Voting Rights of Felons

What is the status of your issue at the legislature? Is this a "good" year? 

The "Democracy Restoration Act" best year was 2009. it was introduced around a time where not much on law and bill passing was a major concern. During 2009 it went through the process of being introduced and then it eventually moved to going through The House who altered. This year there ha not been much talk about the bill and things haven't been done with it. We see that the process begins to die down after the Health Care Reform bill came into play in March of 2010. The officials that were major players in passing the bill became more concerned with The Health Care Reform because it was such a large bill that affected everyone and not just a particular group of Americans. There is not much on public support that i have seen but that does not mean that it isn't there. I'm almost positive that ex felons are very supportive of this bill.

Who is essential to the outcome? 

People that are essential to the outcome are ex-felons who have either served their time, off parole or probation. This law is a federal/national bill or law the entire executive and legislative branch is involved with changes, passing and veto's. 

Who else is working on this?

No one else is the class is working on this topic. Therefore I cannot coordinate.

Who can you influence? 

For this bill the influence has to be in the communities. The government has to see changes in the behavior of the ex-felons because it is vital to the decision making. You can only influence the people to prove that they have learned their lesson through the process of incarnation.

What is the time frame? 

There is not set time frame for this bill. My only concern is that because there will always be felons and cons and people that are making the change over from being a felon to an ex-felon this process will be looked over as something that can be changed later. My concern is that the bill will be overseen and looked at as not relevant. The scary reality of this is that everyday people are being convicted of a crime for minor things that they may have been mistaken and because of stricter laws. Adults that have made mistakes when younger are still unable to vote when they could be completely "civilized" now. To me this is one of the most important, concerning bills of the 21st century.  

When are key dates - meetings, committee hearings, deadlines, etc.   

- Hearing on: H.R. 3335, the "Democracy Restoration Act of 2009"
Tuesday 3/16/2010 - 2:00 p.m.
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
By Direction of the Chairman

Blog Posts Links: 

- https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1EzNV5ncFBywxH2XzMqT9nUmdbQ20kSCTeqd9uDN1-jw

- https://docs.google.com/document/d/13UkHDxX2LdxS3fwUDt9_05TXMNa2f33AMAzuLcUFqLU/edit?hl=en#