Meeting Minutes-March 9, 2020

March 9th, 2020

Chairman Ryan Graham called the meeting to order at approximately 7:01 PM.

The following members were in attendance; Ryan Graham, Laura Williams, Amber Howell, Robert Cortez, Andrew Garland, Thomas Nickles, Greg Pierzynka, Seth Benton, Robert Beeler, John Turpish, Danny Dolan, Ted Metz, Mark Mosley, and Zach Varnell

A motion to approve the March agenda was made by Mark Mosley.

Chair’s Report (Ryan Graham)
Press coverage for Libertarian candidates. Engagement with volunteers. Committee volunteers.

Vice Chair’s Report (Laura Williams)
No update.

Secretary’s Report (Amber Howell)
Minutes uploaded. Electronic votes: Presidential Electors and 2020 Budget, Passed 15-0-0.

Treasurer’s Report (Evan Durkovic)
The treasurer’s report was distributed via email to all ExCom members on March 9th.

Committee Reports

Ballot Access (Vacant)
No update.

Convention (Vacant)
No update.

Communications Committee (Vacant)
Podcast started back up and 7 blog posts published last month.

Membership (Bobby Rouse)
256 active members in February, up from 230 last year.

Fundraising (Vacant)
Continued fundraising for Ballot Access Lawsuit.

Outreach Committee (Chase Oliver)
Justice Day at the Capitol last month, looking at summer events. Need volunteers for LP Atlanta food delivery.

Affiliate Support (Elizabeth Melton)
No update.

Candidate Support (John Turpish)
Qualifying last week. Reaching out to candidates and matching them with volunteers.

Public Policy (Laura Williams)
2 Calls to Action published: Opposition to HB 847 and HB 994.

IT (Danny Dolan)
Civi-CRM access for affiliates and bimonthly support call

Old Business
None.

New Business
Motion to endorse Danny Dolan for Fayette County Board of Education made by Ted Metz. Second by Laura Williams. Passed unanimously.
Motion to amend the policy manual to include candidate support sections (proposed changes sent via email) made by Ted Metz. Seconded by Danny Dolan.
Mark Mosley moved to amend the motion to change the language in section 12.1 to “as an independent, nonpartisan, or write in candidate”. Seconded by Chase Oliver. Passed unanimously. Original motion passed unanimously.
Motion to amend the budget to spend $250 under candidate support for a voter list made by ted Metz. Second by Mark Mosley.

Motion to pass End to Prohibition of Cannabis and Cannabis Products resolution, voted on section by section.
Moved to change language to read “Whereas tens of thousands of individuals are prosecuted each year for the production, distribution and possession of marijuana and other cannabis products”. Passed by majority voice vote.
Moved to change language to read “Whereas such prosecution results in the loss of property and liberty either directly to the state or in peripheral ways”. Passed by majority voice vote.
Moved to change language to read “Whereas many of those tens of thousands are locked in prisons, separated from their families, lose their livelihoods and/or a substantial source of income, are excluded from some occupations, and are permanently limited in their futures as productive individual as well as many other individual rights”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to read “Whereas many cannabis “legalization” movements have proposed to maintain the criminalization of cannabis and aim to increase government control and revenues to the detriment of cannabis producers, distributors and users”.

Moved to change language to read “Whereas cannabis “legalization” movements have not addressed the restoration of life and property owed to those who have suffered from historical criminalization”. Passed by majority voice vote.
Moved to change language to read “Whereas a libertarian solution to the prohibition of cannabis would be to allow consenting individuals to produce, distribute, share, and possess cannabis products without government interference or taxation”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to read “Whereas the Libertarian Party’s national platform and the platform of the Libertarian Party of Georgia each call for the repeal of all laws creating crimes without victims, including the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to read “Whereas a (more or less) libertarian solution to the prohibition of cannabis was proposed to the Texas state legislature in 2015 by conservative Republican state legislator David Simpson and was passed out of committee by a bi-partisan vote of Democrats and Republicans”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to read “Whereas a substantial majority of Georgians across the political spectrum support the decriminalization of cannabis, including those who seek individual liberty, criminal justice reform, affordable health care, and an end to violent and punitive policing” Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to read “Whereas The Constitution of the United States commands the government to “…establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,”  and therefore the prosecution of people for exercising their choice to consume cannabis is not in the spirit of the law of the land”. Passed by majority voice vote.
Moved to omit constitutionality section. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “condemns the past and continued prosecution of individuals for engaging in non-violent behavior, specifically for producing, distributing, sharing, and/or possessing cannabis products; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “condemns the confiscation of property and the restrictions on liberty as a result of those prosecutions; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “condemns criminalization of non-violent individuals for use or production of cannabis, which strips them of rights, imprisons or jails them, destroys their families, their lives and their futures; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “rejects the “regulate and tax” schemes of marijuana “legalization” movements, which rely on expansion and extension of government interference and favor the well-connected at the expense of others; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “advocates for actions which will begin to restore the liberties and livelihoods of those unjustly targeted by cannabis laws, including the sealing or expunging of arrests and convictions, and the immediate and unconditional release of anyone currently in jail or prison as a result of such arrests and/or convictions; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “advocates for actions to remove any government interference in the production, distribution, and possession of cannabis and any related products; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “urges the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of Georgia to create a committee to draft legislation, and recruit legislative sponsors for such legislation, to begin implementing these policies at the state level, specifically to remove the words “cannabis,” “marijuana,” “hemp,” and all related terms from the Georgia criminal code and to exonerate and expunge the records of all people who have been arrested and convicted of cannabis related “offenses”; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “urges the Libertarian National Committee of the Libertarian Party of the USA to do the same with respect to the federal government and further to adopt a legislative template to be made available to state LP affiliates for drafting libertarian legislative proposals in the states; and”. Passed by majority voice vote.

 

Moved to change language to “urges Libertarian Party activists at all levels of LP membership to advocate for a libertarian solution to cannabis prohibition and resist “tax and regulate” expansions of control; and”, Passed by majority voice vote.

Moved to change language to “urges the Libertarian Party of the USA and the Libertarian Party of Georgia to seek allies among other political parties and among the many cannabis legalization and individual rights advocacy movements, to advocate legislatively and among the public at large for these policy changes”. Passed by majority voice vote.
Motion to pass resolution with all amendments. Motion passed unanimously.

Motion to adjourn made by Ted Metz.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:53 pm.

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