Campus-Carry Bills are dying!!!

[pedalman]

Finally made it through to Rep. Kuempel's office to express my desire to see this bill voted to the floor for debate.

[CompVest]

I have made my calls. I have sent an email plea to my campus DL which will in turn get sent to another very large list.

Spread the word and hope we haven't waited too long.

[Locke]

Called everyone on the list. Now to work on my local reps.

[Codename46]

Senator Fraser's office just told me that they've been getting a flood of calls asking Fraser to support the bill when he's a cosponsor. They're wondering if I got an e-mail list or something to call him.

ETA: Just finished calling the whole Senate Affairs Committee. Will resume calls tomorrow to Calendars.

[TexasComputerDude]

Called:
Rep. Brian McCall
Rep. Eddie Lucio III - got voicemail (full) the first time, second time very nice lady said they co-sponsored or something.
Rep. Norma Chavez - said she'd tell her
Rep. Garnet Coleman - Asked what school I went to, said he'd let him know my views
Rep. Byron Cook -
Rep. Brandon Creighton
Rep. Charlie Geren
Rep. Jim Keffer - random numbers, disconnected will try later
Rep. Lois W. Kolkhorst - very positive, girl had a cute voice
Rep. Edmund Kuempel -
Rep. McReynolds - very positive young lady, heard I was from sfa and perked up
Rep. Allan Ritter -
Rep. Burt R. Solomons - left a number to call back


I changed the intro to:

Hello, my name is Jared Torrez and I am a current student at Stephen F. Austin State University.

All in all I felt happy with the response of 1/3rd of the people and at least think our chances are 50/50.
A few people were slightly rude, but maybe its because they were answering calls all day. I will work on the Senate in a few minutes.

edit: got ahold of Rep. Keffer, voiced support.

[Jacob Staff]

Called both House and Senate Committe Members

[TrueFlog]

Just got off the phone with Rep McCall's office. The gentleman on the other end was friendly and polite but didn't give me much chance to talk. I got the impression he just wanted my name, address, and stance on the bill. He also asked if I was a student; I told him I'm not but that I still visit campuses from time to time and reminded him that the bill affects alot of people other than students. He said the current form of the bill was just received by the committee on Saturday and that's why it hasn't been scheduled yet. I reminded him that time is running short and asked that Rep McCall use his position as chair to push it through in a timely fashion. He also mentioned that they've been getting a lot of calls today - around 90 - so they're well aware of the public's support for the bill.

[Owens]

Just got off the phone with Senator Duncan's office and the others. They sounded rather tired of hearing about this bill. Hopefully it's our side wearing them down! Keep up the pressure!

Wouldn't hurt to let them know if you are involved in education if you support these bills.

[Locke]

Got through to everyone on both committee’s and my local reps, except Solomon (He's going to have a very full vm). All were very pleasant. Hopefully they will really pass the message along and we can get this done. Several of them mentioned they were getting a lot of calls to the committee members.

Without this call for action I feel we would definitely lose this one, maybe now we have a small chance. Thanks Chas for all you do.

[CWOOD]

I also called all of the Reps. of the House Calendars Committee members. None are MY Rep. so I said I was calling them as a member of calendars.

Just a hint, If you go up to Charles' post and print the names and number it makes things much easier. Another thing you might consider is the be sure and thank to Calendars members who are sponsors of the bill. After I introduce myself, I tell them I am calling for two reasons. One is to get HB1893 out of Calendars and two is to thank them for their support. It makes you sound more informed if you acknowledge their ongoing support.

I find it also helps if you can personalize things a bit. I have a 22 year old daughter going to Tarleton State in Stephenville. She is getting her CHL this summer(or at least taking the class this summer). I let them know that. Or if you are from their district, or have property in their district. Anything to make it more personal.

Chair McCall
V-chair Lucio coauthor

Chavez
Coleman
Cook coauthor
Creighton
Geren coauthor
Keffer coautor
Kolkhorst Joint Author
Kuempel coauthor
McReynolds Joint Author
Ritter
Solomons

You can do them all in less than 30 minutes. They are all very courteous. They may ask you pone number or address. It seems that with 7 of 13 calendars committee members as sponsors this thing should have some movement.

Please call. Thanks.

[TexasComputerDude]

I'd say be sure to let whoever you talk to know your a student or former student.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Wait, how come campus carry dies today if Duncan doesn't call for a committee vote today? I thought Senate Affairs Committee doesn't meet today...

The bill has already been heard in a public hearing and meetings around a Senator's desk on the floor to vote bills out of committee are very common. The concern is the Monday drop dead date. If it's voted out of committee, it still must be set on the Intent Calendar and the Lt. Governor must recognize Senator Wentworth for him to move to suspend the rules to allow it to be taken out of order. There is very little time to do this, especially when you consider every Senate bill sponsor will be pushing any of their bills that aren't dead yet.

Chas.

[BigBlueDodge]

Well, I just made calls to all of the Reps and Senators again (I made a round of calls last week). Total time took about 20 minutes to call all of them. The only one I didn't get to was Burt Solomon. I got a voice recording to say that his mailbox was full. For the most part, all I had to say was "I am calling in regards to HB1893/SB1164 and am asking for Mr/Mrs XXXX support in getting the bill out of committee and onto the floor for a vote.". Most of the people answering my calls just said "Thank you. I'll be sure that Mr/Mrs XXX gets your message". About 1/3 of them asked for my name and address, but most did not. All of the aids (except for one) was very courteous. I found it suprising that most of aides were quick to point out that their Senator/Representative was a sponsor/co-author of that bill. Which is perplexing if so many of the representatives/senators co-authored/sponsered the bill, then why is it still setting in commitee?

The one Senator who said anything negative was Mr. Rodney Ellis. When I called him, and asked for his support the aid said "....well that's not gonna happen. The bill is dead and Mr. Ellis doesn't support it, and would rather pass bills to increase college financial aid....". I know some of the other Senators/Representatives did not support it (from my round of calling a couple of days ago). However their aids never mentioneed it, and just said they'd pass the message one. Mr. Ellis's aid was the only one who openly said that Mr. Ellis would not support it.

I did get a couple of the aids say something like "we've gotten lots of calls on that bill today". They wouldn't say if those calls were pro/against the bill. So it appears that this bill is receiving alot of attention.

[Codename46]

Wait, how come campus carry dies today if Duncan doesn't call for a committee vote today? I thought Senate Affairs Committee doesn't meet today...

The bill has already been heard in a public hearing and meetings around a Senator's desk on the floor to vote bills out of committee are very common. The concern is the Monday drop dead date. If it's voted out of committee, it still must be set on the Intent Calendar and the Lt. Governor must recognize Senator Wentworth for him to move to suspend the rules to allow it to be taken out of order. There is very little time to do this, especially when you consider every Senate bill sponsor will be pushing any of their bills that aren't dead yet.

Chas.

Soo....

Is it dead?

[flintknapper]

Its easy to see who needs persuading/encouragement.


House Calendars Committee

Chair: Rep. Brian McCall (512) 463-0594
Rep. Norma Chavez (512) 463-0622
Rep. Garnet Coleman (512) 463-0524
Rep. Brandon Creighton (512) 463-0726
Rep. Allan Ritter (512) 463-0706
Rep. Burt R. Solomons (512) 463-0478
________________________________________________________________

Vice Chair: Rep. Eddie Lucio III (512) 463-0606……….Co-Author HB1893
Rep. Byron Cook (512) 463-0730……………………………..Co-Author. HB1893
Rep. Charlie Geren (512) 463-0610………………………….Co-Author. HB1893
Rep. Jim Keffer 0656……………………………………………….Co-Author. HB1893
Rep. Lois W. Kolkhorst (512) 463-0600…………………Joint-Author. HB1893
Rep. Edmund Kuempel (512) 463-0602……………………Co-Author. HB1893
Rep. Jim McReynolds (512) 463-0490……………….…Joint-Author. HB1893

Please "Thank" the above CA/JA's.