Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 17, 2009, in the House Judiciary Committee (Rm. number 1), representatives will consider our bill, SB 136. This little bill has been on a long, erratic and arduous journey, but Wednesday is it’s debut day in the other chamber, the House. It is our assumption that Senator Jackson herself will be “handling” the bill rather than asking a colleague on the House side to shepherd the bill through committee.
So, we don’t particularly need to contact Senator Jackson because she knows the bill well and knows it has lots of support. However, if you have “spare time” (what’s that??), you could call her. The main things WE CAN DO are:
- Pack the committee room to show the other chamber (House) how much this bill means to us (wear your Murphy’s Law tees if you can)
- If you can’t make it to the legislature tomorrow, place a call or send an email to the following representatives on the Judiciary Committee (click their names for contact information):
Name Position District Party Richmond, Cedric Chairman 101 D Abramson, Neil C. Vice Chair 98 D Connick, Patrick Member 84 R Edwards, John Bel Member 72 D Ernst, Gregory Member 94 R Foil, Franklin J. Member 70 R Franklin, A B Member 34 D Hardy, Rickey Member 44 D Harrison, Joe Member 51 R Hines, Walker Member 95 D Jones, Rosalind D. Member 17 D Leger, Walt III Member 91 D Monica, Nickie Member 57 R Smiley, Jr., M.J. “Mert” Member 88 R White, Mack “Bodi” Member 64 R To phone one of these legislators (phone calls strongly preferred) click their name for their contact info or just call the House switchboard at 225-342-6945 and ask to speak with the office of Representative _____.
To email one of these legislators, just click on their name in the above list of committee members and look for it at the top of the left column under their picture.
- If you’re only able to call or write, see if your own representative sits on this committee. If they do, make that your first call and let them know that you’re a constituent in their district. If your representative is not on this committee or he/she is, but you’ve already spoken with them, please make your way down the list as this is a numbers game and you should (hope not, but) assume that you are one of few people who is actually picking up the phone or sending an email.WE NEED NUMBERS NOW - LOTS OF CONCERNED CITIZENS MOTIVATED TO ACT!!!Call several or all of these committee members and let them know your thoughts. Keep it short and simple. Something like:”Hello, my name is ________. I am a constituent of Representative _________ or I am a resident of Baton Rouge (if it’s a BR legislator) or simply, I am a Louisiana voter and I am strongly in favor of SB 136. It is being voted on in the House Judiciary committee tomorrow morning (or today if you’re calling on Wed. am). I urge Representative _________ to support this important bill.” That’s it! If you want to say something more, keep it as positive as possible. Be as passionate as you’re able to without losing your cool. You could just mention why you want them to support it (see earlier post on this website). and remember to **FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BILL TO BR AND LA RATHER THAN CHELSEA’S**
- Stay tuned. If it fails, it’s all over. If it passes, our little bill moves to the House floor for a final vote. If it is amended in committee or on the floor, it will have another hurdle to clear by being sent to conference committee (to iron out differences between the two versions). If it passes on the House floor, we have new protections and great momentum for going into the final battle in court against Painter and the ATC later this summer. In fact, I’d be so bold as to say that if we win this one, we’ve essentially won!
This is why we need you now as much as ever! Please don’t let all of that past positive energy and effort go to waste with a poor turnout or too little phone/email support now. The House hasn’t heard from us yet and THEY REALLY NEED TO!
Trust us. Without your help, we are sure to fail, but with you, we are very likely to succeed!
Just a quick clarification on #4 — “If it is amended in committee or on the floor, it will have another hurdle to clear by being sent to conference committee (to iron out differences between the two versions).” This is not necessarily the case — if it’s amended in House committee or on the House floor, it will be sent back to the Senate side for Sen. Jackson to move to either concur / reject the House amendments. If there’s concurrence, it’s done, no conference committee necessary, and it goes to the governor’s desk. It only goes to conference if the House amendments are rejected by the Senate. This is probably way more detail than you want or need to share here, but I just thought I’d point it out.
The more details the better…reallly. Too much of this has happened with no one outside the legislature (and possibly in the legislature too) knowing what the score is. Please fill in the blanks where you see them if you know what piece of the puzzle fits there…
Will do. I’ll be watching the hearing this morning with great interest! Thanks for all of y’all’s hard work on this.
I’m sure you know this, but just in case not, the bill was just reported out of committee with amendments. The vote was 8-4.