Title:
Update on Illinois medical marijuana bill
Message:
What looked like it would be a disappointing day in the
statehouse yesterday left us with a glimmer of hope. Legislation that would
make Illinois the 16th medical marijuana state received another vote
in the Illinois House of Representatives yesterday. Sixty votes are needed for
passage, and the bill received as many as 58 votes at one point before ending
with 56. This is an improvement over the November 30 vote, when the bill received
only 53 "yes" votes. Still, there’s hope.
A
representative who voted “no” can file a motion for reconsideration in order
for the bill to be voted on once more, and in fact, one of them already has. That means we should have 59 votes now and
we just need one more to pass the bill. That’s where you come in. One
representative voted “yes” on the bill back in November, but only voted
“present” yesterday. We’d like to run a poll of his legislative district today
so that we can show that member just how much his constituents support the
bill. We know the poll will show strong support, we just need the resources to
run it.
Please donate to MPP so that we can conduct the poll and get the last
vote we need.
The
other favor I’d like to ask is for you to “thank or spank” your representative
for their vote yesterday. We’ve set up a page with the roll
call of the vote and a link to a tool to find
your representative. Once you’ve determined whether your representative
voted “yes,” “no,” or “present,” simply click on the respective link to use our
call system and call your representative. To pass this bill, we’re going to
need every single member who voted “yes” yesterday to do it again next week, and
the best way to ensure they do so is to thank them for their vote. Of
course, it wouldn’t hurt to convince one or two of the “no” voters to come over
to our side.
Either way, it’s very important that you be polite, courteous, and
professional on your call. Mean-spirited callers will simply alienate
legislators and that’s the last thing we want to do.
Visit our roll call page to
determine how your representative voted and “thank or spank” him or her
accordingly.
Thanks, and we can still do this
yet!
