Anne wrote..
> Wisconsin's 2005 - 2006 proposed bill to support breastfeeding mothers and
> children also died in committee, even though it was very well written.
> Politics played a big part in this.  The bill was introduced by a
Democratic
> senator in a Republican-controlled legislature.  The committee it was sent
> to was headed by a Republican and had a majority of Republican members.
 The
> bill was tied up there and never allowed a public hearing.  I personally
> wrote individual letters to each member of the committee, but never
received
> a reply from any of them.  I know that others also wrote or contacted
> committee members by email and telephone.  It is so discouraging.
>
> Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL Leader in Madison, WI, USA

I wanted to comment here. The way that we finally got legislation in Arizona
was to get a bill sponsored by powerful Republicans, the bills that had been
proposed in past years and the bill that never got even a committee hearing
in this legislative session were minority (Democrat) sponsored. We got more
in the bill that was passed and signed by our Democrat governor
(specifically protection for breastfeeding in public) than the bill that
died in committee had or the bills from previous years would have offered,
so the Republican sponsorship and serious grassroots mother efforts worked.

I was a bit disillusioned about the need to get a majority party sponsor but
we got both the indecent exposure language changed and the protection for
breastfeeding in public, so I suppose the ends justified the means.

Ruth Roazen, LLL Leader in Flagstaff AZ

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