Throwback Thursday - Citizen Challenge and Rotunda Roundups
With the opening of the 2015 Hawaii Legislative Session opening in less than two weeks, the energy in the air takes me back to my first look at the legislative process back in 2011. I was still a new member of Kanu Hawaii, looking to make more commitment-based changes. Having just following a commitment to vote in the 2010 election, I found the Citizen Challenge intriguing:
Follow one issue during the legislative session.
Contact your legislators at least once during the legislative session.
Fortunately we had some help to complete our commitments.
kanuhawaii.org
Kanu Hawaii and Common Cause Hawaii held a Legislature 101 Workshop at the State Capitol and it was led by the wonderful staff from the Public Access Room--the only one of its kind in the US. This was a process I wasn't familiar with at all, having never paid much attention to politics before.
kanuhawaii.org
I thought it was pretty cool that the room was packed and that there were so many people interested in what I thought for sure was a boring topic. This workshop was broken up into two parts, one part was learning the legislative process itself and the second part was learning the advocacy side of things, learning the ways that regular citizens can participate in this part of government.
After the workshops were over, I was hungry to get started and excited to learn more.
kanuhawaii.org
Once the session started, Kanu Hawaii and Common Cause Hawaii held these weekly Rotunda Roundups at the State Capitol after work. Each week they would explain where we were in the legislative process. They would also invite different groups to come in, and talk about the bills they were following, and some of the tactics they were employing. Often times we would have action steps that we could take immediately after the roundup. We would often go up to the offices of our legislators and make our voices heard.
With many new issues coming up this year, it gives me that feeling of 2011. It should be pretty fun, and I'm looking forward to participating in the legislative process this year. See you out there on the front lines.