On Thursday, 1/18/07, at 7:30 am – yes, 7:30 am – many of our VVAW bills will be heard by the House Ag Subcommittee headed by Del. Bobby Orrock.
It is essential that as many of you as possible come. This is a key date, and this is a key committee. This is the committee that can kill many of our bills – and as a result, they will not be heard again.
You may need to take a day off from work to attend.
Yesterday – to give you an idea of how legislators see things – yesterday there was a hearing for some bill in the Senate Ag Committee having to do with wineries. When asked who in the audience was there in support of the bill, 7 rows of spectators stood. Of course, this issue was an economic one for them and dealt with their livelihood. They were not volunteers to the effort as we all are.
Can we match that attendance? Do animal volunteers not have as much at stake as the winery people? I challenge you to make every effort to attend. Make this your contribution to the animals, particularly if you have not contributed money to VVAW or VAW to date.
Please send me an email as quickly as you can indicating whether you will be there or not.
Please be prepared to be in Richmond at 7:30 am on 1/18/07. We will send you an alert tomorrow (1/17/07) with final details.
other hearings:
In addition, there will be another committee meeting on the following Thursday, 1/25/07, at 7:30 am for the House Ag Subcommittee.
And, regarding the humane investigator bill (SB930), that will be heard on Monday, 1/22/07 at 9am, and your presence is essential.
Information changes during the day, and we will keep you current. Stay tuned.
updates on VVAW bills:
HB3004 (gas chambers) has been assigned now to the House Ag committee, and we assume it will be heard at 7:30am on this Thursday, 1/18/07.
Del. Robert Hull filed the vet tax credit bill, HB3053, so contact your legislators in support of this bill. At this writing, the bill had not been assigned to a committee for a hearing.
Thanks, and see you on Thursday.
Lillian Clancy/Don Marro