Tuesday E-News Brief, 8/07/07, What do you think?

In This Issue

• What Do You Think About the E-News?
  
• Floridians Storm the YearlyKOS Convention
  
• Palm County Dems Pitch In to Help Teachers
  
• Democrats Fight to Reduce Insurance Rates for Florida Homeowners: In D.C., Klein & Mahoney Introduce Groundbreaking Insurance Reform and in Tallahassee, Gelber Fights Back Against Insurance Company Hikes
• Sen. Nan Rich Calls for More Oversight of Foster Care
• Dems Makes Huge Investment in Education
• DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project

What Do You Think About the E-News?

At the Florida Democratic Party, we're always striving to improve the way we communicate with Democrats across the state. To this end, we hope you will take less than one minute of your time to complete a very brief survey about our online communications:

http://www.fladems.com/survey

Floridians Storm the YearlyKOS Convention

Pasco County DEC Chair Alison Morano and more than 20 other Florida Netroots activists attended the YearlyKOS Convention held this past weekend in Chicago. Alison blogged her experience for Florida Democrats on our website. You can see all her exclusive interviews, in-depth reports, and behind-the-scenes photos at:

http://www.fladems.com/yearlykos

It's great to see the growing Florida Netroots participating on a national scale!

Palm County Dems Pitch In to Help Teachers

On August 12, the Palm Beach County Democratic Party will be hosting their third annual picnic. The event is designed to help provide public school teachers with desperately needed educational supplies. The picnic will be held at the John Prince Park in Lake Worth. Admission is free, but a donation of school supplies is suggested. For more info, please call the Palm Beach Democratic Party at 561-433-1112.

Democrats Fight to Reduce Insurance Rates for Florida Homeowners: In D.C., Klein & Mahoney Introduce Groundbreaking Insurance Reform and in Tallahassee, Gelber Fights Back Against Insurance Company Hikes

Last week Democratic Congressmen Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney introduced the Homeowners Defense Act of 2007 to address the growing crisis in the affordability of homeowners insurance. The legislation focuses on stabilizing the catastrophe insurance market by expanding private industries' capacity to cover a natural disaster and helping states to better manage risk. As of today, the Homeowners Defense Act of 2007 has the support of 35 Members representing 20 states. With insurance rates skyrocketing ever higher in Florida, this important legislation couldn't have come at a better time.

Meanwhile, some insurance companies in Florida may be pocketing the savings that the Florida Legislature delivered them in January and not passing on the savings to everyday Floridians. House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber isn't going to take that lying down. In a letter to Gov. Crist requesting that the issue be addressed during the upcoming special session, Gelber wrote, "The property wars have commenced...We have seen that even when we pass legislation to deal with a crisis, those with other agendas are nimble enough to find a loophole or avenue that allows them to escape the spirit and reach of our efforts."

Sen. Nan Rich Calls for More Oversight of Foster Care

In the wake of recent scandals involving children in the care of the state, Sen. Nan Rich (D-Weston) has called for a special select committee to investigate Florida's child-welfare system. "I believe this committee needs to look at children in foster care, but it also needs to look at the child welfare system as a whole," Rich wrote in a letter to Senate President Ken Pruitt. With the help of Leader Gelber in the House, Rich hopes to have a joint committee appointed in time for the Legislature's Sept. 18 special session.

Dems Makes Huge Investment in Education

The Democratic Congress has made the largest investment in college aid since the GI Bill with the passing of the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, which vastly increases the amount of Pell Grants available to college students while radically decreasing the interest rates attached to student loans. Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-17th) worked especially hard to create $170 million in grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. "As a graduate of Florida A&M University, I know firsthand the integral role HBCUs play in educating future leaders of our community... The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 is a landmark piece of legislation that future generations will remember as the GI Bill of our era," Meek wrote in a guest commentary for NNPA newspapers.

DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project

The Democratic National Committee is conducting an in-depth nationwide survey to collect critical data on voting practices and procedures at the local level. Working with local election boards, the DNC is examining the election mechanics in each state, flagging potential problems and election administration issues that threaten to deprive citizens of their right to register and vote. The DNC, in collaboration with the Florida Democratic Party, is working to ensure that EVERY vote is counted in 2008.