1. All 2003 bills have been introduced and sent to a Committee. (See sheet for the bills and their committees except for two that are coming through the pipeline early this week). The “all purpose” phone number at the NC General Assembly is 919-733-4111. Just tell the person who answers that you wish to be connected to a certain legislator's office, or if you want more information about the status of any bill you may ask for the House (or Senate) Principle Clerk's office. These people are always very helpful and courteous.
2. Bills without a financial component will have to pass one chamber by “Crossover day” which is April 24 or they will die in committee. Ultimately, the appropriate staff will decide if a bill must “meet crossover.” If a bill dies at the end of April, the ideas die with them until January 2005.
3. Thus, begin immediately! Call, email or fax Committee Chair(s) of the Committee where bill has been sent. (They get hundreds of emails a day so a personal call or fax is sometimes better. A quick letter early this week would also be helpful, mostly because it would be unique. However, by Monday, April 15, the momentum will be fast-paced.) Encourage the Chair(s) to let the bill be heard in committee. Tell him that this issue is very important to you and to many other citizens in North Carolina. You can get specific, and always be respectful.
4. Call, email or fax other members of the committee. Tell them you need their support in getting the bill heard and in receiving a favorable vote out of committee. As things progress, you may receive an email from LifeTree asking that you contact certain members of a committee whose votes and influence are critical. Please stay tuned and help us if you can!!
5. Call your local representative (if the bill is in a House committee) or senator (if the bill is in a Senate committee). Tell him you are a constituent and that you are aware that bill ____ is in ____ committee and that you support it. Ask him to contact the chair(s) to see if they will hear the bill. If he is a member of the committee, ask him to vote for the bill if it is brought before the committee and to tell his colleagues that it is a good bill.
6. We will need to line up expert witnesses for the two conscience clause bills and the Ban on Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) bill with problems. As presently written, the PAS bill would not prevent a “Kevorkian” from killing people, but the bill's introducer, Sen. James Forrester, is having a "committee substitute" (new wording) drafted, which we hope will fix that. We are looking for (1) pharmacists, (2) people who object to being forced to carry contraceptive services in their "basis health care plan", and (3) doctors and lawyers who are familiar with the Church's teaching on care of the elderly. If you are an expert in these matters, or know of someone who is, please notify LifeTree at LifeTree@lifetree.org.nospam (remove the ".nospam") or call 919-785-0855 or fax 919-787-5434.
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LifeTree has information about these bills (and related aids, links, etc.) on our website at http://burtonsys.com/ltree.html If you have any questions pertaining to this site, please call Dave at 919-481-0098 or email him at dave@salzo.cary.nc.us
If you don’t know who represents you in the NC General Assembly (NCGA), you can look it up by zipcode on the NC Right To Life web site, http://ncrtl.org/legislative.htm (not affiliated with Lifetree). Also, the NCGA's website at www.ncleg.net tells you how to contact each legislator, their committees, the bill texts, etc. Finally, NC Right to Life's website at www.ncrtl.org will have updated information on some of the bills.