I received several emails about how to get involved in legislative lobbying.

Our Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition is very interested in
legislative action.  Since Austin is the state capitol, we have the
opportunity to do lobbying (which involves lots of short trips to the
Capitol to meet with people or attend hearings).  We have a legislative
committee that meets in the summer prior to the start of the legislative
session.  We brainstorm about what we'd like to go after and try to assess
how successful certain initiatives are likely to be.  Our main goal (whether
we get a bill passed or not) is to continue to have a lobbying presence in
the Tx. Legislature in order to keep bfg before the legislature as a public
policy issue.   We are also, over time, beginning to identify people who are
our allies and who can help us during the impt public testimonty phase. For
instance, the president of Texas NOW is a former LLL mom, and she is
wonderful about showing up to sign a comment card in support of any bfg bill
that comes up for discussion. The chair of the Senate Health Committee bfed
6 kids, some of the men have social consciousness, or wives who have been
hassled about public bfg.  So we are forming relationships and have some
better idea of whom to approach for help when we need advice.

This past Summer, we settled on a few potential bills that had no fiscal
notes.  Our state, like many others, is undergoing a severe budget crisis.
There is no money available to fund things, so we essentially tried to
identify some actions that would be useful, but not expensive.  We then
began to make the rounds of as many legislators who would see us to pitch
them our ideas.  Some of the ideas were not do-able (for one reason or
another) and the only bill we could find sponsors for was our Breastfeeding
Friendly Physician designation.  It proposes that a doc can apply to the
Texas Dept. of Health (TDH) for this designation if they provide some staff
training in bfg. support, agree to discuss bfg with pregnant or new moms,
and to manage or refer moms out for help if problems occur.  (Missouri
passed a similar bill in the past, and our bill is modeled on theirs.)
Doctors can then get a certificate and use the designation in their own
business promotion.  Our bill has passed the Senate Health Committee
hearing, and we were supposed to testify before the House comm. yest. but
the hearing got postphoned.

We feel it is vital to lobby, because our presence educates lawmakers that
bfg is a policy issue. In the past, we've passed a breastfeeding rights bill
and last session, we obtained Medicaid funding for donor milk.  We've
learned a lot of interesting things, and I have found the system
surprisingly accessible for  us volunteer lobbyists with no money.  It's
actually been a heartening experience in the democatic process.  I think
that as LCs, we often spend a lot of time talking only amongst ourselves.
The people we have to engage with and convince are out in the world.  I've
often had to really gear up my courage to take this message to people who
initially think I might be a nut, but over time, it feels more comfortable
to do this sort of stuff.  The fact that we have a HM/HB committee with 6
people on it helps.  One is a lawyer, one is married to a very experienced
lobbyist (who gives us good tips on how to handle stuff), one is a former
TDH dept. head with lots of burearcratic experience, etc.  Each brings
expertise that strengthens our campaigns.  So this is not a solo deal on my
part by any means, and, like everything else, it has evolved.  But making a
start is impt.  Think about your local ILCA affiliate or some other maternal
child health coalition as the place to start.  Ask if anyone is interested
in forming a legislative committee and get together to just brainstorm.
That's how these projects begin.  Every time there is a success in one
state, it becomes useful leverage for people trying to do similar things in
other states, so there are huge ramifications to the effort.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html