Leave no stone unturned.
You’ve got through the weekend to contact Reps and ask them to get down to the Clerk’s office, sign up as cosponsors and send a little note to the Speaker and Chair of Ways and Means telling them they support your amendment.
On Monday and Tuesday and throughout the week, savvy advocates will will be up and around the Lobby (that’s why they call us lobbyists) out side the House Chamber calling out their co sponsors one by one and thanking them again and asking them to be sure and attend the Budget Caucus that will be reviewing their amendment and other related amendments.
The Speaker will be announcing a schedule of Budget Caucuses (Caucii?) as soon as Monday. The Budget Caucuses are convened roughly by subject area – for instance, Higher Education, Public Transportation, social Services, Health, Environmental Affairs etc, in no particular order.
The Caucuses are held in the so called Legislative Reading Room next to the Chamber. The Chair and Staff of Ways and Means, and sometimes the appropriate Chair of a related Joint Committee will review all the pending amendments to that section and “announce/discuss” the HW&M recommendations. There are always clarifying questions asked and sometimes heated discussions. Sometimes language is added, sometimes language is deleted. These meetings are open to all Reps, but alas, not to lobbyists.
Lobbyists and advocates wait outside in the lobby waiting for a friendly sponsor to come out and tell them if their amendment was included or further amended in the so called “consolidated amendment” or not included at all. Consolidated amendments are eventually posted on the website too.
Loooooong waits between Caucuses until a Leadership person is delegated to go into the Chamber, distribute the consolidated amendment and brief the Members who are seeing it for the first time. No debate, a simple up or down vote seals the deal. And yes, Reps who wish to pull their individual piece out of the consolidated amendment and debate it separately may do so. They never win.
Waiting around used to make me feel like a 6 year old child playing outfield in a little league game. Complete boredom punctuated by terror and humiliation.
