Did you miss the 2024 ACLC Candidate forums? Not to worry, the recording is up and running!

Unfortunately, the file size was too large to upload as a single video, so we had to upload it in pieces. Visit the links in order from top to bottom to view the forums in their entirety.

Florida State House District 22 (part 1)

Florida State House District 22 (part 2)

Florida State House District 22 (part 3)

Alachua County Commission (part 1)

Alachua County Commission (part 2)

Gainesville City Commission (part 1)

Gainesville City Commission (part 2)

Gainesville City Commission (part 3)

The 2024 ACLC candidate questionnaires are starting to arrive. Click below to read where the candidates stand on issues important to Alachua County’s working class!

Link to 2024 ACLC candidate questionnaires page

On Tuesday, April 23rd, members of the community came together to celebrate two women who have dedicated their lives to service and advocacy in their community.

Guests mingle at the retirement party for Gaby Gross and Sheila Payne.

Family and friends brought food and festive attitudes to the Spacebar in Gainesville. People of all ages who have been impacted by Gaby Gross and Sheila Payne conversed and danced in commemoration of their decades of work in Alachua County and the surrounding area. We want to thank them once more for the work they have done in the fight for worker’s rights. Sheila and Gaby both received beautiful pieces of protest art (If anybody has pictures of Gaby and Sheila receiving them, send them to us!) and we want to thank Melissa Hawthorne for securing the art and getting it framed.

Sheila and Gaby strike a triumphant pose

Sheila became active with the Labor Coalition immediately after retiring from the post office, where she was a member of the American Postal Workers Union. Sheila’s dedication and passion is extraordinary- today the Pine Ridge community in northwest Gainesville would not be habitable without her the work and advocacy of Sheila Payne, and she played a crucial leadership role in securing free phone calls for inmates in the Alachua County Jail. These are just a couple of the numerous accomplishments and victories that Sheila has helped secure for working people in Alachua County. We wish her well as she continues her journey in New York.

Sheila and Zefnia Durham, president of ATU Local 1579, grab some food.

Gaby, who has been active with the Labor Coalition for many years, has announced that she will be retiring. We want to thank her once more for the decades of hard work and accomplishments that she has committed to this community. Without Gaby, the work that we have done on the Just Health Care Committee would not be possible. She has also been our “petitioner-in-chief” and has played absolutely critical roles in petition-gathering campaigns. Gaby’s unrelenting willingness to do what’s right and consistently show up and work for just causes is an inspiration to future generations.

Gaby receives a round of applause.

We want to also thank Jackie Bets and Jason Fults for playing a pivotal role in organizing and cleaning up the event, as well as all of those who showed up to support Gaby and Sheila and brought food for this event!

ACLC supporters have a chat outside of the party venue.

THANK YOU GABY AND SHEILA

Spacebar owner Rayn Sheppard serenades the crowd

On Friday, April 12th, Governor DeSantis signed HB 433 into law, a bill that prohibits cities and counties from putting workplace heat regulations into place that would help protect outdoor workers from heat stress conditions, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. This state government continues to turn their back on workers in Florida in the face of a climate crisis that is making the state unaffordable and unsafe for working class people. In addition to repealing all heat protection regulations, this bill repealed and prohibits municipalities from imposing or maintaining “living wage” ordinances beginning in late 2026 These ordinances require companies doing business with local governments to pay a living wage to their employees, the amount of which is determined by the local government. This means the City of Gainesville and Alachua County living wage ordinances that the ACLC worked to enact will be repealed.

This is a disappointing outcome, and the ACLC will continue to fight against these cruel policies. The reality is that the people making these laws were elected, and the only way to ensure protection for the working class is to elect different people.

There is a great need for voter registration and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts in North Central Florida, and while many working people feel disillusioned with politics, the ACLC has been able to bring folks back into the fold and get them registered at an impressive rate, but we cannot implement our efforts at the scale that is required without help. Now is the time to activate people in our community who have been left out of the conversation, because we simply have no other choice. Please donate to the ACLC today to help us expand our voter registration and GOTV campaign. Please also sign up to volunteer for our Voter Registration and Empowerment team.

Tomorrow @ 5:30 PM

GRU Admin Building (301 SE 4th AVE)

The GRU Authority will once again target the Government Services Contribution (GSC) at their meeting tomorrow. And in what appears to be a purely vindictive move, they will also be targeting one of Gainesville’s most successful affordable housing programs. We really need you to come to the 5:30 PM meeting tomorrow to let them know the community opposes both ideas. Brief background information on both proposals is below.

NEW PROPOSAL TO ELIMINATE GSC: According to Wednesday’s agenda, James Coates will bring forward a proposal to halt all GSC payments until the Authority makes a final decision on the fate of the transfer. GSC funds would be held in escrow under his proposal. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to eliminate the GSC, which would trigger layoffs, financial crises at many of our local nonprofit organizations, and painful reductions in city services. The GSC was spared by a tied vote at the last meeting, and there is every reason to expect any future motion to resume GSC payments would similarly fail in the face of a tie.

Last time they considered eliminating the GSC, public outcry successfully persuaded them to table the discussion until after holding a joint meeting with the City Commission, which is scheduled for later this month. We can and we must use public pressure to beat back this assault on our community once again.

PROPOSAL TO ELIMINATE SUCCESSFUL AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM: In what is perhaps the most vindictive GRUA proposal to date, staff will be recommending that GRU stop collecting funds for the City’s ConnectFree program as part of a bundle of potential cuts to agreements and associations with the City. ConnectFree funds come from connection charges paid by new developments in unincorporated Alachua County. Without these funds, the City cannot continue operating the program, which provides financial assistance to low-income households to connect their water and wastewater to GRU’s systems. I cannot overstate the importance of this program, since its implementation in 2015, it has:

• Helped to build over 500 affordable homes for Gainesville residents
• Brought in nearly $100 million in outside state, federal, and private sector investment for affordable housing in Gainesville
• Built hundreds of units of affordable senior and veteran homes leveraging state and federal funds
• Returned roughly $150 in outside investment for every $1 funded into the program

This proposed elimination of ConnectFree via starving it of funds is mean-spirited and makes no fiscal sense. The financial impacts statement accompanying the proposal in the agenda backup makes this plain, reading “This will have no direct impact on GRU. It will remove the funding source of the GG [general government] ConnectFree program.” You read that right. They are proposing to starve the City of funds just for the fun of it.

Bullies will not stop until they are stood up to. Let’s show them that Gainesville residents will not be bullied!

Photo of commission chair Mary Alford and activists after the Medicare for All resolution had been adopted (taken by Takumi Sullivan, Multimedia Coordinator for Alachua County).

The following is a press release authored by Stephan Ramdohr (Florida Medicare for All), Candy Bird (Medicare for All Florida), Patrick Haley (Students for a National Health Program-UF Chapter), and Dr. Gerald Stein (Physicians for a National Health Program), and Dr. Bobby Mermer (Alachua County Labor Coalition)

On Tuesday, December 12th, the Alachua County commission voted to adopt a nonbinding resolution endorsing Medicare for All.

This effort was organized by Medicare for All Florida, Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and the Alachua County Labor Coalition. Dozens and dozens of Alachua County residents also supported the resolution by signing a petition, which was submitted to the county commission. “We are happy to support Medicare for All,” said Commission Chair Mary Alford, sponsor of the resolution, upon its unanimous passage.

The resolution supports federal legislation, H.R.3421, the Medicare for All Act of 2023, which has already been co-sponsored by a majority of House Democrats. The number of co-sponsors currently stands at 112.

“I am covered with Medicare myself right now, but I want my children and their children to have the same access and ability to receive all the healthcare they need,” said Candy Birch, a board member of Medicare for All Florida, a statewide nonprofit organization advocating for guaranteed healthcare for all. “When we successfully encouraged Key West and Gainesville to adopt a Medicare for All resolution, I felt that Alachua County should also be on the record in favor of Medicare for All.“

“Since 1999 the Alachua County Labor Coalition has worked tirelessly to win national single-payer health insurance through educating the public and policymakers alike on its benefits. Medicare for All would be a boon for working families across the country,” said Dr. Bobby Mermer, coordinator of the Alachua County Labor Coalition. “If a national single-payer insurance system is adopted, these families will no longer be tied to jobs they hate just to keep their health coverage. When tragedy strikes, they would be able to focus on caring for their loved ones instead of spending sleepless nights figuring out how to pay for their coinsurance or copayments. What’s more, the overall cost of health care in the United States would shrink, finally putting the insatiable cash monster to sleep.”

“Almost half of people in Alachua County are either uninsured or underinsured causing restrictions in their ability to get recommended care. The bottom line is that a large proportion of Americans are sick and vulnerable while insurance companies profit,” said Patrick Haley, president of the University of Florida chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP). “The answer is Medicare for All. This means no more surprise bills, freedom to change doctors and choose hospitals, no more holding off going to the doctor for fear of your bill, and according to the Congressional Budgeting Office, higher wages, increased disposable income, and improved health and longevity.”.

The U.S. Bureau of the Census’ American Community Survey as of 2020 shows that 8.3% of non-institutionalized civilians in Alachua County had no health insurance, which means that an estimated 23,000 residents may be uninsured. And that does not count the many Alachua County residents who are underinsured, or have other problems receiving the care they need in the current healthcare system.

The ACLC Board voted at its November, 2023 meeting to join Medicare for All Florida in the campaign to get a resolution in support of Medicare for All passed by our County Commission. Please review the official ACLC position and proposed resolution language.

Sign the petition here if you’d like to show your support. Contact us if you’d like to get involved.

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ACLC Position

Everyone living in the U.S. deserves high quality healthcare. No one should suffer poor health because they can’t afford to see a doctor or buy medication that they need. However, almost half of Floridians – including those with insurance – could not afford needed healthcare; about a third who did get necessary care struggled to pay their medical bills

The Alachua County Labor Coalition has joined Medicare for All Florida. Its goal is to remedy this dire situation by building support for Medicare for All. To do this, residents are asked to get counties to pass resolutions in support of the bill and send those resolutions to Federal legislators. A proposed resolution (full text at bottom) has been submitted to the Alachua County Commission.

Since the pandemic, the deficiencies of our medical system have become very clear and people would like to see it improved. However, insurance and pharmacology companies are increasingly profitable and make huge donations to legislators, including Democrats.

At last year’s 5th Avenue Arts Festival, we found that most people we contacted were in favor of Medicare for All and over 100 signed the petition urging Gainesville City Commissioners to pass the resolution. This effort was successful; the City Commission passed a resolution in support of Medicare for All shortly after.

Current Medicare for All proposals are much better than current Medicare or Medicare Advantage. It covers all residents. It covers all medically necessary care including hospitalization, doctor visits, long-term care, prescription drugs, as well as dental, vision, hearing and mental health services.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded in a recent report that Medicare for All would result in higher wages, increased household disposable income, and improve workers’ health and longevity.

Join us in this initiative to build a better and more inclusive healthcare system. Sign the petition to let the Alachua County Commission know that you support Medicare for All and the resolution below!

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RESOLUTION

THE ALACHUA COUNTY COMISSION IS CALLING ON FEDERAL LEGISLATORS TO ENACT H.R. 3421 AND S. 1655: MEDICARE FOR ALL ACT AND AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CLERK TO PROVIDE COPIES OF THIS RESOLUTION TO FEDERAL LEGISLATORS REPRESENTING FLORIDA.

WHEREAS, every person in Alachua County, the State of Florida and the United States deserves high quality healthcare; and

WHEREAS, 27.6 million Americans have no health insurance, including over 2.6 million Floridians in 2021 (over 21,000 Alachua Countians); and

WHEREAS, almost half of Floridians (45%) including those who have insurance did not obtain needed health care such as filling prescriptions or seeing a doctor because of cost barriers, and about one-third of those who did get some needed healthcare struggled to pay their medical bills; and

WHEREAS, medical debt is the most common cause of bankruptcy, and

WHEREAS, since the Covid pandemic profits of insurance and pharmacological companies have continued to grow, while patients’ medical costs have continued to rise and many workers lost their jobs and their insurance coverage through becoming ill; and

WHEREAS, the United States spends more on healthcare than any other industrialized country, but has worse outcomes in many indicators such as life expectancy and infant mortality; and

WHEREAS, Medicare for All Act HR 3421 and S1655 would provide health insurance for every person in the United States covering all necessary health care including: hospital, surgical and outpatient services; primary and preventive care; prescription drugs; reproductive care; dental, vision and hearing care; mental health care; and long-term care; and

WHEREAS, Medicare for All Act HR 3421 and S1655 would provide coverage without premiums, copays, deductibles or other out-of-pocket expenses; and would assure patients of an unrestricted choice of doctors; and

WHEREAS, The Congressional Budget Office concluded in a recent report that Medicare for All would result in higher wages, increased household disposable income, improve workers’ health and longevity, and administrative waste in health care would be reduced, and

WHEREAS, Alachua County residents who are now uninsured or underinsured would enjoy a vast improvement in their quality of life, because they could obtain healthcare when they need it instead of delaying until they have a medical emergency; and

WHEREAS, members of the LGBTQ+ community are more likely to be uninsured or covered by Medicaid compared to non-LGBTQ+ individuals.

WHEREAS, enactment of HR3421 includes A Non-Discrimination clause based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy and related medical conditions (including termination of pregnancy) thus providing healthcare to members of the LGBTQ+ community and people requiring reproductive healthcare.

WHEREAS, universal health coverage as provided by HR3421 and S1655 would alleviate the lack of proper medical care for vulnerable communities including the unhoused, unemployed, people of color, people with low income; and

WHEREAS, enactment of HR3421 and S1655 includes that restrictions on the use of Federal Funds (as implemented by the Hyde Amendment of 2022) shall not apply to reproductive health services.

WHEREAS implementation of HR3421 and S1655 would provide coverage to all pregnant persons during and after the birth of their children.

WHEREAS, unbundling health insurance from employment would allow workers to leave unsatisfactory jobs without forfeiting insurance benefits; and

WHEREAS, recent polls show that a majority of Americans are in favor of the federal government ensuring American have healthcare coverage.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Alachua County Commission supports the enactment of HR3421 and S1655 and all subsequent legislation that will assure appropriate and efficient health care for all residents; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the County Clerk is hereby authorized to send a certified copy of this resolution to Representative Kat Cammack, Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Rick Scott.

On Monday, September 18th ACLC members and supporters held a special Community Meeting to draw up a proposal for replacing the Gainesville and Alachua County Renters’ Rights ordinances, specifically the Residential Rental Unit Permit program ordinances. This was made necessary after Governor DeSantis signed HB 1417 in to law, which preempted (essentially nullified) the existing ordinances as they are currently written. Importantly, HB 1417 does NOT preempt the City and County ordinances prohibiting discriminating against would-be renters due to their lawful source of income (e.g., Section 8 vouchers). In light of the new law, the ACLC generously received pro bono legal services from local attorney Scott Bird, who was able to identify several legal options for saving most of the protections contained in the ordinances.

After hearing a presentation from Mr. Bird on his findings, meeting attendees discussed the options and voted unanimously to adopt a proposal to replace the current Residential Rental Unit Permit programs with a new program that saves nearly all renter protections. Under the new proposal, the living conditions and money-saving energy & water efficiency standards that were previously in the City and County business codes are moved into the building codes, and the requirement that landlords provide renters with literature on their rights under Florida and local law is shifted to the City and County by having them mail the literature to renters.

The only meaningful differences between the old programs and our new proposal concern inspections and the type of rental properties the regulations apply to. Under our new proposal, inspections to ensure basic living conditions and money-saving energy & water efficiency standards cannot be mandatory while a rental unit is occupied. This is because Mr. Bird found that HB 1417 prohibits local governments from interfering in the “landlord-tenant relationship” and “residential tenancies”, which under legal definitions exist only when a lease is signed and a rental home is occupied. Therefore, local governments may only mandate inspections of rental homes when they are unoccupied. As for application, the new proposal applies living and energy & water efficiency standards regulations to all rental properties, whereas the old programs were applied only to properties with four or fewer units. The opportunity to expand the program’s applications stems from the regulations being moved from the business code to the building code. According to both the City and County Attorney’s, state law preempts local governments from regulating large apartment complexes as businesses, but local governments may regulate building standards for all buildings within their jurisdiction via technical and administrative amendments to the Building Code.

The proposal was well-received by the Gainesville City Commission when it was presented at a City Commission Meeting, and the County had already directed staff to look into moving much of the current Residential Rental Unit Permit program into the Building Code. ACLC Staff has since met with both City and County staff to provide more details of the proposal and explain the legal pathway to implement it. The reception from both staffs were positive. We are cautiously optimistic they will come to the same or similar conclusions as the ACLC and present our proposed program as a viable option for the City and County Commission to adopt.

You can read the proposal/position statement below.

ACLC_rr_repeal_position

This Thursday, April 6th at 5 pm at the Alachua County Administration Building in the Jack Durrance Board Room (12 SE 1st St, Gainesville, second floor), the County Commission is holding a special meeting on free inmate phone calls. Join the ACLC and other community partners in demanding free calls for inmates at the Alachua County Jail. Currently, the families and friends of the incarcerated carry the burden of paying for phone calls and keeping in contact with their loved ones in jail. We demand that this cost be eliminated.

Please come and join us at this meeting to end this unjust and unfair monetary burden.

IF YOU CANNOT MAKE THE MEETING please email the commissioners with the following talking points to the following email: bocc@alachuacounty.us.

If you CAN make the meeting, we encourage you in joining us and speaking out in favor of free phone calls with these talking points:

1. Free calls for incarcerated individuals reduce the burdens faced by their friends and families, who are currently on the hook for phone call charges.
2. Connection with others is a basic human right and it is morally wrong to charge inmates or their families for wanting to stay in contact, especially those in jail who are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Human beings should always be afforded the right to stay in contact with their friends and family, and how much someone makes should not be a factor in their ability to do so.
3. People in jail are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Many inmates are awaiting trial and charging for phone calls is no different than levying fines without due process, which is unconstitutional.
4. Allowing free phone calls has been shown to reduce recidivism. By having greater contact with friends and families, incarcerated people have an easier time transitioning to life on the outside. If cost is a barrier, incarcerated people cannot have this support and preparation before they leave jail, and they will therefore be more likely to recidivate.
5. Thus, allowing free phone calls decreases the monetary burden on families who are already going through enough, restores some humanity in the jail system, provides the constitutional right of due process, and decreases recidivism. Free phone calls are a clear and just path to a ‘justice’ system. This is not only morally necessary, but also cost-effective for the County.

 

Since July of 2022, the ACLC has partnered with the Sunshine Forum and Florida Prisoner Solidarity on a campaign to provide free phone calls for inmates of the Alachua County Jail. Our groups have provided high-quality policy research and insights from the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated individuals to Alachua County Commissioners, County Staff, and Sheriff Clovis Watson. The research and insights make it clear that eliminating phone charges for jail inmates is both morally necessary and cost-effective for the County. It is morally wrong to charge inmates, their friends, and families to stay in contact—connection with other is a human right. What’s more, many inmates are awaiting trial and are presumed innocent, making charging for phone calls no different than levying fines without due process. Free inmate call is cost-effective because it reduces recidivism.

Our proposal received a warm reception in one-on-one conversations with County Commissioners and the Sheriff. Despite this, two County Commission meetings that were scheduled to discuss inmate phone calls were canceled at the last minute. The first was canceled because County staff refused to reach out to our three groups to discuss the issue prior to returning to the Commission with a recommendation. The second meeting was canceled when the Sheriff boycotted the meeting because he was upset with the options County staff planned to offer. This second scheduled meeting was canceled with less than four hours’ notice. Commissioner Cornell made a motion to postpone the meeting at unrelated special meeting on transportation. The motion to postpone passed thanks to Commissioners Wheeler and Chestnut voting with Commissioner Cornell. . . Relief for inmates and their friends and family is now delayed because County and Sheriff’s office staff refuse to play nice with one another.

Please sign this petition demanding Commissioners Ken Cornell, Marihelen Wheeler, and Chuck Chestnut to stop uncritically deferring to Sheriff Clovis Watson by:
1) Making a public pledge to hold the April County Commission meeting on Inmate costs, regardless of the actions of County or Sheriff’s Office staff.
2) Voting to make all jail inmate phone calls free.