Things are going well for us at the capitol except that with HB 2, School reform and HB 3, Tax Bill it is getting mighty hard to connect with the actual legislators right now. They are staying on the Floor until as late as midnight but we catch who we can before they get there.
Just want to let you know our TV Show is drawing some fantastic response this session. Calls and Emails are coming in instantly when we finish the show. Everyone at the capitol is talking about it. A high school government teacher saw last nights show and asked if we could speak to her class.
A group of government students were in the capitol today. I was talking to a man from Kentucky who said he saw the show last night and it was the greatest thing he had ever seen. During the conversation several of the students stood waiting and when we finished they all wanted me to write something to them and autograph it. I told them you got to be kidding but they said they watch the show and it was great. We are still hoping to get the show on line in the near future, at least in Texas. It would really be an asset if several Warriors would do this in their city. Then we wouldn’t have to put it on line.
Now on to political happenings:
We still haven’t gotten a number for our Insurance Bill.
HB 264
Rep. Escobar has signed on as Co Author of our Bill. Based on the yes votes received thus far and the ones we have reason to believe will say yes once we manage to catch up with them we are probably in good shape with this Bill. The Law Enforcement committee is on line, it is just a case of scheduling. If we don’t get scheduled by a week from Monday we will probably be asking for calls so stay tuned for the request. Rep Vilma Luna is the only one we have not gotten to speak with on Calendars. We would appreciate CALLS from any riders in the Flour Bluff area down by Corpus. If she gets a few calls from riders in Flour Bluff we have Calendars wired now. Come on Gypsys you are very strong in the Corpus Area so you are bound to know a few people in that town that you could get to call her office. Call 512-463-0484. Tell them you are from Flour Bluff and ask for support for HB 264. Call our 800 number and let us know you called her.
PLEASE HELP!
We got an opportunity to get with a few Senators today. My Senator, Mike Jackson, Dist. 11 said I always support you Sputnik, Senator Gallegos, Dist. 06 said of course and Senator Lucio, Dist. 27 gave a thumbs up and said I’m with you. Of course Senator Madla, Dist. 19 is on board with the Bill. Any pledges of support are good but the best meeting of the day was when we finally found Senator Hinojosa, Dist. 20 in his office. We sat down to discuss HB 264 and he said he would carry the Bill when it came across to the senate. He asked “Is that what you want to know?” We told him we had hoped he would offer a companion Bill in the Senate so we could know what committee it would go to and begin work on the senate committee as soon as possible. His Reply was, “you want me to file a companion Bill, I can do that. Whatever you want we’ll do.” He immediately called in his Legislative Aide and told him to go file the companion Bill. We thanked him and left the office.
We anticipate either State Affairs or Transportation. In either committee we already know we will have a majority of the votes now but State Affairs Chair is Senator Duncan and Transportation Chair is Senator Todd Staples. Neither are supportive of our issues but if Senator Wentworth comes on board it will make all the difference. We should have an answer from him by next week. He appears to be leaning our way so keep those cards and faxes going to his office.
HB 514
Rep Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton has signed on as coauthor of our Failure to yield Bill. We shall begin talking to the members of the Transportation Committee on this Bill by the middle of next week.
Chair Mike Krusee - V. Chair Larry Phillips
Members Bill Callegari, Carter Casteel, Joe Deshotel, Kino Flores, Peggy Hamric, Fred Hill and Buddy West. This will be a good committee for this Bill if Chairman Krusee will just bring the Bill to the Floor. We shall call later this week for some appointments to begin next week. We can be reasonably sure we have at least five supporters on this committee now but we don’t take anything for granted until we hear from them. Start your cards and faxes going to these Reps. now. Ask them to support bringing HB 514 out of committee.
That’s it for this round. Please take the actions requested and let us hear from you once in a while.
Sputnik
