SB-1714: Letters Still Needed!
Senate Bill 1714, our first step toward restraining local jurisdictions from regulating Amateur service antennas out of existence, made significant progress since last reported in this Update. As reported earlier, it passed the California Senate 39-0 on May 30, and was then forwarded to the Assembly for consideration. On June 28 the bill passed the Assembly Committee on Local government unanimously. Vice Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and Sacramento Valley Section Manager Jerry Boyd, K6BZ, represented ARRL at the hearing. Senator Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga, the bill's sponsor, took the unusual step of appearing in person at the hearing, and spoke strongly in favor of the bill. The bill is now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and is scheduled for a hearing on August 9. Assuming there is no surprise from the Appropriations Committee, the bill should reach the Assembly floor very shortly after the August 9 hearing.
We need more letters! Please sit down, right now, and write a letter to your Assembly member! You should express your opinion (hopefully supportive) to your individual Assembly member. Please do not suggest changes to the bill now, because any amendment in the Assembly would effectively kill it for this year. In its present form it doesn't hurt, and it will permit us to work with the Governor's Office of Planning and Research to get (hopefully) something next year that will really help. You may find your Assembly member's name in the government pages of the telephone directory or on the web by going to http://www.assembly.ca.gov and using the zip code finders that can be found off those pages. Every Assembly member may be contacted by mail addressed to him or her by name at P. O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0001. Most Assembly members may be contacted by email at an address constructed as
assemblymember.<name>@assembly.ca.gov
where <name> is the last name of the Assembly member. For example, Assemblyman Sam Aanestad of the 3rd district has email address assemblymenber.aanestad @assembly.ca.gov. Unfortunately, this format isn't used by all Assembly members. If it doesn't work, it will be necessary to go to the Assembly web site, URL given above, and try to find an alternate email address for your specific member. Each member of the Assembly has individual office, telephone and fax numbers in their district and in Sacramento. Local offices are listed in the government section of your phone directory. A great deal of information about each member can be found at links from the page at http://www.assembly.ca.gov. It is sufficient just to write or telephone to say "I am an Amateur Radio Service licensee and I support SB-1714." Staff at each level simply keeps a count for and against for the member. The Assembly member generally will not see the individual letters, only the count. Please at least tell me and our Pacific Division Volunteer Counsel Coordinator Harry Styron, K6HS, (hlstyron@wcrklaw.com) that you have written, to whom you have written, and if your letter was for or against the bill. Harry, K6HS, has also created a SB-1714 mail list. The list contains periodic updates and alerts related to SB-1714. If you wish to subscribe, send email to 1714-info-request@contra-costa.net with the word "subscribe" (no quotes) in the subject line. Thanks Harry Styron, K6HS
Jim Maxwell, W6CF, Director, Pacific Division, ARRL w6cf@arrl.org
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