1n...A_ Out in the Mountains Leg by Keith Goslant Since this is the beginning of a new biennium (a two year legislative session), all legislative action must be introduced as a new bills. This process is both lengthy and precise. 1. A sponsor must submit proposed legislation to the Legislative Councilor for drafting and reserve space on the legislative calendar. For introduction into the House this must be completed before March and for the Senate before the end of February. 2. The bill is then officially introduced in a “first reading” by the presiding officer of the chamber (either House or Senate). 3. The bill is then assigned to a com- mittee for consideration and action. In the past our bill has been assigned to the J udi— ciary Committee. 4. The committee then makes a deci- sion regarding the bill’s priority and what course of action to take. This may include holding public hearings, soliciting written Itive Process 101 testimony, etc. (See related articlepage 7). A committee can decide to take no action on a bill thereby effectively killing it. Or a committee can vote it back onto the floor with recommendations for action. 5. The bill then has its “second read- ing” before the chamber. The merits of the bill are debated and voted on by the full chamber. If voted favorably, the bill is held over for its “third reading.” If the vote is negative, the bill dies and cannotbe reintro- duced until the beginning of the next bien- nium. 6. The “third reading” is the final and substantive vote. If the vote is negative, the bill dies. If the vote is favorable, it is for- warded to the other chamber for considera- tion 7. If both chambers vote favorably on a bill within a biennium, it is sent to the Governor for signing. The Governor has veto power on any bill which requires a 2/ 3 majority in both chambers to override. Certified Rolfer appointments. 865-4770 is pleased to introduce OUR NEW ASSOCIATE lginia Boccalandro ROLFING ASSOCIATES Ms._ Boccalandro is _now avgilable _for consultations an ® 2 For improved muscular- skeletal comfort, posture, flexibility and energy. ASSOCIATES * iZ5i.'!..§ifé‘:°,l;iZL"?i..i.. Kennedy Drive Professional Center 620 Hinesburg Rd., Suite 3A So. Burlington, Vt. 05403 4- Thom Walker Certified Flolfer * lginia Boccalandro Certified Rolfer What a arty! l by Lynette Last winter, Laura and I hosted two T letter-writing parties to garner legislative ‘ support for the anti-discrimination bill, Although there were pretty small tum-outs i for these events, the women who came i worked very hard; a total of about two hundred individually written letters and , postcards were mailed to Vermont state senators and representatives. 1 think a letter writing party is an idea l that could be duplicated without much ef- ‘ fort all over the state. For those of you who want to give it a try, I have written up the l following “game plan”. Before the party, we spent some time i educating ourselves about the bill and the basics of the legislative process. Agood source of information is the Coalition of l Lesbians and Gay Men (See VT Resources ( page for address). We also gathered basic 1 print information for the party—goers; such l as, facts sheets from the Coalition, back ‘ issues of OITMs that dealt with the bill and J from the Legislative Council (828-223l)a map of the various districts of Burlington I and a list of the senators and representatives by region. Using large sheets of newsprint, we _ listed the legislators that we wanted to 4' target- generally those that sit on the com- ‘ mittee where the bill is housed. Also, we wrote up a simple description of the process a bill goes through to become law. ' We bought about a dozen pens, a team ‘ of white paper, a hundred stamped enve- 1 lopes and fifty stamped postcards (we i should have bought more postcards - they ‘ went fast). Invitations to the parties in- cluded flyers distributed at the bar, phone I calls, and word of mouth. We billed these events as potluck parties, and ate while we wrote, then partied to dance tapes after ; wards. ‘ The completed cards and letters were f divided up to be brought to various 100 "post offices for mailing. I put out abouli forty dollars for the supplies which I didn’t bother to try to recoup, butl don’tthink this « would have been difficult. l I learned a lot personally from llli I experience, met some nice people, and fell we had some kind of effect on the leg1sla- I tors. There is a good chance that we W11 doing this again this year in the Burliflglm , area. Want to come and see for y0llI59 how its done? You can contact me through OITM for more information.