The following goals were developed by the Legislative Advocacy working group at the New York State Leadership Training on October 23, 2005 at the Wingate Hotel in Latham, New York.

Thanks to Sue Miller for serving as a recorder and to Kelly Steward for reporting to the larger group. And a special thanks to all who participated, offered ideas, and resolved to put the plans into action.

1. Legislative Committee: Improve coordination between the Upstate and Downstate cohorts of the NYSA Legislative Committee by reviving the Downstate component.

Action: Ellen Semel will contact Loretta Murray and Lise Hamlin.

2. Legislative Information Form: All members of the Legislative Committee will fill out the form completely with name, address(es), e-mail, phone, fax for member of assembly and senate.

Action: (1) Encourage all members of the NYSA Board fill out the form.
(2) Committee members will encourage members of their chapters to fill out form.

3. Combining A01347 (Tax Credit) and A04134 (Insurance) bills: This idea will be presented at a meeting of the Upstate component with Assemblyman Morelli in early December.

Action: Marcia Dugan will provide Joe Damico with the information.

4. Talking Points: Brenda Battat has provided the talking points for the Federal Tax Credit bill. These are easily translated for use with the State bill. Talking points are needed for the Insurance bill. These are needed so that all who advocate for its passage are presenting the same arguments and are on the same page. Mr. Koon said the cost implications are usually addressed in the last paragraph of the bill.

Action: Legislative Committee will develop the talking points for the Insurance bill.

5. Health Insurance Person: Because the Health Insurance Lobby is one of the opponents to the insurance bill, it is important that the Legislative Committee involve a person in this field on the legislative committee.

Action: Upstate and Downstate components will look for a person to fill this slot.

6. Joe Kozelsky’s White Paper: This paper on Insurance Parity for Hearing Aids is in final edit. When finished it will be sent to Mr. Koon and all members of the Legislative Committee.

Action: Sue Miller will talk to Joe Kozelksy about this request.

7. Legislative Lobbying Day: Although the committee will talk to legislators in their home offices, it was decided to explore the feasibility of a day to talk to legislators in Albany.

Action: The committee will explore the possibility of having a legislative day on a Tuesday following a board meeting in Albany.

Participants:
Karen Baron
Melanie Brand
Marcia Dugan
Andrew Finlayson
David Koon
Suzanne Koon
Sue Miller
Ellen Semel
Myra Schreibman
Kelly Steward

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