Labor Rate Bill: A Time For Action
| It is now time for you and all of our members and supporters to get involved in the effort to pass the Auto Body Labor Rate Bill into law. The legislative session ends on July 31st, and we need a big effort from our industry to move the bill forward.
As of this writing, the bill is being held on “extension” in the Joint Committee on Financial Services. What this means is that the committee is holding our bill, along with about eight others, until it can see a way clear for moving it towards passage and not just “rubber-stamping” it out of committee. It’s kind of like on a short “priority list.” So, if the bill comes out of committee in the next couple of weeks, we have a better chance of getting it passed. What can you do? Well, if you’ve been involved in the past, then you already know the plan. We need each and every one of you, your employees and spouses to send emails and/or make phone calls to your individual state representatives and senators asking them to support our bill. If you don’t know much about the bill or just want a “refresher,” click here. This will bring you to a series of pages that will help you get to know what you need to know to get involved. You can read transcripts of our testimony at the hearing on the bill and gain an understanding of the important points we have been making to the legislature over the past eighteen months. However, the most important thing you can do is to give us your email address so that you can instantly receive information as it happens in the fast-moving final days of our effort. You can call the office of our Executive Director, Peter Abdelmaseh, at (617) 484-0205, or send an email to peteraasp@yahoo.com to let us know that you want to get all of the latest news on the bill and that you will help with our effort. Even better, you can contact another body shop owner or two that you know and tell them to get involved as well. It’s all about expanding your sphere of influence with the people you know so that our industry’s sphere of influence is greater as well. Remember that we got over ONE THOUSAND CALLS into the House Speaker’s office on a Saturday in July of 2010 to get our bill passed. This is what we are capable of doing when we pull together. We will send a sample letter for you to copy and paste into an email or use as a guide (script) for a phone conversation to the offices of your state rep and senator. You can find the legislators that represent your residence by entering your home address on this web page. This page will give you the contact information of both your state rep and senator. For the contact information of the legislators representing the district for your business address, you will need to call or email Peter with your address and you will receive the information by return email. Please act now. Your business future and the future of our industry could be so much better if we can get this important legislation passed into law. Please contact our office now. |
