Late yesterday (April 24, 2007) afternoon, the Senate accepted the House amendments on SB 24 and re-passed the bill as amended. Next stop - Governor's office!

 

It will take a while for the bill to physically reach the Governor. First, they reformat the bill , check numbering, statutory references, etc. and then proof read it twice to be sure that everything is exactly the same as was passed. There are many bills waiting for this procedure, and it is the same staff that does this that also is revising bills as they are passing through the process.  This could take as long as four weeks.  Then the Governor has 30 days to review the bill, he can either sign it into law, veto it, or take no action and it becomes law by default.

 

We are putting the finishing touches on our action plan (bullet points, instructions, addresses, etc)  for the CATA membership, I anticipate being done by the end of the week.    We will then distribute it out for YOUR ACTION!

 

This past weekend, at the RMATA convention,  several members asked me about our chances.  I am optimistic about success.  Last year we knew we were heading to a Governor who was VERY anti-regulation.  This year we are headed to a governor who is somewhat of a mystery; he has no significant track record on bills like ours.  IF we can ALL give an A+ effort during this phase I like our chances!

 

Another fact that you all should consider is… if we don’t succeed we are back to SQUARE ONE!  We have been told that we will have to go through the entire sunrise process again (submit an application for regulation in June 2008 to be reviewed for 18 months) the earliest we could go back to the legislature for review would be the 2010 session!

 

We can get this done and advance OUR profession.  It is up to YOU!  J

 

I hope you all are fired up as me!