We had a great day at the Capitol Tuesday where our bill SB 490 was passed unanimously in its first Senate Education Committee with  9 vote in favor.

I shared the intensity of that final 4 minutes of the meeting - our team was all joy and smiles after we heard the bill had passed onto the next committee.

Unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary.  We have to keep pushing because our bill will not move forward if we do not get HB281 on the agenda for next Secondary Education & Career Development Subcommittee meeting.

WE ONLY HAVE 1 WEEK TO GET THIS DONE OR OUR BILL DIES.

If you haven't done so this week, please help us by:

Emailing CHAIR McClain  Stan.McClain@myfloridahouse.gov and CC his staff: ryan.thomas@myfloridahouse.gov    jennifer.treiber@myfloridahouse.gov

You can also Call his office and leave a message: (850) 717-5023

Suggested script/email:

Hi Chair/Representative McClain, my name is NAME from (area of FL) calling in support of HB 281, Required Instruction in the History of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. This bill is important to me and my community because *your reason why*. Please support this bill by adding it to the next Secondary Education & Career Development Subcommittee agenda. I can be reached at *number* if you have any follow up questions!

PLEASE TAKE 1 MINUTE TO EMAIL OR CALL (although currently his mailbox is full - let’s hope this is our allies leaving messages)

Our TOOLKIT also lists the committee members that you can ask to support the bill and tell them to ask Chair McClain to add it on the agenda.

I humbly ask you forward this message to anyone who believes AAPI History should be included in our k-12 education curriculum.  I cannot emphasize how important these emails and phone calls are.  They add up. They make a difference. Every action matters.

We thank you for your support and I truly believe that we can get this done together as a community.

Thank you,
Mimi

I'm attaching an article which discusses the bill that took 86 minutes of the agenda.  At the bottom of the article is a highlight about OUR 4 minutes.  It was pretty intense!