Regardless of the outcome, thank them for their time. Try to include one or two specific examples. If they do not, or they are undecided, tell them how the bill will affect your child, family and/or community.
#86th texas legislative session bills full
If the bill is scheduled to be brought to the floor of the chamber for a full vote, ask for their vote for or against the bill.īe polite and respectful at all times. If the bill is scheduled for a committee hearing, you can request your legislator vote in favor (or against) the bill if s/he is a member of that committee. You can request your Senator to be the bill’s sponsor in the Senate. If a bill has just been filed in the House for example, you may ask your representative in the House to support it by signing on as a co-sponsor. This can vary depending on where the bill is in the legislative process. For example, “I’d like to speak with you about HB 116 relating to improving training and staff development for primary and secondary educators to enable them to more effectively serve all students.” Tell them your position on the bill and a brief explanation for your position.īe specific about what you want your legislator to do. Include the number and a description of what the bill does (i.e. Identify the specific bill you are contacting them about. These folks get used to seeing and hearing from the same people and advocacy organizations, so they will sit up and pay attention if they hear from someone they don’t know - you. Remember - “Elected” is the key word in the phrase “elected official.” Every constituent contact is noted by legislators’ staff. Whichever form of communication you choose, keep the following tips in mind: If this is the case, request to speak with the staff member assigned to education. Your legislator may not be available to meet/speak with you directly particularly during session. If you would like an in person meeting, it is best to call in advance and request an appointment. You can do so in person, by phone or in writing.
When a bill is filed on an issue that you feel strongly about, contact your legislator’s office. Sign up for their newsletters, alerts, and social media pages. Visit their websites to find their phone numbers, email contact, and mailing and office addresses. You can find your state representative and your state senator here. Imagine how differently they might behave if they heard from even half of those families. On average, each Texas Representative has approximately 4,000 children with disabilities in their district. Texas is home to more than 28 Million people (and counting), but the Texas legislature is a small, insulated world where elected officials are accustomed to seeing and hearing from the same people. A handful of families visiting the governor’s staff and legislators to tell their stories resulted in the passage of legislation allowing medicinal cannabis during one of the most conservative legislative sessions in Texas history. A great example is medical marijuana for people with seizure disorders. Even just a few people can make an enormous difference. We strongly believe that using our collective voices to both champion bills that will benefit our children and decry those that would result in real and lasting damage to Texas children with disabilities, their families, their schools and their communities can make a difference.ĭenis Borel at the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities has been advocating in the Texas legislature for a long time, and he will tell you that despite all the high-paid lobbyists and consultants working behind the scenes, legislators pay attention to constituents.
We will need to work together to ensure our legislators do what must be done.Īs we move forward through the legislative session, TxSER will be using our Facebook page and other social media outlets to provide updates on bills affecting our children including filing, upcoming hearings and votes and calls for action.
Whether such measures will ultimately be funded and/or passed is much less certain. Despite the fact that only 8 of the 884 bills currently filed directly relate to special education, we at TxSER fully anticipate a record number of bills will be filed this session aimed at improving outcomes for students with disabilities. During this legislative session, we as parents, advocates and citizens of Texas have the opportunity to say, “No more!” and demand meaningful change. DOE Monitoring Report and TX Underfunding SPED). For quite a while now, the State of Texas has shirked both its state constitutional responsibility to fund the public schools and its federal responsibilities to comply with the IDEA and other civil rights laws for children with disabilities (For information on how, see U.S.
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