Tell him you are aware that:
1. SB730 - parking lots has been in the calendars committee for two weeks and a day;
2. You have watched other bills going into Calendars then being set to the Floor within 2 to 3 days;
3. That the Calendars Committee pulled the same stunt with the employer's parking lot bill last session;
4. That you know putting a bill on the House General Calendar is a move designed to kill the bill.
Then call House Speaker Joe Straus and tell him that you are very disappointed that important NRA and TSRA bills (campus and parking lots) are clearly being stalled by the Republican leadership for the second session in a row.
Both of these men need to hear from a whole bunch of people. As always, be polite but firm.
Chas.
Here is the official NRA email alert:
NRA Alert wrote:URGENT: HELP NEEDED FROM TEXAS NRA MEMBERS ON SENATE BILL 730!
The Texas Legislature is entering its last 10 days of session, and the Texas House has not voted on one single significant pro-Second Amendment issue the entire session. That means that NRA's top legislative priority – Senate Bill 730, a bill that would allow employees to lawfully store firearms in their locked motor vehicles while parked at work -- may die this session. Not because SB 730 doesn't have the votes, but because the House won't be given a chance to vote on it.
This bill passed the Senate unanimously back on March 25! It enjoys strong, bi-partisan support among House members. But the House Calendars Committee has thus-far refused to set SB 730 for a vote by the full House. Powerful business and industry lobbyists are pulling out all the stops to keep this bill bottled up in Calendars, because they know it has a good shot at passing if it gets to the House floor. In 2007, the House Calendars Committee pulled the same trick - and finally scheduled that session's employee/parking lot bill so late and so far down on the House Calendar that it had no hope of coming up for a vote before the consideration deadline. < STRONG>Unless you take the following actions, the same thing may happen to SB 730 in the 2009 session:
* Contact House Calendars Committee Chairman Brian McCall's (R-66) office TODAY at (512) 463-0594 and urge him to set SB 730 on the Major State Calendar so that the bill has a chance to be voted on by the full House before its too late. Major State Calendar bills are the first to be considered each legislative day, and it's the only way to guarantee that SB 730 actually has a shot at a vote before the consideration deadline.
* Contact Speaker Joe Straus' (R-121) office TODAY at (512) 463-1000 and urge him to do everything he can to ensure that SB 730 is placed on the Major State Calendar and voted on by the full House before next week's deadline.
