We are going to be asking you often to complete a Witness Slip to support or oppose bills in Springfield. Trust us... this is a super easy action and can be impactful! This week we are asking you to file three witness slips. Even if you filled out a witness slip for one of these bills last week, you should do so again. Bills have two chances to get voted out of committee but they require new witness slips for each hearing, as they don't get carried over.
Please see below for detailed instructions.
On Thursday, February 16, at 10:00am, there is a House Ed Committee hearing on the following bills:
- HB213 SCHOOL CHOICE ACT
- HB443 SCH CD-TUITION VOUCHERS
- HB696 ELECTED CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD [Update 2/15 2:30pm: this bill will NOT be called this week]
The top two listed bills above are school voucher bills --- we are OPPONENTS of both. The third listed bill would give Chicago an elected school board --- we are PROPONENTS of this bill.
Note: HB213 was voted down in committee last week and is up for a hearing again this week. We were able to help generate over 3,000 witness slips in opposition to this bill. Let's make sure it doesn't pass again.
You can read more about the need for an elected school board in Chicago here and here. And here's some background on school vouchers.
To fill out witness slips for each of these bills, go to this page and follow these instructions:
1) To right of Bill Name, Click: Notepad Icon (Pencil) ->"Create Witness slip"
2) Name, Address, City, State, Zip: Complete (no dots or abbreviations)
3) Firm/Business: "none" or "self."
4) Title: "Self"
5) Email and phone- complete these lines
6) Representation: "self"
7) Position: This depends on the bill. Please see below:
For HB213 (voucher bill): Select OPPONENT
For HB443 (voucher bill): Select OPPONENT
For HB696 (CPS elected school board bill): Select PROPONENT
8) Testimony: check "RECORD of APPEARANCE"
9) CAPTCHA- fill out, (put space between words if applicable)
10) ILGA Terms of Agreement: Check box to agree
Create separate witness slips for each bill.
If you run into difficulties, you can email us at [email protected].
The volume of witness slips signifies the level of public support or opposition to bills to committee members. Once you get the hang out of it this is a quick way to indicate your position. (You can also create an account on my.ilga.gov site to make filling out and tracking your witness slips even faster.)
Thank you for your advocacy!
[page image via Creative Commons]