I finally got a copy of the draft today. I'm sure there will be more waiting in our future, but for now at least we have something to look at while we are waiting.
The draft looks ok. There are some issues, but I'm hopeful we can get them cleared up and cleaned up before we go to committee.
Speaking of committee . . . initially we were told that we'd be on the schedule for November's LHHS (Legislative Health and Human Services). Apparently, our bill did not come out of proofing in time to make it on that agenda. So now we are hoping and planning to make it on the agenda in early December. Fingers crossed.
That's all the news there is to report at the moment.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
More Waiting
Did I mention that we seem to do a whole lot of sitting around and waiting with this endeavor? Well, we do.
We are currently still waiting to see the draft of the new legislation. I keep being told we'll see it "any time" but as of today, Friday, I am still waiting. I guess that's ok, Michael Hely is getting some things worked out before we see it. I've spoken to him a couple of times in the last few days disucssing various issues.
Hopefully, we'll see it on Monday. I'll certainly keep you posted!
We are currently still waiting to see the draft of the new legislation. I keep being told we'll see it "any time" but as of today, Friday, I am still waiting. I guess that's ok, Michael Hely is getting some things worked out before we see it. I've spoken to him a couple of times in the last few days disucssing various issues.
Hopefully, we'll see it on Monday. I'll certainly keep you posted!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Draft!
Michael Hely heard from Rep. Gardner last week, and he already has a draft about ready for us to review. This is great news. I'm hoping to see it today or maybe tomorrow. I'm so excited I keep checking my email!
I'll let you all know how it looks when I finally see it.
I'll let you all know how it looks when I finally see it.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Moving ahead
So we found out who our new contact/drafter was at the Legislative Council's office, Kate Ferlic. However, Ms. Ferlic has now also departed (temporarily).
A week or so ago we got an email from Rep. Gardner asking if Ms. Ferlic had been in contact with us. Telling us that he is hoping to get it in the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee in November. (Yeah, November. Carin and I were shocked, to say the least. From nothing to committee in less than two weeks.)
Rep. Gardner had a "long conversation" with her a few weeks ago about the bill. He was under the impression that she had completed it and it was simply waiting in her files.
Today I got a call from Michael Hely. He is now our contact/drafter. According to the first call of the day, he had no completed bill and no permission from Rep. Gardner to actually work on a bill. That effectively put us back to square one. Rep. Gardner has now had to "give permission" to three different people. I was frustrated to say the least. I told Mr. Hely that a similar piece of legislation had been passed and vetoed in 2007, that's when he said "Oh, that's what I have in front of me." So, really back to square one.
Later in the day Mr. Hely called again to talk about the Wish List I had sent to Ms. Ferlic. Clarifying, answering questions, getting things straight. All good things.
Fingers crossed, we get the bill drafted and are able to review it in plenty of time for it to get into the HHS committee. One of the reasons to get it into committee now is to get the bill a low number. A low number on the bill means it is heard sooner in the regular session and has a greater chance of making it through both the House and the Senate committees and getting passed.
So that is where we stand right now. I hope to have more to report in the next week or so.
A week or so ago we got an email from Rep. Gardner asking if Ms. Ferlic had been in contact with us. Telling us that he is hoping to get it in the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee in November. (Yeah, November. Carin and I were shocked, to say the least. From nothing to committee in less than two weeks.)
Rep. Gardner had a "long conversation" with her a few weeks ago about the bill. He was under the impression that she had completed it and it was simply waiting in her files.
Today I got a call from Michael Hely. He is now our contact/drafter. According to the first call of the day, he had no completed bill and no permission from Rep. Gardner to actually work on a bill. That effectively put us back to square one. Rep. Gardner has now had to "give permission" to three different people. I was frustrated to say the least. I told Mr. Hely that a similar piece of legislation had been passed and vetoed in 2007, that's when he said "Oh, that's what I have in front of me." So, really back to square one.
Later in the day Mr. Hely called again to talk about the Wish List I had sent to Ms. Ferlic. Clarifying, answering questions, getting things straight. All good things.
Fingers crossed, we get the bill drafted and are able to review it in plenty of time for it to get into the HHS committee. One of the reasons to get it into committee now is to get the bill a low number. A low number on the bill means it is heard sooner in the regular session and has a greater chance of making it through both the House and the Senate committees and getting passed.
So that is where we stand right now. I hope to have more to report in the next week or so.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Now we know
Hopefully, this won't be a setback.
I had sent Evan Blackstone an email a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting patiently to hear back from him on the progress of the redrafted legislation. The plan was to get the bill drafted and get it into a summer work session or two in order to get some support and work out any kinks in it before the actual start of the 2009 Regular Session.
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
So today I called. Not trying to be pushy. I know they are busy, but my impression is that the summer sessions start soon. We don't want to miss them altogether.
Ring, ring, ring. Legislative Council's Office.
Evan, apparently, no longer works in that office. That certainly explains why he didn't answer my email. So I was connected to someone else (Raoul, sorry can't remember his last name) and left a message for him. He is supposedly the person who would assign a drafter to our bill.
Raoul called back After a brief explanation of the bill and the plan for it, he said he would have someone call back within the week. He seemed to already know about the plan to get it into the summer sessions, so that's a good thing.
I certainly don't have a problem with someone else drafting it, but it can be a somewhat confusing issue. I want to make sure that whoever is drafting it has a chance to ask all the questions they may have so we aren't starting with bad information.
So that's where we stand right now. Still, in effect, waiting, waiting, waiting. But at least, now we know why we are waiting.
I had sent Evan Blackstone an email a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting patiently to hear back from him on the progress of the redrafted legislation. The plan was to get the bill drafted and get it into a summer work session or two in order to get some support and work out any kinks in it before the actual start of the 2009 Regular Session.
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
So today I called. Not trying to be pushy. I know they are busy, but my impression is that the summer sessions start soon. We don't want to miss them altogether.
Ring, ring, ring. Legislative Council's Office.
Evan, apparently, no longer works in that office. That certainly explains why he didn't answer my email. So I was connected to someone else (Raoul, sorry can't remember his last name) and left a message for him. He is supposedly the person who would assign a drafter to our bill.
Raoul called back After a brief explanation of the bill and the plan for it, he said he would have someone call back within the week. He seemed to already know about the plan to get it into the summer sessions, so that's a good thing.
I certainly don't have a problem with someone else drafting it, but it can be a somewhat confusing issue. I want to make sure that whoever is drafting it has a chance to ask all the questions they may have so we aren't starting with bad information.
So that's where we stand right now. Still, in effect, waiting, waiting, waiting. But at least, now we know why we are waiting.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Additions
I have added a few links to the Support Links section.
One is the MISS Foundation Support Forums site. The other is the New Mexico Share Message Board. Both are wonderful support forums.
Incidentally, New Mexico Share is a recent addition to our state. They have only been having meeting since Spring 2007. Both Carin and I attend whenever we can to give and receive the support of other grieving families. Meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at the Center for Prenatal Development (located at 4010 Montgomery Blvd. in Albuquerque) at 7 p.m.
One is the MISS Foundation Support Forums site. The other is the New Mexico Share Message Board. Both are wonderful support forums.
Incidentally, New Mexico Share is a recent addition to our state. They have only been having meeting since Spring 2007. Both Carin and I attend whenever we can to give and receive the support of other grieving families. Meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at the Center for Prenatal Development (located at 4010 Montgomery Blvd. in Albuquerque) at 7 p.m.
Delays
Sorry that I haven't updated the blog recently. I keep meaning to post about the meeting with Donna Dossey, but I also keep forgetting to send her an email to clarify some points from that meeting. I've now sent that email and am waiting for her response.
I will say that we decided to not pursue the bill during the 2008 Regular (short) session. It was just going to be too difficult to even get it heard this year, so we decided to wait until the 2009 Regular (long) session. At this point we are waiting for the 2008 Regular session to close so that we can meet with Keith Gardner and then with Evan Blackstone. We do have a commitment from Evan to start drafting shortly after the session closes. Naturally, we will have to wait a bit longer if the governor calls a special session, but we hope to get the bill drafted soon so that we have as long as possible to make it right for the 2009 session.
So that's the update. Just waiting.
I will say that we decided to not pursue the bill during the 2008 Regular (short) session. It was just going to be too difficult to even get it heard this year, so we decided to wait until the 2009 Regular (long) session. At this point we are waiting for the 2008 Regular session to close so that we can meet with Keith Gardner and then with Evan Blackstone. We do have a commitment from Evan to start drafting shortly after the session closes. Naturally, we will have to wait a bit longer if the governor calls a special session, but we hope to get the bill drafted soon so that we have as long as possible to make it right for the 2009 session.
So that's the update. Just waiting.
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