The For the People Act

1/11/19

Leslie is joined by Abigail Disney, a member of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of hundreds of high-net-worth Americans who are committed to making all Americans better off by building a more prosperous, stable, and inclusive nation.

The two discuss the 'For the People Act,' the first resolution of the new Democratic led House of Representatives.

Here are the highlights of what H.R. 1 contains:

Protecting and expanding voting rights and election security:

-Automatic voter registration
-Online voter registration
-Same day voter registration
-Make election day a federal holiday
-Voting rights restoration to people with prior felony convictions
-Expand early voting and simplify absentee voting
-Prohibit voter purges that kick eligible voters off the registration rolls
-Enhance election security with increase support for a paper-based voting system and more oversight over election vendors
-End partisan gerrymandering by established independent redistricting commissions
-Prohibit providing false information about the elections process that discourage voting and other deceptive practices

Reduce the influence of big money in our politics:

-Require secret money organizations that spend money in elections to disclose their donors
-Upgrade online political spending transparency rules to ensure voters know who is paying for the advertisements they see
-Create a small donor-focused public financing matching system so candidates for Congress aren’t just reliant on big money donors to fund their campaigns and set their priorities
-Strengthen oversight rules to ensure those who break our campaign finance laws are held accountable
-Overhaul the Federal Election Commission to enforce campaign finance law
-Prohibit the use of shell companies to funnel foreign money in U.S. elections

Require government contractors to disclose their political spending
Ensure an ethical government accountable to the people:

-Slow the revolving door between government officials and lobbyists
Expand conflict of interest law
-Ban members of Congress from serving on corporate boards
-Require presidents to publicly disclose their tax returns
-Overhaul the Office of Government Ethics to ensure stronger enforcement of ethics rules
-Require members of the U.S. Supreme Court abide by a judicial code of ethics

(Here is a link to the full text of H.R. 1 - www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1)

More on our guest today, Abigail Disney, and her incredible background.

Abigail is a filmmaker, philanthropist, activist, and the Emmy-winning director of The Armor of Light. As CEO and president of Fork Films, the documentary production company behind the groundbreaking Pray the Devil Back to Hell and PBS series Women, War & Peace, Abigail is committed to stories that create dialogue across divides and move the needle on social change. She has executive produced and supported over 90 projects through Fork Films’ funding program. Additionally, Abigail is the founder and president of Peace is Loud, a nonprofit that uses media and live events to highlight stories of women stepping up for peace. Recently, Abigail co-founded Level Forward, a new entertainment model and enterprise in which profit and principle go hand in hand. The company, formed in partnership with Killer Content, builds on the legacy of making stories that matter, with a commitment to innovation, inclusion and impact.

You can follow her on Twitter, where her handle is @AbigailDisney. The Twitter handle for the Patriotic Millionaires is @PatrioticMills, and their website is www.PatrioticMillionaires.org.