With the state legislature being in session this year KFTC has been very active in making sure that we’ve had a presence their. Much of this has involved action alerts like: calling the legislative hotline, writing letters to the editor, sending hundreds of postcards to individual legislators, and most importantly lobbying.
Early in the year we had a lobby training session for the entire community for people who interested in talking with their legislators. People of all ages came out to partake in it. The key thing that we wanted to convey was that this is something that anybody can do and that it can make a difference. The key thing is to know the issue, to be honest, and to be polite. People think that legislators know much more about a specific bill than they actually do.
Another aspect of the trainging was telling people about the bills that we are hoping to pass. House Bills 70, 164, and 262. HB 70 would restore the vote to former felons, HB 164 would ban the destruction of headwater streams, and HB 262 would implement a more progressive tax code.
So far KFTC has had big lobby days on behalf of HB 164 and 262. Next Thursday we are having one on HB 70. We will bring hundreds of people to Frankfort to make sure our legislators know that the people demand that their fellow citizens have equal rights in our Commonwealth.
But its not just about the big lobby days. KFTC generally takes handfuls of people to talk with their representatives. By doing this Kentucky’s leaders see that the laws they pass matter, and that they do impact regular people.
