Greetings to all SDSCO members and supporters: Well here we are and it appears we are finished for another year and we can tuck our fact sheets back into our bookbags and put all the legislative info and numbers into file 13. To some I am sure you have sighed a sigh of defeat and also frustration and you may think why can’t these legislators get this? I mean we have an ironclad case for our cause of licensing CPMs in our state. Now why can’t everyone else get it!!!

This being my second year as lobbyist I do have some observations to share with you all. Now just reflect on what happened and how far we progressed. 3 votes… we needed only three legislators to change their minds and vote for us and we would be singing the victory song. The vote being 35-31 with some members absent and with 3 voting for us it would have been 34-32 and we would have been grinning. So do you all think that’s progress from last year? I would think it is and you all know what you did to get this far. So congratulations!

Now how did this happen that we came so far? Reflect on what we did last year. We continued to be in touch with our legislators throughout the year with cards and letters. We had legislative workshops with all the legislators invited to attend in various cities throughout our state. Dr Heather Margaret and family
traversed our state and put on emergency homebirth training seminars for the general public. We put on a healthy birth conference with Tammi Chaney as the organizer with help from her friends in Oacoma, South Dakota and possibly the most important was all the work you as individuals did whether it was e-mailing your legislators, attending cracker barrels, or having face to face meetings with the legislators as many of you did. Along with our accelerated lobbying - that meaning a continual presence during session by a greater group of people lobbying their legislators as well as those not from their districts – we educated and convinced more legislators than ever before.

That was all well and good, but we didn’t attain our goal. We are not quitters so what’s next for us? First of all get your literature out of file 13 and start reading it. Heather and Debbie have compiled such an extensive portfolio on midwifery that I would not doubt that when our bill passes, that the info they have compiled will be in demand from midwifery advocates in other states for the furtherance of their midwifery bills also. We are fully prepared to answer all questions in a knowledgeable manner because of their work. Now one note here: the info is so in-depth that it does need to be abbreviated as you speak to your legislators; otherwise you may lose them. We have the info that we need; the next thing is getting it into the legislators’ minds, so they can understand what we are doing.

The next thing we need to pay close attention to is: WHO is running again and who are the possible newcomers. We need to be in communication with the new candidates to find out how they would stand on our bill and other issues and share our thoughts and concerns with them and possibly help them in their campaigns if
we find them supportive of our quest.

This year will find us busier learning about and also teaching the new candidates about our cause and working with the supporters we will retain in both houses. So keep an eye on the political scene and let’s keep each otas to what’s happening in your districts and what help you may need.

Add the extra effort to inform the legislators and we shall reap the benefits if we faint not.

Your servant, Paul Levijoki,
SDSCO Lobbyist and Board Member