Step Up for Kids conference call

Children's advocates around Wyoming talked today to discuss plans for Step Up for Kids Day Sept. 16. Events that day around the state will raise public awareness of the issues challenging Wyoming's children.

Here's the agenda for the conference call joined by the advocates:

June 18, 2008 1 p.m.

I. Welcome

II. Purpose of the Sept. 16 event – Making America’s and Wyoming’s children a political priority
a. ECM’s role and plans of assistance
1. Website: http://ecm.soapbxxdev.com/Wyoming/About/Wyoming-Home.html
2. Signs and other materials)
b. Organizing community-by-community
1. Community captains
a. Obtain a permit to gather at the county courthouse
b. Contact local advocates to speak at the event and bring children and families
c. Invite candidates for local, state & national office to attend
d. Coordinate communication with local media about the event
2. Community stories
a. Most pressing children’s need or needs in each community
b. Photos
c. Releases

III. Messaging
a. Talking points – group review
1. First goal is to get Wyoming’s communities to talk about children’s issues
2. Second goal is to convince candidates and media to discuss these issues in this year’s political campaigns
b. Maintaining consistency – keep the message on target

IV. Financing
a. Small committee to assist Frey/Neal - voluneers
b. Identify potential sources

V. What’s next
a. Other ideas
b. Determine communication method for group
c. Set date of next meeting/call

VI. Adjourn

I

Campaign school draws crowd of candidates

The Equality State Policy Center conducted its eighth Grassroots Campaign School last weekend at the IBEW Hall in Casper. Twenty candidates for the legislature, county commissions, and city and town councils attended the nonpartisan school.

They heard political consultants Tom Novick and Liz Kaufman, right, stress direct outreach to the voters that the candidates hope to represent. Each candidate was urged to put together a plan that relies on door-to-door campaigning to guide his or her campaign over the coming weeks.

Novick and Kaufman use role-playing and other interactive techniques to help the candidates overcome any reticence about door-knocking and raising funds to finance their campaigns.

The ESPC believes that candidates who engage in direct campaigning will learn the needs of the people they eventually represent at city hall or in the state Capitol. That understanding will lead to better public policy that serves the needs of the people who elect them.

We appreciate the support of Western States Center in co-sponsoring the school.

Workers' Comp hearing June 2

Injured workers deserve better treatment

Monday we’ll take the quest for positive changes in the programs directed by Wyoming’s Workers’ Compensation and Safety division to the Joint Labor Health and Social Services Committee.

We know that many injured workers, particularly those who suffer permanent partial or total disabilities, too often don’t get the benefits they need and deserve. Many have told heart-breaking stories about economic upheaval that devastates them and their families after their injury.

Some of the problems they encounter are embedded in state law and the division’s interpretation of those laws. Mental injury can be considered compensable only if the worker’s mental state —such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder —can be directly attributed to an injury suffered on the job. At least that’s how the division interprets the law as written.

Adding insult to workplace injury, the division presently asserts that the law says that any mental injury is treatable for a limited time after the physical injury has been healed. It does not matter whether a doctor believes a person still needs treatment.

The ESPC, Wyoming State AFL-CIO and the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association focused on the division after it made an appearance before the Joint Labor Health and Social Services Committee last fall. Division director Gary Childs painted a picture of a smoothly functioning agency that responds quickly to injured workers needs and gets them the help they deserve.

That’s not the story we’ve heard from many injured workers. Beginning in January, the ESPC, AFL-CIO and the WTLA staged public forums in Casper, Cheyenne and Rock Springs. Workers from across the state and many who have moved outside Wyoming came to the hearings to talk about their problems with the system and its administrators.

We’ll go before the committee tomorrow in Casper, speaking after the division makes a presentation scheduled to last four hours.

Among the changes we're asking for:

• Improve compensation for permanent disabilities.

• Improve compensation for temporary disabilities.

• Redefine injury to include all injuries, including mental injuries, arising in the work environment when those injuries are provable and impact that person’s ability to function.

• Devise a way to ensure the Division’s accountability for increased access to information to help injured workers. This could include establishing an ombudsman’s office.

• Increase the death benefit.

• Require the Division to investigate any accident that results in one or more serious bodily injuries.

The hearing starts at 8 a.m. June 2 at the UW Outreach Building, 951 N. Poplar in Casper. Please consider joining us, especially if you're an injured worker who can tell the committee about real experience with the state's Workers' Compensation system.

Keeping children’s issues on the table

Marc Homer of the Wyoming Children’s Action Alliance put together an excellent analysis of Wyoming’s child care needs. You won’t be surprised to hear that demand far exceeds capacity. It’s a great burden on the state’s working families. You can read Marc's column here.