At the “Green Lobby Night: A Citizen Advocate Training on Feb. 7, 2013, HEAL Utah, Utah Rivers Council and the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club presented a list of bills that they supported and some that they were against. The event was held in the State Capitol building.
Participants were encouraged to participate in the legislative process to help pass or kill bills.
“It is a feeling of empowerment that you will not forget,” says Zach Frankel of Utah Rivers Council, when the voting goes your way.
Utah Rivers Council is against HB68, which would restrict fishing.
“This is really a waste of time,” says Frankel. The issue is already in the courts, and until it is ruled upon, no legislative action is needed.
HEAL Utah supports HB96, HB97 and HB277. However, there are some boxcar bills that may be scary. A boxcar bill is one that doesn’t have a number and has no language attached to it. It just has a name. These bills are not easily tracked, and no one knows what is in them or what will be proposed by them.
Some people find it difficult to track everything that goes on at the capitol. There are between 700 and 1000 bills proposed every session.
“That’s why you support groups like HEAL Utah, the Sierra Club and Utah Rivers Council,” says Pacenza. Sign up for their action alerts and you will know what bills are coming out when.
About 50 people attended the training to learn how to lobby at the state capitol.
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