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NY Take Action: Religious exmption repeal bill is on Health Comm agenda for June 11.
Autism Action Network
6-6-19
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13 days to go. Please come to Albany on Tuesday, June 11. The s exemption repeal bill is moving. We learned yesterday that A2371, the bill to repeal the religious exemption from vaccine mandates to attend school in New York, will be on the agenda for a meeting of the Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday, June 11. The official agenda has not yet been released so we don't yet know the time or place of the meeting.
Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried has said he would only put it on the agenda when Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz, the bill's sponsor, has the 14 votes necessary to report the bill out. This action indicates Dinowitz has the votes. We were surprised by this because on Tuesday an article was published by the Albany Times Union reporting that Dinowitz only had 10 votes on the committee. If the bill is reported out it could go to the floor for a vote, or it could be taken-up by another committee such as Codes, but there are no firm procedures.
Before the bill goes to the floor for a vote though, leadership of the Assembly will want to make sure they have a "majority of the majority" which means enough votes from Democrats to pass the bill with no Republican votes. There are 150 members, so a minimum of 76 votes from Democrats is needed. Customarily they want a few more votes than that for a buffer. If we have 33 solid Democratic votes there will not be a "majority of the majority" and the bill will not likely go to the floor.
Before you read the rest of this Action Alert please make it possible for us to keep fighting for your family, your children and your rights. We have been in Albany every session day since April and we will be in Albany every session day until this is over and we win. Your calls, letters, emails, office visits, and trips to Albany are having a real impact don't let up until this is done. Help keep us in the fight for you by donating now here:
Please call your own State Senator and Assemblymember. Their contact information should be below. Ask them the staffer if your representative has taken a position on A2371. And ask for an appointment to see them tomorrow or Monday in the distrcit or in Albany on June 11.
And participate in our new action, "Dear Legislator, PLEASE LET ME GO TO SCHOOL." We are seeing that it is having an impact already.
Two students who love school appealed to legislators this past Wednesday to oppose the bill to repeal their religious exemption & were EXTRAORDINARILY EFFECTIVE. One co-sponsor got off the bill as a result! Time for the people who this bill affects the most to bring their message to Albany!
1) Take a picture of your kid(s) & have them handwrite a short note/ letter with the message, "I want to go to school" (or a similar/ unique message) Maybe the pic can be taken with a school project or on a sports field- whatever they love about school. Simple is GREAT!!
2) Print the pictures and scan the note, no social media (obviously). Below this message is a short list of representatives to EMAIL AND SNAIL MAIL the picture and the note directly to.
We will be printing a booklet and hand-delivering one to EVERY LEGISLATOR on Monday, June 10th!
Touch-and-feel makes it real! This brings the reality of this awful bill into their life (and hopefully their heart)- the impact on our kids is NOT abstract.
Please mail your letter and photographs to your State Senator and Assemblymember, and the key leaders in the legislature below
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12247
scousins@nysenate.gov
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie,
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 932
Albany, NY 12248
speaker@nyassembly.gov
Senator Gustavo Rivera
Senate Health Committee Chair
Capitol Building, 502C
Albany, NY 12247
grivera@nysenate.gov
Assemblymember Richard Gottfried
Assembly Health Committee Chair
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 822
Albany, NY 12248
GottfriedR@nyassembly.gov
Senator Shelley Mayer
Education Committee Chair
Legislative Office Building, Room 509
Albany, NY 12247
smayer@nysenate.gov
Assemblymember Michael Benedetto,
Education Committee Chair
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 836
Albany, NY 12248
benedettom@nyassembly.gov
ASSEMBLYMEMBERS:
Assm. Crystal People-Stokes
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 926
Albany, NY 12248
PeopleC@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Michael Blake
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 643
Albany, NY 12248
BlakeM@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Dave Buchwald
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 331
Albany, NY 12248
BuchwaldD@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Steven Otis
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 327
Albany, NY 12248
OtisS@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Catalina Cruz
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 523
Albany, NY 12248
cruzc@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Maritza Davila
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 637
Albany, NY 12248
DavilaM@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Alicia Hyndman
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 820
Albany, NY 12248
hyndmana@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Taylor Raynor
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 833
Albany, NY 12248
raynort@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Tremaine Wright
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 656
Albany, NY 12248
wrightt@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Carmen De La Rosa
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 538
Albany, NY 12248
delaRosac@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Michaelle Solages
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 619
Albany, NY 12248
SolagesM@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Al Taylor
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 633
Albany, NY 12248
taylora@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Ron Kim
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 419
Albany, NY 12248
KimR@nyassembly.gov
Assm. Latrice Walker
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, Rm. 746
Albany, NY 12248
WalkerL@nyassembly.gov
Please keep call the key leaders in the Legislature and vocing your opposition to A2371a and S2994.
Carl Heastie, Speaker of the Assembly
Albany: 518-455-3791, District; 718-654-6539, Fax: 518-455-4812
Andrea Stewart Cousins, Senate Majority Leader
Albany: (518) 455-2585, District: 914-423-4031, Fax: (518) 426-6811
Gustavo Rivera, Chair of the Senate Health Committee
Albany: 518-455-3395, District: 718-933-2825, Fax: 518-426-6858
Call the members of the Assembly Health Committee again. Please be very polite. The staff are just doing a sometimes very difficult job. Please let them know how important this right is to our tiny minority of people.
Democrats:
Nader J. Sayegh: 518 455 3662, (914) 779-8805
Robin Schimminger: 518-455-4767, (716) 873-2540
Kevin A. Cahill: 518-455-4436, (845) 338-9610
Ron Kim: 518-455-5411 (718) 939-019
Aileen M. Gunther: 518-455-5355, (845) 794-5807 and (845) 342-9304
Michaelle C. Solages: 518-455-4465, (516) 599-2972
Rodneyse Bichotte: 518-455-5385, (718) 940-0428
Sandy Galef: 518-455-5348, (914) 941-111
Amy Paulin: 518-455-5585, (914) 723-1115
Linda B. Rosenthal: 518-455-5802, (212) 873-6368
Phil Steck: 518-455-5931, (518) 377-0902
Edward C. Braunstein: 518-455-5425, (718) 357-3588
Steven Cymbrowitz: 518-455-5214, (718) 743-4078
Andrew Hevesi: 518-455-4926, (718) 263-5595
Ellen Jaffee: 518-455-5118, (845) 624-4601
Jeffrey Dinowitz: 518-455-5965, (718) 796-5345
Charles Barron: 518-455-5912, (718) 257-5824
Republicans:
Kevin Byrne: 518-455-5783, (845) 278-2923
Marjorie Byrnes: 518-455-5662, (585) 218-0038
David McDonough: 518-455-4633, (516) 409-2070
Andrew Garbarino: 518-455-4611, (631) 589-0348
Jake Ashby, 518-455-5777, (518) 272-6149
Ed Ra: 518-455-4627, (516) 535-4095
Andrew Raia: 518-455-5952, (631) 261-4151
The legislative session is scheduled to end on June 19. The closer to the end the more chaotic things get up there, and we have to be very vigilant.
Key Talking points:
· Students with religious exemptions are only one out of 1000 people in the state,
· Students with religious exemptions are less than 1% of students statewide,
· Students with religious exemptions are less than .5% of students in NYC,
· There are eight times as many students without religious exemptions who have not had the MMR vaccine as people with religious exemptions according to the CDC. S2994 does nothing about that.
· With the Democrats: This bill is established that the State has the power to tell people what to do with their bodies and their children’s bodies? What ever happened to “My body, my choice.”
· With the Republicans: This bill is a gross infringement on parental and religious rights and takes away a right we have always had in New York for no rational reason.
· We have no data at all showing that students with religious exemption have any role in the outbreak. Even Mayor de Blasio admitted that. https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2019/05/07/de-blasio-measles-reality-has-nothing-to-do-with-religious-vaccine-exemptions-1009681
· How are children with IEPs and 504 plans going to get the services that school districts must provide, whether the child is in school or not? And how much is this going to cost.
· What is going to happen to the students who have medical problems deserving of a medical exemption who were told by their doctors to go get a religious exemption because getting a medical exemption is so difficult. Senator Gustavo Rivera, Chair of the Senate Health Committee, has a bill right now, S477, to fix this problem.
Please share this message with friends and family, and please share on social media while we still can.
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| jgilmore@autismactionnetwork.org> |