As soon as you know which day or days you will be going to Pierre, sign up on our Legislative Calendar on the sdsafebirth.org website. This will help the SDSCO leadership prepare for your visit and give others an opportunity to carpool with you. Here is the link: http://sdsafebirth.org/2009session. This is also the site where you can sign up to stay at the house. It is often a good plan to come down the night before and get to the Capitol early the next morning.

A couple of days before you come to Pierre, email your legislators and let them know when you are coming and that you would like to meet with them that day. They may give you their cell number or just tell you to look them up when you get there. If you are really lucky, they may make an appointment with you.

If the “Captain” listed on the website does not contact you. Feel free to contact them and let them know when you will be arriving in Pierre. They will give you tips on where to park and where they will meet you. They will have a “midwife” button for you to wear while you are there, so all the legislators will recognize why you came.

Legislative Schedule
7:00 pm Floors open to public (until 2 hours before Floor Session)
7:45 First Round of Committee Hearings
10:00 am Second Round of Committee Hearings
1:00 pm Caucus
2:00 pm Floor Session (usually finishes by 4pm, but can last longer)

Committee Hearings
Two rounds of committee hearings happen every morning – the first beginning at 7:45am the second starting at 10pm. Your legislator can’t meet with you while he/she is in committee, but you can sit in and listen to the hearing and visit with them afterwards or just wait for them outside the door.

You can find the committees that your legislators are on if you click on their name at:
http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2009/MemberMenu.aspx and then click on committee. It will tell you the name of the committee and when and where it meets. During the morning when legislators aren’t in committee, they are usually at their desks on the floor. Anyone can go on the floor and visit with any legislator from 7 am until the doors close 2 hours before the start of the floor session. The floor session usually starts at 2 pm, so the doors usually close at noon.

Caucus
At 1pm all legislators go to their caucus. At the caucus, the legislators discuss the bills that are going to be brought up on the floor that day. Legislators that have heard the testimony in committee, give a brief summary of the bill for the rest of the legislators. There are separate Democrat & Republican caucuses in both the House and Senate. The Democratic caucuses are open to the public and if your legislator is a Democrat, you should really go and sit in on the caucus. They will usually let you introduce yourself to the group. (Even if all your legislators are Republican, you can still sit in on the Democratic caucus.)

Floor Session
The floor session usually begins at 2 pm and runs until they’ve either gotten through all the bills for the day or the leadership decides to adjourn (usually around 4 – 5 pm). You can visit with legislators after the session is over. You can also send a note in to them any time when the doors are closed.

Example of a note you could send to your legislator when the doors are closed:
Dear Rep. Boomgarden,
Our family came to the Capitol to visit with you about the Home Birth Safety Act. We just wanted to let you know
how important it is to us that home birth families have access to skilled midwives. We will be waiting by the back
doors for the next 15 minutes. We hope you have time to come and see us. Always sign with your name and address
(so they know you are a constituent).

Talking with your Legislator
It’s great if you can bring a little bag of homemade cookies, a muffin, a child’s artwork, or some other small thing that will remind them of your visit. This is a great icebreaker. (My 6 year old drew a picture of Rep Nygaard and gave it to him one year. He kept it on his desk throughout the entire session!)

Before you speak to your legislator the “Captain” will give you some idea as to where he stands on the issue if we know. Whether he is supportive or not you can tell him why this is important to you (in a couple of sentences). If he is supportive, thank him for his support and tell him why this is important to you. If he’s not supportive or we’re not sure, then ask if he is supportive of the bill. If not ask what his concerns are. Even if he is really rude (very rare) and not supportive, it is really important to be polite and friendly. Ask if you can have your picture taken with him, then when you get back home, send it to your local paper with a description of your trip to the Capitol. If it gets published, (which it usually does in small town papers) be sure to send a copy to your legislator.

Follow-up Note
Always send a follow up note to your legislators thanking them for taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with you about the Home Birth Safety Act and telling them again why it is important to you. (A short handwritten note is best.)

Dressing for Success
One way we can show that this issue is important to us, is to dress our best when we come to the Capitol. Most of the male legislators will be wearing suits and ties and most of the ladies will be wearing stylish suits. Most of us are not going to be able to compete with their wardrobes, but you can find some pretty decent “Capitol Clothes” at thrift stores. Our goal is to look as professional as possible, while still staying in our comfort zone. The more we look like the legislators, the easier it is for them to relate to us and hear our message. If you ladies can pull off lipstick and heels, go for it!

Quick Tips For Making the Most of Your Visit to the Capitol

• Send an email to your legislators several days before your trip
• Bring them something from home (baked goods, child’s artwork, etc)
• Get your picture taken with them and submit it to the local paper
• Always send a follow-up note thanking them for taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with you. This also gives you an opportunity to address any concerns they might have had with one of our handouts.