Missouri Family Network wants you to be aware of your State Legislature:
Who they are – What they do – When they are in “Session”
And how You can be involved, effectively!
See the information below for dates and details.
MFN’s 26 years of experience can assist you in many ways to work smart and effective.
If you have any interest in being involved at any level with legislative issues and/or lobbying save this post as it contains some important dates related to your State Legislative Calendar.
Starting with MFN’s co-hosting our annual “Legislative Academy” and outlining the dates you need to know about before coming to your State Capitol building.
Missouri General Assembly – 2011 Legislative Session
Tuesday, Jan. 4th – Several pro-family groups will co-host the traditional “Legislative Academy” (These are the groups that have a decade or more of direct lobbying experience).
If you or a representative of your group wants to be effectively engaged in legislative matters – attending this program should be your top priority.
Wednesday Morning, Jan. 5th, Is the annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. This event is hosted by a prayer breakfast committee and attendance requires pre-paid tickets to attend.
It is typically a sold out event with about three hundred or more in attendance. This year the committee set the date in conflict with the Commissioning and prayer service sponsored by the Missouri Baptist Convention, the Pathway newspaper (official paper of the MBC), and Concord Baptist Church. That even has been rescheduled for the next day.
Thursday Morning, Jan. 6th, there will be a special Commissioning and Prayer service for all members of the House and Senate. This program will be held at Concord Baptist Church in Jefferson City and open to the general public. The focus will be on a Biblical challenge to lawmakers and a series of prayers aimed at specific levels of authority, elected officials and their families, legislative staff, as well as all branches of State government. Please join us in person, or in prayer on the 6th.
Capitol Legislative Academy
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
10:00 a.m.– 3:00 p.m.
Jefferson City, Missouri Capitol
House Hearing Room 7
-Find your way through the Legislative maze and PROMOTE YOUR ISSUE.
-Learn the most effective way to approach your legislator.
-Gain knowledge from a mock hearing.
-Become skilled on how to present your subject matter.
-NETWORK with other like-minded Missourians.
Citizen lobbyist training for the novice and the experienced!
Lunch and materials included.
RSVP by calling or emailing by 1-1-11: 314-983-0680 or moeagleforum@gmail.com
Money may be paid at the door but RSVP must be in advance for lunch.
$12 per person, children under 12 – $5
Checks: MO Eagle Forum, 49 Conway Close Road, St. Louis, MO 63124
Presented by: Missouri Eagle Forum
Concerned Women for America of Missouri
Families for Home Education
Missouri Family Network
96th Missouri General Assembly Schedule for the First regular Session, 2011
Pre-filing of proposed bills began December 1, 2010 even though the Session convenes January 5, 2011.
Once the regular Session begins the average legislative week begins with a mid-afternoon session each Monday, with a 10 am session in both the House and Senate on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, ending at noon or early afternoon on Thursday. (While Schedules can involve Fridays, Saturdays, or even Sundays, the House and Senate strive to avoid those days so everyone can maintain their private home lives, businesses, and the other ‘normal’ activities of a ‘citizen’s legislature.’)
During most of the first half of the Session more time will be spend in the 60-70 committees and the public hearings required of any bills before they can be considered on the House or Senate floors. These committees will begin early Monday mornings and some will not even have a chance to meet until late evening. Official Capitol schedules combined involve 14-16 hour days, and often times even longer. (MFN averages between 44-50 hours a week in the capitol building during these four days each week.)
During the mid-Session months this activity will gradually evolve into more time spent in full formal sessions on the House and Senate floors and less time in smaller committees. Mondays early sessions will begin earlier and each chamber will extend hours of ‘floor time.’ Committees will struggle to keep up with not just their own chamber’s introduced bills, but those bills that start being sent to them as they were passed by the other chamber.
Following Spring Break, House bills remaining in House Committees and Senate bills that have not yet been passed through their original Senate Committees are facing the probability that they will die in the miry muck of the legislative process. Thursdays run longer and lawmaker’s stress levels become more prevalent.
Every day thousands of visitors will fill the capitol with hundreds of them joining with the hundreds of ‘regular’ full time lobbyists. Multiple groups will compete for lawmaker’s ears with receptions, meals, and a host of events, rallies, and demonstrations. Individual lawmakers’ schedules will be set and altered daily as they struggle to maintain, adjust, and/or manage their priorities and ever changing demands and dynamics.
As the Session wears on, the pace gets more hectic and overwhelming as each of the 197 members (163 in the House & 34 in the Senate) are each struggling to nurture their priorities through the gauntlet of the legislative process. Legislative dynamics become increasingly complicated as the hundreds, or thousands of, voices crying out for attention attempt to drown out one another as they compete for priority consideration. In the end 90%+ of all proposals will fail to become law.
Thankfully the vast majority of proposals will die along the way. There are hundreds of ways to help kill bills and only one process to survive to become law. For constitutionally conservative
Christian citizens to navigate this process MFN recommends:
– Attend the Legislative Academy described above.
– Consult with SEVERAL experienced and trustworthy sources as to which individuals and groups to trust for information and leadership on your issues.
– Cross reference information you see or hear for accuracy and wisdom before responding.
(many voices use hyperbolic or unsubstantiated information for fund-raising or activism)
– Sign up for our MFN E@lerts and weekly “Under the Dome” updates by going to www.MissouriFamilyNetwork.net you will be kept up-to-date with each week’s highlights as well as the key expectations for the following week.
Legislative Dates to Note:
First Day: (Swearing in ceremony and official election of House & Senate Leadership)
Wednesday, January 5, 12 noon
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day: (no session)
Monday, January 17th (reconvene Tuesday the 18th, 4 pm)
State of the State Address:
Expect A Late January Wednesday Evening (date to be set) Governor Jeremiah (Jay) Nixon
State of the Judiciary Address:
Expect An Early February Wednesday Late Morning or Noon (date to be set) – Chief Justice William Ray Price
Last Day for Senate Bills to be Introduced:
March 1 (House Bills typically do not have a cut-off date, but the later into the annual session a fresh bill is introduced it become less viable.)
Spring Break: (a one week break with a late start the following Monday)
Thursday, March 17, upon adjournment – Monday, March 28, 4 pm
Last Day for House Consent Bills to be Reported from Senate Committees:
April 14 (House consent bills after this date can still move forward but would lose their ‘consent’ status, making them vulnerable to harmful amendments.)
Easter Break:
Monday, April 25 (Easter Monday no session with a late 4 pm start on Tuesday)
Cut-off date for all Appropriations Bills to be Truly Agreed and Finally Passed:
May 6 (The Missouri Constitution requires the budget to be approved prior to the last week of session, thus allowing the last week to focus on policy issues only and helps lawmakers realize the fiscal impact of the final bills in relationship to keeping a balanced budget. Therefore bills which threaten to overstress, or bankrupt, the budget face almost impossible odds of passage.)
Last Day of 2011 Missouri State Legislative Session:
May 13, 6 pm (All bills that are not “Truly Agreed to and Finally Passed” (meaning both the House and Senate fully vet, process, and adopt the same version with a jot nor tittle difference) will be totally dead and must start the process from the starting gate if attempted the next year. Unlike the two year session of the U.S. Congress, the State Legislature treats each year as a separate self-standing legislative session.)
Any additional “Special Session(s)” may be called by the Governor for whatever specific purpose needed.
“Interim” committees that meet anytime throughout the year may be established by the House, Senate, or jointly.
A Constitutionally required “Veto Session” will be held in September.