Basically, I shortened the letter that I originally sent to my delegate. Here is what I sent to my friends (my comments are in brackets[]; just replace with the actual info):

I have a favor to ask. I've petitioned my state delegate to sponsor a bill to legalize home kitchens in Maryland, and a bill has been drafted. Now I need people to email their delegates to show their support. Would you be willing to send some emails? I've included your delegates along with an email you can just cut and paste. You can also sign a petition for your support: http://www.petitiononline.com/mdbake/petition.html


Your [CITY] delegates are:
[NAME: EMAIL from mdelect.net]
[example: Mary Ann Love: [email protected]]


Here's an email you can copy and paste to send to them:

Dear Delegate [NAME],

Please support HB 728, entitled Public Health - Sale of Baked Goods - Home Kitchens. This bill will allow home bakers to sell non-potentially hazardous food from their home kitchens to individuals for individual consumption. HB 728 allows for additional tax revenue for the state, fulfillment of supplier and consumer need, and commercial parity with our neighboring states.

1. Increased revenue with negligible cost.
Legalized home kitchens will have to adhere to the state food tax on all products sold, providing increased revenue base for Maryland. Furthermore, the home baker would be responsible for paying for the costs associated with opening a food establishment business: application fee, permit fee, and trade name fee.

2. Fulfillment of supplier and consumer need.
For many bakers, opening a legal bakery is a catch-22: they want to know if they will have a customer base before spending resources to open a legal kitchen, but they must open a commercial kitchen to legally sell their products. In turn, many home bakers turn to illegally selling products from their residential kitchen. For these home bakers, the opportunity to prove to their clientele that they are legally recognized by the state would be a real boon to their business. Given that home bakers average a small quantity of goods each week and many are already operating, the impact on commercial bakeries should be minimal.

Similarly, many consumers have a desire to purchase home made products from a local neighbor, and a legal certification would help consumers make better informed decisions.

3. Parity with neighboring states.
All four of Maryland's neighboring states--Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia--allow for the sale of food from home kitchens. Having a similar law will enable Maryland to remain commercially competitive with its neighbors.

Thank you for your support of HB 728.
Regards,
[NAME]
[CITY], MD

Thanks Jodie

Jodie - what county/District are you in? I think we must be close to each other!!

I'm in Anne Arundel County, legislative district 32 (I don't think I would have ever known that had I not pursued this bill!). Are you nearby?

Yup- I sure am, I must be your neighbor!! AA County District 32 also - and yes, because I haven't sat down and wrote my letter yet (which I need to take 2 seconds to do since you've done all the hard work already!) I didn't realize that we had the same delegate until now! Yea! so good, so should I just go ahead and email Delegate Love also - or does it matter since she has already drafted the Bill? I can see her getting the email from me and saying...hmmm, this looks awfully familiar!! LOL

Definitely send the email to all of our delegates. They are used to receiving the same email on an issue; most lobbying groups will provide an email template to its members. The more the delegates see the emails (whether it be the same stock email or a unique one) on HB 728, the more it will be on their minds when it is time for the hearing and voting. Delegate Love herself said that we need to send lots of emails or make lots of calls to our delegates, so it would be great if she received some as well! Be sure to have your family and friends send the email, too!

Good to know!

Yup - absolutely I will make them all do that!

Can you let me know when the hearing is? I'm in Calvert County and as long as the timing is ok I will testify.

I'll let you know the hearing date as soon as it's set. Thanks for testifying; that's fantastic!!

Great news!! We have a hearing date! Here is the message from Delegate Love's office:

We have a date for the hearing. It is Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. When we say 1:00 p.m. that means that the Committee hearing begins at that time. There could be several bills being heard that day but you must be there in case your bill is close to 1:00 p.m. Can you please confirm at this time that you can attend the hearing? Also, you may want to take this weekend to pull together any questions you may need me to answer for you. I will be here today until around 3:30 and back in at 9:00 a.m. on Monday.

If you want to testify, can you please PM me with your email address? On Monday I will email Delegate Love and cc everyone who will testify, and I will give her everyone's names and email addresses. That way she can contact all of us with any information. The hearing is in Annapolis; I will get specific location information from her office once I write her back.

This is really exciting! Thank you everyone for your support!!

I wish this would work in CA, but our state legislator is so FUBAR that I wouldn't even attempt such a bill

This is great, I"m in Baltimore and I was just inquiring about this. Is it to late to send a letter or should I just attend the hearing? this wouldgenerate more income for the state. email me at [email protected]. Great idea

I just sent you an email with more explanation, but it's definitely not to late to send emails. In fact, now is a great time to inform your delegates of this bill and the hearing. And, of course, please attend the hearing and testify if you can! The more public support, the better!

wow, i would love to do this for my state, AL, but it looks like so much work and i dont understand all of the legal issues! good luck!

Would you be able to tell me the exact address/location of the hearing. I live in Charles County MD and know other bakers who live in Charles Co. as well and I think they would be interested in attending.

This is great, I"m in Baltimore and I was just inquiring about this. Is it to late to send a letter or should I just attend the hearing? this wouldgenerate more income for the state. email me at [email protected]. Great idea

I just received the information on the location of the hearing, and it would be great if you could attend (and even better if some of you want to testify!!). Please let me know if you can testify, and send me your full name and email (feel free to PM if you don't want it to be public).

The hearing will be in the House of Delegates, 6 Bladen Street, Annapolis. It will be in the House Health and Government Operations Committee, Room 241. (You will come through the main entrance and go through security. You will need a photo id - drivers license is fine.) Across from where you come in is a set of elevators. Go to the 2nd Floor and when you come off the elevators turn right and walk toward the next opening. The committee room is in that opening. The room is on the left as you walk toward the stain glass window. It is clearly marked. Hope this helps.

I will have to check and see if I can get someone to pick up my kids from school that day so I can attend. I will let you know asap. Thanks for all of your hard work on this!

Julie

I would love to attend as well. I live In Charles County and should be able to attend.
Here is my email address.
[email protected]

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Jodie, thank you so much for all your hard and diligent work! I am a Maryland baker and will do my part in helping to get this bill passed.

Thank you all for your posts, and I look forward to meeting some of you on March 3! I've sent emails to people who have mentioned they might want to attend. If you want to attend (and especially testify--we need people to tell the committee why we want the bill to pass), please continue to let me know!!

Hi all! I'm just checking in to see if there is anyone else interested in testifying on March 3. The more people we can get, the better! I can't wait to hear from you!!

Hi all!
I've emailed Delegate Love's office a draft testimony. If anyone needs help with ideas for their testimony, please let me know! You can probably email Delegate Love's office for advice as well. I'll also be happy to share my draft with you.

For those of you who want to help but cannot testify, Delegate Love's office gave me another way you can help. Write a letter of support (Dear Members of the Health and Government Operations Committee: ). Send it to me or to Delegate Love ([email protected]), and she will submit this letter to the committee during the hearing. The more support we ge tthe better!! Please consider testifying or writing a letter of support!

Excellent Jodie - yes, please please please, if you can just write a short note in support of why you would like this bill passed please do so! You don't have to be present but we need all the support we can get! Please take a few minutes out of your day to let them know why we all should legally be able to sell from our home kitchens. If we don't speak up for ourselves no one else will! Jodie has done a lot of leg work and I would love for everyone to help support this with at least a letter so to not let all of her hard work go unheard!

I know all of you all are so supportive! This is such a great community and I know I speak for Jodie and everyone else who this effects by saying Thank You!

Sorry Jodie didn't mean to step on your toes but your passion and hard work is starting to get me going too!! I'm working hard on my letter and/or testimony!

Jodie

I will not make it to testify on the 3rd - I will not get back home in time to pick up my kids from school and I don't have anyone else who can get them for me that day. I'll gladly write a letter of support - any pointers you can give?

Julie

Hi Julie. You can write about how this would be meaningful for you--extra income in this economy, fulfillng a dream, etc. You can also mention how it would mean extra income for the state from our taxes. If you know anyone who is legal in other states and can give examples of how it has impacted them, that could work. Really, anything would be great. Thanks!

Hi everyone! Tomorrow is our big day--wish us luck! And, if you haven't yet, definitely write or call your delegate. The more support the better! Can't wait to meet many of you tomorrow!