DC Statehood Greens announce the party's 2007-2008 legislative agendaThe DC Statehood Green Party Monday, March 19, 2007 Contact:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The DC Statehood Green Party has introduced its 2007-2008 legislative agenda, with a range of positions on health care, education, housing, taxation and budget, democracy and statehood for the District of Columbia, and many other issues. The text of the legislative agenda is on line, on the party's home page <http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org> under 'Testimony.' "The DC Statehood Green legislative agenda, along with our party platform, express what our party stands for. It's a guide for Statehood Green candidates for public office, and for party activists involved in local issues," said David Schwartzman, coordinator of the Statehood Green Party's Tax and Budget and Legislative Agenda Committees. The DC Statehood Green Party has two candidates running in the May 1 special election: Renee Bowser, for the Ward 4 seat on D.C. Council <http://www.reneebowser.com/ward4.php>, and Mai Abdul-Rahman, for the District 2 (Wards 3 and 4) seat on the D.C. Board of Education. Statehood Greens now call themselves D.C.'s 'second party,' since the DC Statehood Green Party has replaced the Republican Party in terms of electoral participation and numbers of votes received by candidates. The legislative agenda address the District's budget, and urges adoption of the Fair Budget Coalition's budget recommendations for Fiscal Year 2008. On March 23, Mayor Adrian Fenty will announce his 2008 budget, and Statehood Greens are urging the Mayor and Council to address economic inequality and injustice in the District: "Any budget surplus should go to better meet essential needs of D.C. residents, especially of our youth.... Because of continuing under-funding of federal assistance to all states and the District of Columbia and chronic under-funding of essential programs, especially since the Control Board regime, the District government must rely on its own tax base to better meet essential needs of its residents. This will require modest tax increases for wealthy residents, elimination of corporate welfare including closure of loopholes, thereby insuring a sustainable revenue stream for the future as well as a fair tax burden. The District does have the tax base to improve the quality of life for all its residents. The District now has the highest income inequality and the lowest life expectancy in the nation." The agenda emphasize the party's leadership in the movement for democracy and statehood for the District of Columbia, with support for a local legal holiday on October 1 to rally residents behind statehood and self-determination. The party endorses the agenda of Save our Schools <http://www.saveourschoolsdc.org/index.html>, which opposes Mayor Fenty's plan to strip the D.C. Board of Education of its powers. The Statehood Green legislative agenda also recommend several new initiatives, including the following:
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