Hi folks,
Barbara Wilson-Clay asked me to forward the message below. The last
paragraph is particularly encouraging!
- Dia
_____________________________________________
Dia L. Michels
Platypus Media -- Books for Families, Teachers and Parenting Professionals
627 A Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-1674
Toll-free: 1-877-PLATYPS (1-877-872-8977)
Fax: 202-546-2356
[log in to unmask]
_www.PlatypusMedia.com_ (http://www.platypusmedia.com/)
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 6:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
Subject: lobbying in Texas
Dear Dia,
I am not on Lactnet any more, but someone forwarded me your post asking who
was doing the lobbying in the Texas lege. That would be me and my Centex
Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies colleagues. Perhaps you could share this
response on Lactnet in case there are others who want to know the state of our
bills. We agree it is useful to network with others who have launched similar
endeavors. We organized a telephone conf. call with the people in Calif. prior
to the start of our lege. session, and have done all we can to build on their
lessons and to profit from their experience.
We have been lobbying heavily for several months on this and several other
bfg related bills (including legislation to license LCs). This is
time-consuming volunteer work, but we are dedicated to the idea that even when our
bills don't pass, lobbying provides an opportunity to educate policy makers
about the role bfg. plays in maternal-child health. When we first began lobbying
in 1994, everyone laughed at us; now lawmakers know us.
They know that we don't get paid for this, and that we do it for the good of
mothers and babies, and for the good of our state. Our reception, these
days, is very warm. It is always difficult to know if legislation will or will
not pass, and in the case of the gift pack/advertising prohibition bill, we
are aware that we face a formidable foe.
We are happy to answer questions about our experience. I am leaving for
Israel in 2 days, tho, so won't be able to respond to queries from the 12th -
24th.
I think it is wasteful to undertake an action and fail to use the
experience as a teaching opportunity. An article that our group co-wrote, called
Learning to Lobby for Breastfeeding Legislation in Texas, will appear in JHL in
May, and is an attempt to share what we have discovered about the process in
hopes that it proves useful to others who want to try to meaningfully impact
public policy on bfg via legislative redress.
We have found the legislative process to be much more accessible than we
ever dreamed, and encourage others to organize similar actions.
Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
_www.lactnews.com_ (http://www.lactnews.com/)
_____________________________________________
Dia L. Michels
Platypus Media -- Books for Families, Teachers and Parenting Professionals
627 A Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-546-1674
Toll-free: 1-877-PLATYPS (1-877-872-8977)
Fax: 202-546-2356
[log in to unmask]
www.PlatypusMedia.com
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