Lobby Day 2008 Info

Come Make History!
Lobby Day 2008 for Certified Professional Midwives
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
State Capitol, Springfield, Illinois

Orientation Meeting: 10 am, Committee Room C-1,
Stratton Building (connected to the capitol).
Contingency Plan: Cafeteria, Stratton Building Basement
(Official state business is given priority for meeting rooms.
We'll post signs if we move.)
Second Chance Check-in: 11 am to 12 noon, at our information table,
South Hallway, 1st floor Capitol (just off the rotunda).

YOU Matter
YOUR presence is so important! We need YOU To move our bill forward out of committee and onto the House floor. That's why we need each and every one of YOU to join us in Springfield. Only YOU can fill the halls and impress your state representative with the effort it took to travel with your family to Springfield . Only YOU can show the General Assembly how much home birth matters and that we need professional midwives!

Please bring with you
1) Yourself, your family, your friends (plus bottled water and snacks for kids).
2) If you have one, please wear a home birth or midwife tee shirt!Mbr< 3) Bring lots of quarters. The free visitors lot tends to fill up early (8:30am), so you should plan to park on a street surrounding the capitol, usually within a block or two, and use the parking meters. Closer to the capitol, the meters last up to 2 hours. If you don't mind walking an extra block or two, you can also find 8 hour meters.
3) Your state rep's name. PLEASE LOOK UP WHO YOUR STATE REP IS NOW. It's really important that you verify who your state representative is, b/c we will not have on-line access to look it up.
4) Your state rep's name. PLEASE LOOK UP WHO YOUR STATE REP IS NOW. It's really important that you verify who your state representative is, b/c we will not have on-line access to look it up.
5) Dress in layers. It can be hot inside the capitol even when it's chilly outside. Be prepared for varying temperatures.

Plan for the Day
We will meet at 10am in Committee Room C-1, Strattong Building (connected to the capitol), for an orientation meeting. We will tell you what how to find your representative and what you can say. We'll give you everything you need in a Lobby Day packet. We'll also share an up-to-the minute update on where we are with the general assembly, and tell you where your own representative stands on the issue.

We'll also provide you with a button (or sticker if you prefer to avoid pins), so we will be identified as a large group, and everyone will know that we are there en masse to make our case heard!

Lobbying
After the meeting, around 10:45, we'll head to capitol and hit the ground running! You will be able to meet with your representative and ask him/her to co-sponsor SB 385 (don't worry; you'll have handouts). Then you can report back to our information table the capitol and your completed legislative feed-back form, so we can keep track of what your legislator said.

After you hand in your feedback form, you'll be free to take a tour of the newly renovated capitol, watch the proceedings on the floor from the gallery, visit the Lincoln Presidential Library, the (free) Illinois State Museum or other area attractions, go to lunch or head home.

Wrap Up
After lobbying, we hope to hold an informal debriefing at a local restaurant later in the afternoon, approximately 2pm. We will let you know that morning if this works out.