT! A bill to make it even harder to get citizens-led amendments on the ballot has been assigned to a committee. But we can kill it if we convince the chair not to schedule it on the committee's agenda. Call Rep. Linda Chaney (850-717-5061) TODAY and urge her not to schedule HB 1205 and to protect the citizens-initiated amendment process. Follow up by sending this letter to local legislators in support of direct democracy!
Sign up! Join thousands of other voters in staying informed and voting on real, pending bills by signing up for the Digital Democracy Project. Find out more about this online advocacy tool and how it can be used to influence legislators at the FL Legislative Session Mobilization Workshop on Tuesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. Click here to RSVP and get the ZOOM link.
Celebrate Women's History Month
March is Women's History Month! Celebrate by attending these events at the Beach and
learning more about the history of the suffrage and early feminist movements in Jacksonville:
Join Jax NOW & the BookMark on Wednesday, March 12 from 6-7 pm for Rona Recommends! The BookMark owner, Rona Brinlee, will talk about good books written for, and/or about women. This popular annual event at the bookstore (220 First Street in Neptune Beach) will include light refreshments and lots of lively conversation.
The League of Women Voters will host the readings of two informative and timely plays by noted Jacksonville playwright Toby Armour at 4 pm on Saturday, March 15 at the Beaches Museum Chapel (505 Beach Blvd, Jax Beach). The special afternoon will celebrate the fight for women's suffrage! No tickets are required.
The Road to the 19th Amendment Did More than Just Pass Through Jacksonville
Hands Off Our Data! Tesla Rally
Nearly 150 people participated in last week's rally to protest Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s unfettered access to our personal data. The rally, organized by BAM, Indivisible Mandarin, and Indivisible St. Johns County, was part of a nationwide effort to push back on the Trump administration’s blatant attempts to undermine the Constitution and grant unchecked power to an unelected billionaire. Held outside the Tesla service center on Atlantic Blvd, the rally garnered national and local media coverage, and received an overwhelmingly positive response from passing motorists! Find more photos here and here.
More Things To Do!
Support Ukraine - Appalled by the ambush in the Oval Office last week? Demonstrate your support for Ukraine with a donation. Here's a link to the Ukrainian government's official fundraising site and Charity Navigator's list of rated recovery and relief agencies. You can also sign this letter of support, drafted by People Power United, to President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people. And, continue to call out our elected officials! Congressman John Rutherford has a strong record of supporting Ukraine. Thank him for his past efforts and urge him to speak up! Click here for talking points. You can reach him, as well as Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, through the Capitol switchboard - (202) 224-3121.
Beaches Watch Town Hall - Beaches Watch will host a town hall on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. at the Beaches Library featuring At-Large City Council members Matt Carlucci, Chris Miller, and Ron Salem, along with District 13 City Council member Rory Diamond.
Rally for Accountability - Several local groups will hold a rally in front of Sen. Rick Scott's office on Tuesday, March 4 at 5 p.m. to demand that he address the concerns of his constituents. The event, part of a nationwide effort by 50501, is sponsored by Indivisible St. Johns County, Our Sister's Keeper and the Jax Queer Coalition.
Comments