Charles Nabarrete

[One of the consequences of having only one CCB convention per year may be the elimination of the "Day at the legislature" event, which would detrimentally
affect the advocacy efforts of CCB. CCB advocacy efforts will then be limited to having representatives give testimony or presentations to legislative
committees and letter writing and phone contacts by members, instead of having CCB members descend on the legislature to inform legislators and their staff
face to face of the issues important to the blind community.

The face-to-face contact method is traditionally used by lobbyists because it is effective. CCB does not have the resources to hire a member to advocate
at Sacramento and cannot make significant financial contributions to individual legislator's electoral campaigns. Representing a low incidence disability,
CCB cannot command the attention of such groups as cyclists; the mobility impaired who are in wheelchairs and seniors.

I have participated in several visits to the legislature by CCB members and believe that these efforts were effective and left a strong impression with
the legislators and staff that we visited. At the last convention about 10 CCB members participated and were able to contact about 80 offices. We discussed
three issues with the people we spoke with and were successful with regard to blocking the Governor's plan to have the production of braille and large
print books prepared by local school districts instead of by the state's Department Of Education. CCB's effectiveness and success to effect legislative
changes which will benefit the blind community will be diminished if the CCB members do not visit the legislature as a group in the future.

Because our conference/ convention will be held in Southern California in 2015, we won't be holding an official legislature visit day in conjunction with
our event. But many CCB members could arrange to travel to Sacramento and return home on the same day that they visit the legislature. [Editor's Note:
See Mitch Pomerantz's Governmental Affairs Report for information on a possible Capitol Day event.] Although only about 10 CCB members may participate,
this year's experience demonstrates that having personal contact with the legislators or their staff is invaluable and effective.