Meeting scheduled to defeat Ohio HB 230!

[Htans]

Everyone is welcome to attend!

Monday, August 6th at 10am at the Lafayette Hotel in Marietta, Ohio. I will have a petition available at that time for signatures as well! I have also scheduled a meeting with Ohio Representative Jennifer Garrison on July 23rd. I'm hoping that she will back us and gather some support for us to defeat this bill!

Anyone interested in attending the meeting in August, please send me a message here or an email at aprildflinn@yahoo.com so I will know how many plan to attend and I can give you directions to the meeting!

[Htans]

just bumping this up!

[big dawg]

how did it go?

[Htans]

It didn't...only two people even showed up...pathetic that there aren't more salon owners in Ohio who are concerned by this bill...

I recieved information today about a dermatologist in Dayton that is planning to testify in front of the committee, she has thousands of signatures in favor of this bill and claims that they have the science behind them, blah blah blah...

I have scheduled two meetings with two of the members of the Commerce and Labor Committee, one next week and the other on the 30th. I'm hoping to hear from the rest of the members by the end of this week...

I'm also working with a salon owner in Delaware, Ohio who is going to try setting up a meeting for salon owners in the Columbus area.

I've talked to the legislative aid to the chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee, and she told me that the committee is scheduled for tenative meetings on Sept. 11 & 12, 18 & 19 and again on Oct. 2. This bill is going to be one of the first because Representative Combs has asked for discussion on the bill. She is going to email me when the bill is scheduled to be discussed.

I'm also still waiting to hear back from Senator Joy Padgett's office. I've spoken to a close friend of mine who is a former Representative and also a former Lt. Governor. She told me that she has heard that this bill is going to pass because the legislator's feel that they are protecting the children, and that our best option is to try to compromise with them to get the age lowered. I'm still going to see if I can convince most of the members of the Commerce and Labor Committee to vote against the bill, but if they won't, maybe they would be willing to compromise and lower the age to 14 or so...If it goes before the legislature for a vote, it will most likely pass, so a watered down version would be better than the full blown one.

I still have the petitions, and am willing to send them out to anyone who wants them to collect signatures. Send me an email or a message here if you'd like them.

[big dawg]

Thanks for the info......where is the ITA? have they done anything?

[Htans]

Actually, the ITA has someone in Columbus who is handling alot of the lobby issues. His name is Vince, and he had a meeting yesterday with the chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee. Apparently, the chairman is opposed to this bill! I don't know the specifics of the meeting, but my contact is meeting with Vince on Friday and hopefully we will know more after that.

I also have been able to reach three of the legislative aids for three of the co-sponsors of the bill, with two sounding as if it's going to be a long shot to even get to speak with the Representative, and one who seemed very interested in what I had to say. I'm expecting to receive a phone call tomorrow or Thursday from Representative Fessler, and I hope that I can convince her to pull her support of the bill.

I think we're not going to be able to sway Representatives Brown or Miller, as their aids were very standoffish when I mentioned what bill I was concerned about. The others I have not reached yet.

I have a meeting scheduled on Friday with my former Representative, who actually knows Representative Combs very well. She is very surprised that Combs is pushing this bill, and I hope to get some ideas from her about how to change his mind regarding it.

All help is welcome, seriously!!! If you'd like the phone numbers of the Representatives so you can call them yourself, let me know!

[big dawg]

thanks for the update April......let us know how it goes on Friday.

[big dawg]

anything happen last week....

[Htans]

Well, the meeting with Representative Collier did not go well at all. He knew about the bill, but he couldn't remember if he had been a co-sponsor of it or not. He said he had considered co-sponsoring it because there is a family history of skin cancer...so I'm guessing from his reaction that he will be voting for the bill rather than against it...

Working on meeting with the rest of the Commerce and Labor committee and putting together a presentation folder to leave with all of the committee members even if I don't get to meet with them.

My friend, who is a former Representative, also pointed out that they will have to do a "Fiscal Statement" for this bill, to show how much it will cost the state to implement it. She thinks that this statement will go in our favor because the State Board of Cosmetology has already stated that they are understaffed and underfunded. I'm working on some figures to show how many salons each of the twelve inspectors in Ohio are responsible for and how many they would have to inspect per day to inspect each salon at least once a year. It has come to my attention that some salons are not being inspected once a year, with at least one that I know of that hasn't been inspected since 2005. That alone shows that the state has no real way to enforce this law if they do pass it.

[big dawg]

Thanks for the update April......