Action Needed: Employer Parking Lots

[Rhino1]

I will call all of them tomorrow. I knew Paul Workman at A&M. Haven't seen him since but heard his name on the radio when he was running. Called and talked for a while. Sounded like the same conservative, prinicipled Aggie that I remember. Saw that he Co-authored. Should be solid

[gwashorn]

Due to work I was not able to call. However, I did fax all persons this evening requesting their support on HB681. It appears from e-mails I get from the TSRA and others forum posts that this group and I sure others are having an impact. Thanks Charles for all you do.

[artx]

Finished my fax's to House B&I last night.

Called all 7 Reps today - had some interesting responses (responses below). I thanked the co-authors for their support, all for the quick hearing, and urged all to vote the bill out favorably on Monday 2/28/11 with no amendments:

Chairman Joe Deshotel (D-Port Author ) Co-Author
Very polite staffer answered, she listened and after I said "please vote the bill out favorably" she cut in and said (in a very positive tone) "with no amendments right"

I said, why yes!

She said they had had a ton of calls and it was 'great how well organized your group is!' in a very positive tone. She sounded proud that Rep Deshotel was a co-author. I thanked her again.

Vice Chairman Rob Orr (R-Burleson) Co-Author
Said they'd pass along my position.
Rep. Chente Quintanilla (D-El Paso) Co-Author
No one answered, left message
Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) Co-Author
No one answered, left message
Rep. Burt Solomons (R-Carrollton) Co-Author
seemed disinterested and sounded like they wrote down a tick mark for the call.
Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) Co-Author
No one answered, left message
Rep. Paul Workman (R-Austin) Co-Author
No one answered, left message
Rep. John Garza (R-San Antonio) Not a co-author
Said, Yes, we are planning on doing exactly that (voting favorably with no amendments). I especially thanked the staffer for the Rep's support.
Rep. Helen Giddings (D-Dallas) Not a co-author
Interested lady took down my personal info and verified I wanted no amendments. Kind of made me wonder what others were asking them to do.

Calling the Reps (or Senator's) offices is always an interesting case. It is kind of intimidating to do it, but gets much easier the more calls you make. The staffers run the gamut of very friendly and interested to sounding like you are interrupting them balancing 6 pans of boiling water and really don't want to talk to you! I always thank them and am polite regardless of the level of interaction.

Thanks to all that have called and faxed! On Monday, it will be time to call the Senators.

[Liberty]

I called most on the list yesterday. I told them that I understood the pressures that will be from the industrial people. Deshotel's district has lots of big time industry. I suggested that this is one of the few times that industrys are going to conflict with the what is best for the constituents. She assured me that Deshotel was looking most favorabley at this bill.

The public hearings are going to be pretty wild on this. If BP dares sends a speaker, I hope the reps understand that they are intending on leaving Texas, and not give them much weight.

[rtschl]

I called all of their offices yesterday. Rep. Bohac's staff member asked me for my name and address. Rep. Deshotel's staff member seemed a bit irritated. Hopefully, their phones have been ringing off the hook.

Ron

[flintknapper]

I called all of their offices yesterday. Rep. Bohac's staff member asked me for my name and address. Rep. Deshotel's staff member seemed a bit irritated. Hopefully, their phones have been ringing off the hook.

Ron

You may be sure of that, but remember BOTH sides are calling.

Keep up the faxes as well, I believe them to have a cumulative effect.

[Liberty]

I called all of their offices yesterday. Rep. Bohac's staff member asked me for my name and address. Rep. Deshotel's staff member seemed a bit irritated. Hopefully, their phones have been ringing off the hook.

Ron

You may be sure of that, but remember BOTH sides are calling.

Keep up the faxes as well, I believe them to have a cumulative effect.

The difference between our callers and their callers. Is our callers represent votes. Theirs are paid lobbiest who represent money. There really aren't many real voters who are against this thing who would care about this enough to make a call. How many real members are in the Brady Bunch?

[srothstein]

In this case, it is not the Brady bunch you are countering. It is the business owner's lobby. And they have a lot of members and real voters they represent also. I don't know if their lobbyists or members are calling, but it is a hard fight either way. Never discount the effect of money on the legislative process.

[CWOOD]

I just sent the following FAX and a similar email. I will try to get to the hearing, depending on its time of day, after work.

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Dear Rep. Workman,

I send this FAX to thank you for signing on as a co-author of HB681. This helps validate your answers to the TSRA questionnaire which earned you the “A” rating from that fine organization.

I also send it to strongly urge you to work to get HB681 voted out of the Business and Industry committee WITHOUT amendments offered by business interests.

I am sure they will try of offer amendments that would gut and neuter the bill as written. This would be a terrible disservice to the nearly one half million of CHL holders and the countless sportsmen and ordinary citizens who normally have a weapon for self defense or sporting purposes stored out of sight in a locked vehicle.

The amendments to be offered will effectively negate the effects of the Motorist Protection Act and the CHL provisions. This would be totally unacceptable because, if a citizen cannot lawfully store their weapon in their locked vehicle without threat of job loss in these economically precarious times, they are effectively prevented from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights from the time they leave home until they get back home after work and after any other business they may have to conduct throughout the remainder of the work day.

Regards from a constituent,

cwood

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[Bear67]

I faxed a letter asking for the bill to be reported out of committee without any amendments to each member of the B&I committee Friday. I will do the same for the Senate side tomorrow.

If we do not do what is needed, who will. You never know what you reap when you sow, but bread can not be made if the wheat is still in the sack.

[flintknapper]

I faxed a letter asking for the bill to be reported out of committee without any amendments to each member of the B&I committee Friday. I will do the same for the Senate side tomorrow.

Thank you Sir,

And welcome to the forum, glad to have you.


Flint

[wheelgun1958]

Per Myra Crownover's website, she has co-authored HB681. I should call her anyway and thank her for her support.

Bill: HB 681
Legislative Session: 82(R) Council Document: 82R 3677 KSD-D
Add to Bill List | Add to Alert List
Last Action: 02/28/2011 H Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
Caption Version: Introduced
Caption Text: Relating to an employee's transportation and storage of certain firearms or ammunition while on certain property owned or controlled by the employee's employer.
Author: Kleinschmidt | Hardcastle | Guillen | Fletcher | Geren
Coauthor: Aliseda | Anderson, Charles "Doc" | Anderson, Rodney | Aycock | Beck | Berman | Bohac | Bonnen | Branch | Brown | Burkett | Cain | Callegari | Christian | Cook | Creighton | Crownover | Darby | Davis, John | Deshotel | Driver | Eissler | Elkins | Flynn | Frullo | Gallego | Gonzales, Larry | Gooden | Harless | Harper-Brown | Hilderbran | Hopson | Howard, Charlie | Huberty | Hughes | Hunter | Isaac | Jackson, Jim | Keffer | King, Phil | King, Susan | King, Tracy O. | Kolkhorst | Kuempel | Landtroop | Lavender | Lewis | Madden | Miller, Doug | Miller, Sid | Morrison | Murphy | Nash | Orr | Otto | Parker | Paxton | Perry | Phillips | Price | Quintanilla | Raymond | Riddle | Schwertner | Scott | Sheets | Sheffield | Simpson | Smith, Todd | Smith, Wayne | Solomons | Taylor, Larry | Taylor, Van | Truitt | Weber | White | Workman | Zedler | Zerwas
Cosponsor:
Subjects: Labor--General (I0500)
Labor--Management Relations (I0465)
Weapons (I0887)
CONCEALED HANDGUNS (S0241)
House Committee: Business & Industry
Status: In committee

[Charles L. Cotton]

I'm listening to it now and I'm really tired of hearing about HOAs and solar panels!

Chas.

[RPB]

I'm listening to it now and I'm really tired of hearing about HOAs and solar panels!

Chas.

I "almost" bought a house in Deer Park years ago, would have been a decent investment, but was informed they'd decide what color my garage door is going to be painted and I laughed and walked away. When I moved to the small town I'm in now and remodeled the bathroom, the city sent a letter about the sheetrock and toilet in my front yard. I drove my car over the sheetrock until it was dust, posted and wrote city Council about the benefits of adding gypsum to the soil. I poured concrete and plaster in the toilet with silk flowers, labeled it "Flower pottie" and invited the inspector back. They laughed and left me alone every since. I'm all for "individual rights" for people who "had to buy in an HOA area" but that was their choice in the first place. I've never just thought "Hey, I need MORE people telling me how to live my life, I need to move to where more little Napoleons are wanting to govern me"

Let's get on to important stuff, parking lots and individual rights

I've listened to the whole thing but need to leave in a minute, so I'll probably miss it.

Edited to add ... Anyone not listening who wants to ... see viewtopic.php?f=110&t=42695" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Keith B]

Charles, do you know who is there to testify in favor of the bill? I know we have 7 of the 9 committee members that are co-authors, and the two that aren't are not signed on to any bills, so have a majority, but hope we have a few in there to testify in favor of it.