Lobby Day
I have never had a desire to be a politician but always the desire to effect change in my society. I felt the power of change was held in the vote so I made my voice known at every voting opportunity. I have been disillusioned many times by not seeing my candidate win and even when they do win, the changes I hoped would occur did not appear.
Yesterday I joined with 4 other women from my church and drove up to Richmond to learn about ‘Lobbying’. I thought we would have a seminar where we could take notes and learn. I imagined that what I learned would be used from home to fight for the causes I believed in at some later point in time. I was wrong.
As we walked in the whole building was a buzz with people. I heard someone lament that it was ‘Lobby Day’. I hadn’t realized this was a whole day dedicated to lobbying or that any such day even existed. There were many groups walking together united in one cause there to make their voice known to their representative. There were politicians trying to make their way through the crowded halls to get to their committee meetings where the bills were being discussed in open door rooms. There were people milling about those rooms hoping to get the change to speak about these bills, to lobby for or against them. It was not mayhem, it was organized chaos.
We walked into the room where we were supposed to meet and learn about the bills we came to lobby. All of these bills are centered around Human Trafficking and we were there to support them all and make a difference in stopping this horrible modern day slavery. Instead of just learning about lobbying though we were thrust into the deep end of doing lobbying. It was thrilling! We had a very short orientation on what is currently going on in the state of Virginia with human traffickers. We only had about 10 minutes of education time about the bills in committee that will combat this industry and then out the door we went at what we thought was a scheduled appointment with our representative, Harvey Morgan.
As we walked out of the room, we kept looking around and asking each other about what we are suppose to do next, where was the office, etc. until I just made up my mind to take charge. Something within said I can do this, the lives of woman and children in slavery depend on the passing of these bills. I marched down the hall like I knew where I was going making everyone else follow. Two young women from Liberty University not with our group asked if they could join us and we were glad to have them along (not realizing this was God ordained).
We came up to Mr. Morgan’s office and we were not on the books. We just acted like it wasn’t a problem and started talking. When they realized we were voters from their district we had their ear. With in a few minutes we had their undivided attention and even got to sit down and explain our concern and about these bills with Mr. Morgan himself. He not only emphasized with our cause and promised to vote these bills in he gave us wonderful pointers and other information on how to influence the committees where these bills were currently being processed.
We continued from there to the next office where we only got to talk to the office attendant but still we were able to effectively communicate the bills we wanted enacted and she promised to forward that request to our representative.
It was amazing as I watched each one of our group and especially the two college students effectively communicate the need to stop human trafficking and the points of each of these bills and how they would benefit that goal.
Lobby day has opened my eyes to a whole new ‘power’. The power of the vote is effective and a tool to do the work of the Lord on earth but the power of the lobby! Now that is my new found weapon and I intend to learn it inside out.
Changes in this industry must occur and those changes can begin with us. If you are a Virginia resident I urge you to become a lobbyist too. Write your representative and ask them to vote yes on these bills. If you don’t know who your representative is then log on to http://legis.state.va.us and click on “Who’s My Legislator”.
The following is a list of the bills up for vote in our Virginia Assembly that will combat Human Trafficking. You can read about the bills by logging on to the above web address and on the left side type in the bill number (exp: HB 1893). Also, click on ‘About General Assembly’ and then ‘Committees’ and get the list of names of the members of the ‘Courts of Justice Committee’. This is where these bills are currently sitting and urge these representatives to pass all or combine and pass all of these laws to combat human trafficking.
Comstock Bill #HB2440
Forced prostitution; expungement. Provides that there shall exist an affirmative defense to the crime of prostitution when the person arrested or charged was induced to engage in prostitution through the use of force, intimidation, or deception by another. The bill also provides for expungement of a prostitution charge when the person was induced to engage in prostitution through the use of force, intimidation, or deception by another.
Watts Bill #HB1893
Abduction; penalty. Provides that any person who, without legal justification or excuse, recruits, entices, solicits, seizes, takes, transports, detains or secretes a child under 16 years of age, for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution, is guilty of a Class 2 felony, and that any person who assists or aids in such activity or threatens to do so is guilty of a Class 5 felony, and that abduction of any person 16 years of age or older for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution is punishable as a Class 4 felony. The bill also provides that any person who causes another person to engage in forced labor or services in violation of subsection B of § 18.2-47 (abduction) is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
Bulova Bill #HB2393
Human trafficking hotline; posted notices. Provides that any person who owns a business that provides entertainment commonly called stripteasing or topless entertaining or entertainment that has employees who are not clad both above and below the waist and who fails to post the following notice in a clearly visible place on the premises thereof is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor:
"IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS BEING FORCED TO ENGAGE IN ANY ACTIVITY AND CANNOT LEAVE, WHETHER IT IS COMMERCIAL SEX, HOUSEWORK, OR ANY OTHER ACTIVITY, CALL THE NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE CENTER HOTLINE AT 1-888-3737-888 TO ACCESS HELP AND SERVICES."
Comstock Bill #HB2190
Department of Social Services; plan for the provision of services to victims of human trafficking. Requires the Department of Social Services to develop a plan for the provision of services to victims of human trafficking.
Hugo Bill HB1898
Commercial sex acts with minors. Expands definition of abduction to include commercial sexual activity involving minors. The bill also expands the definition of abduction for purposes of sexual activity with a minor to include not only concubinage and prostitution but also pornography and sexual performances. The bill also punishes as abduction the use of a minor in the preparation of obscenity.
Newman Bill #SB1453
Human trafficking; Statewide Facilitator. Requires the Attorney General to establish a Statewide Facilitator for Victims of Human Trafficking within the Office of the Attorney General. The Statewide Facilitator will have the responsibility of assisting agencies in implementing programs assisting victims of human trafficking and reporting on the status of such programs to the House Committee for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice and the Virginia State Crime Commission by January 1 of each year.
HJ #561 Joint Resolution
Designating January 11, in 2011 and in each succeeding year, as Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Virginia.
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:
Virginia State Delegates must act to combat the sex trafficking of minors in the Commonwealth; Virginia can do this by passing these bills listed above.
1 Make a 30 second call urging you representative to vote YES on __(insert bill number)_. When you call, you can simply say:
“Hi, my name is [Name], and I am a constituent of Delegate [Delegate’s Name]. I am calling to urge him/her to vote YES on Bill Number _____. I agree with what this bill is doing to combat Human Trafficking. Can I count on his/her support?”
2. If you have just a moment more, please send your State Delegate a short email as a follow-up.
Thank you for taking action to help stop human trafficking!
Yesterday I joined with 4 other women from my church and drove up to Richmond to learn about ‘Lobbying’. I thought we would have a seminar where we could take notes and learn. I imagined that what I learned would be used from home to fight for the causes I believed in at some later point in time. I was wrong.
As we walked in the whole building was a buzz with people. I heard someone lament that it was ‘Lobby Day’. I hadn’t realized this was a whole day dedicated to lobbying or that any such day even existed. There were many groups walking together united in one cause there to make their voice known to their representative. There were politicians trying to make their way through the crowded halls to get to their committee meetings where the bills were being discussed in open door rooms. There were people milling about those rooms hoping to get the change to speak about these bills, to lobby for or against them. It was not mayhem, it was organized chaos.
We walked into the room where we were supposed to meet and learn about the bills we came to lobby. All of these bills are centered around Human Trafficking and we were there to support them all and make a difference in stopping this horrible modern day slavery. Instead of just learning about lobbying though we were thrust into the deep end of doing lobbying. It was thrilling! We had a very short orientation on what is currently going on in the state of Virginia with human traffickers. We only had about 10 minutes of education time about the bills in committee that will combat this industry and then out the door we went at what we thought was a scheduled appointment with our representative, Harvey Morgan.
As we walked out of the room, we kept looking around and asking each other about what we are suppose to do next, where was the office, etc. until I just made up my mind to take charge. Something within said I can do this, the lives of woman and children in slavery depend on the passing of these bills. I marched down the hall like I knew where I was going making everyone else follow. Two young women from Liberty University not with our group asked if they could join us and we were glad to have them along (not realizing this was God ordained).
We came up to Mr. Morgan’s office and we were not on the books. We just acted like it wasn’t a problem and started talking. When they realized we were voters from their district we had their ear. With in a few minutes we had their undivided attention and even got to sit down and explain our concern and about these bills with Mr. Morgan himself. He not only emphasized with our cause and promised to vote these bills in he gave us wonderful pointers and other information on how to influence the committees where these bills were currently being processed.
We continued from there to the next office where we only got to talk to the office attendant but still we were able to effectively communicate the bills we wanted enacted and she promised to forward that request to our representative.
It was amazing as I watched each one of our group and especially the two college students effectively communicate the need to stop human trafficking and the points of each of these bills and how they would benefit that goal.
Lobby day has opened my eyes to a whole new ‘power’. The power of the vote is effective and a tool to do the work of the Lord on earth but the power of the lobby! Now that is my new found weapon and I intend to learn it inside out.
Changes in this industry must occur and those changes can begin with us. If you are a Virginia resident I urge you to become a lobbyist too. Write your representative and ask them to vote yes on these bills. If you don’t know who your representative is then log on to http://legis.state.va.us and click on “Who’s My Legislator”.
The following is a list of the bills up for vote in our Virginia Assembly that will combat Human Trafficking. You can read about the bills by logging on to the above web address and on the left side type in the bill number (exp: HB 1893). Also, click on ‘About General Assembly’ and then ‘Committees’ and get the list of names of the members of the ‘Courts of Justice Committee’. This is where these bills are currently sitting and urge these representatives to pass all or combine and pass all of these laws to combat human trafficking.
Comstock Bill #HB2440
Forced prostitution; expungement. Provides that there shall exist an affirmative defense to the crime of prostitution when the person arrested or charged was induced to engage in prostitution through the use of force, intimidation, or deception by another. The bill also provides for expungement of a prostitution charge when the person was induced to engage in prostitution through the use of force, intimidation, or deception by another.
Watts Bill #HB1893
Abduction; penalty. Provides that any person who, without legal justification or excuse, recruits, entices, solicits, seizes, takes, transports, detains or secretes a child under 16 years of age, for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution, is guilty of a Class 2 felony, and that any person who assists or aids in such activity or threatens to do so is guilty of a Class 5 felony, and that abduction of any person 16 years of age or older for the purpose of concubinage or prostitution is punishable as a Class 4 felony. The bill also provides that any person who causes another person to engage in forced labor or services in violation of subsection B of § 18.2-47 (abduction) is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
Bulova Bill #HB2393
Human trafficking hotline; posted notices. Provides that any person who owns a business that provides entertainment commonly called stripteasing or topless entertaining or entertainment that has employees who are not clad both above and below the waist and who fails to post the following notice in a clearly visible place on the premises thereof is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor:
"IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS BEING FORCED TO ENGAGE IN ANY ACTIVITY AND CANNOT LEAVE, WHETHER IT IS COMMERCIAL SEX, HOUSEWORK, OR ANY OTHER ACTIVITY, CALL THE NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCE CENTER HOTLINE AT 1-888-3737-888 TO ACCESS HELP AND SERVICES."
Comstock Bill #HB2190
Department of Social Services; plan for the provision of services to victims of human trafficking. Requires the Department of Social Services to develop a plan for the provision of services to victims of human trafficking.
Hugo Bill HB1898
Commercial sex acts with minors. Expands definition of abduction to include commercial sexual activity involving minors. The bill also expands the definition of abduction for purposes of sexual activity with a minor to include not only concubinage and prostitution but also pornography and sexual performances. The bill also punishes as abduction the use of a minor in the preparation of obscenity.
Newman Bill #SB1453
Human trafficking; Statewide Facilitator. Requires the Attorney General to establish a Statewide Facilitator for Victims of Human Trafficking within the Office of the Attorney General. The Statewide Facilitator will have the responsibility of assisting agencies in implementing programs assisting victims of human trafficking and reporting on the status of such programs to the House Committee for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice and the Virginia State Crime Commission by January 1 of each year.
HJ #561 Joint Resolution
Designating January 11, in 2011 and in each succeeding year, as Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Virginia.
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:
Virginia State Delegates must act to combat the sex trafficking of minors in the Commonwealth; Virginia can do this by passing these bills listed above.
1 Make a 30 second call urging you representative to vote YES on __(insert bill number)_. When you call, you can simply say:
“Hi, my name is [Name], and I am a constituent of Delegate [Delegate’s Name]. I am calling to urge him/her to vote YES on Bill Number _____. I agree with what this bill is doing to combat Human Trafficking. Can I count on his/her support?”
2. If you have just a moment more, please send your State Delegate a short email as a follow-up.
Thank you for taking action to help stop human trafficking!
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