In light of all of the ridiculous news coming out of Texas today surrounding House Bill 2649, I thought I'd share some information brought to my attention by Jim Hutchison of the blog JimOnLight. Jim's done a fantastic job all day of keeping a whole bunch of twitterers in the lighting industry apprised of the latest news. More importantly, Jim has done all of the leg work necessary for everyone to know what they can do to get this bill reversed, or at the very least have the language changed so that performance and theatrical designers are excluded from the law.
Jim's Post which can be found here, states the following:
What can you do? (Updated 1:45 MT)1. Call Texas Rep. Wayne Smith, who introduced the bill without Lighting Designer language in it, at 512-463-0733 and/or e-mail him and let him know your opinion on the bill before it goes into committee Friday evening. (Thanks @TravisBedard)
2. Since the Senate added the Lighting Designer language after the House approved the bill, the House must review the bill once more. Contact your representative or just e-mail them all at once to make sure they know that the Lighting Designer language impacts too many people. Twitter Representatives @aaronpena, @AllenFletcher, @RepHughes, @Dan_Flynn, @dangattis, @TXRepErodriguez, @gfcoleman, @jddeshotel, @SpeakerStraus, @RepHancock, @lhbcampaign, @MarcVeasey, @MikeVillarreal, @TMF116
3. Call Texas Senator Bob Deuell, Senate sponsor of the bill, at (512) 463-0102 and/or e-mail him and let him know your opinion on the bill ASAP.
4. Call Texas Senator Kip Averitt at (512) 463-0122 and/or e-mail him and let him know your opinion on the bill ASAP.
5. Make sure Governor Perry knows this bill is coming to him and ask that he veto it. We don't want it to slide past without signature (becoming law). Phone in your opinion to (512) 463-1782. E-mail using his contact form. Twitter to @TexGov and @GovernorPerry. Fax to (512) 463-1849.
A yahoo group has started up to keep tabs on developments. Join No HB2649.
I highly encourage everyone to make a phone call at the very least. This is something that could potentially affect the way that all of us do business if it catches on state to state, and it could have immediate impact on any tour that goes in or out of Texas. We need to do everything in our power to get this bill changed.