Drafting!!

Our proposal has been submitted to the Texas Legislative Council for DRAFTING into a possible bill! Thank you to Representative Kelly Hancock's office for submitting this for us. I knew of the filing deadline (March 11) but I had not heard of the internal drafting deadline before speaking with Rep. Hancock's District Director - which was Friday, Feb. 18 - the same day I met with her at 3:00 p.m. Since it was so close to the deadline, the fact that Rep. Hancock's office submitted this for us is huge; otherwise we would be looking at a two year wait to try again. He did decline to sponsor the bill due to his already full plate of insurance commitments, but I appreciate the support he did give us in filing!

So now we have until March 11 to find a sponsor to file the drafted bill for us. We do not have time to wait until the draft comes back so I am using the proposal as submitted to approach potential sponsors. If you are interested in asking your representative to sponsor a bill, please let me know. I can send you all the information you will need, I just need people willing to make a phone call! It is very easy!

My phone calls have sounded something like this:
Me: Hi! My name is (Tamara Joyce-Wylie) and I am a constituent in Rep. (Name)'s district. I was hoping that he/she would be interested in filing a bill relating to insurance coverage for speech, language and hearing coverage on behalf of families like ours that are affected by (hearing loss). (Short personal application: I weare hearing aids and so do my two young daughters; this legislation would help our family tremendously.)
Aid: (Usually asks for name and address and if I have more information on the proposed bill).
Me: The bill has been submitted for drafting and I would be happy to email you the proposal.
Aid: That would be great, my email is name@house.state.tx.us.
Me: Thank you! I will email you the information as soon as possible.
Aid: I will forward it to the representative/his legislative director and contact you after they have reviewed it.

That's it! I can give you an email mail with all the information you need to submitt and you can ask that the representative's office contact me if they have further questions (if you are not comfortable answering them). Please let me know if you are willing to do this!!