Orchestrating Legislative Action 101

All across America child welfare reform activist are pushing to get the “First Family Preservation Act of 2016” (HR-5456/S-3065) passed through the Senate.

The clock is ticking… session is getting short and we have 3 Senators holding it up.

• Senator Boxer (D-CA) 202-224-3553
• Senator Enzi (R-WY) 202-224-3424
• Senator Cornyn (RINO-TX) 202-224-2934

From my understanding the main hold out is Cornyn.

The importance of this Act is really very simple. It moves funding from foster care to prevention. On top of that it is uncapped funding. This means states can start ACTUALLY funding preventative programs instead on snatching the children and placing them in foster care. You can read the latest text of the bill here.

As important as this legislation is, the real work relating to it begins after the President signs it. This is because that is when the states have to write legislation to actually apply it.

For many we do not actually know how to go about orchestrating new legislation. Luckily we had someone recently do a live Facebook broadcast.

On September 8, 2016 the Oklahoma Chapter of GRAUSA hosted a Facebook LIVE event featuring Mike Workman. Mike Workman, a friend of Charlotte, and a descendant of Oklahoma’s own Will Rogers, has been involved with politics for many years, offers his experience and suggestions as how to best get a bill passed through our legislatures. Mike and his wife have had their own issues and have succeeded in raising their own granddaughter and now have good relations with their granddaughter and great granddaughter. GRAOK welcomed the opportunity to have Mike take the time from his busy schedule to speak to us, helping us in our mission to change some of our family laws and get a bill passed through our legislature.

Please take about an hour to listen to what Mike has to say. There is a much greater message here than what one might think. All that he says can be applied to most any legislation one wants to get passed.

As advocates for reform our main battles are in the state houses. Mike lays out a template on how to approach state legislation.

We thank him for his efforts.