Fishing Forum

Well, what a day! I must say, 5+ hours on the Hill rubbing shoulders with politico's is an exhausting experience!

HB 141 passed the House Natural Resources Committee with a 12-2 vote. We knew that would happen. This is a very bad bill. Very bad. We need to do as much as we possibly can to contact our representatives and tell them to oppose this bad legislation.

HB 80 passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously. There were a couple representatives we were worried about, but they voted to pass it to the floor even though we know they will be opposing it on the floor. We need to really hit the representatives hard and ask them to support this bill.

What this all means is there are two competing bills, both with opposite results. I think there will be a mutiny in the House if one of these bills doesn't pass this year. I feel a general apathy towards this issue from many reps. Two years in a row it is the most highly contested and time consuming issue on the Hill. They want to be done with it. One way or the other, they want to be done with it.

I will post some more direct information on what we need, but we need to be contacting our representatives and sending a clear message about the best aspects of HB 80 and also how bad HB 141 is. Also, if anyone is available to come up and meet with representatives during the day next week, we could sure use the help!
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Thanks for the update TS30. What is the general overview of what happens now with two essentially opposed bills on the House floor?

My rep is Webb, and we kind of know which way he leans. Still, he has been very responsive in his replies to my emails.
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They will both go to the House floor for a debate and a vote. Could happen as early as the end of this coming week. But probably more likely the beginning of the following week. But you never know.

It is theoretically possible that both bills could pass, or both bills could fail. That is just theoretically though. Both bills won't pass. And I get the feeling that one bill is passing. The general feeling I get from many rep's is that they are tired of this issue, and want to move on. That could be a very bad thing for us, especially if they just say, "Fine, we'll vote for HB 141 if this will mean this thing is over!"

We need to put the pressure on our reps. Honestly, any contact we've had before the committee meetings is probably irrelevant. We need to start the process over again and hit these people up with the facts.
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