ACTION ALERT from The H.O.R.S.E (deadline May 9)

ACTION ALERT The deadline for bills to be voted out of committees in the House of Representatives is May 9. As of today, no gaming bills have been voted out. Representative Mike Hamilton, Chairman of the Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures, has indicated he intends to pass one bill out of his committee, which is a bill authored by him. That bill has changed dramatically since being introduced, and authorizes casino gaming as well as slot machines at racetracks and tribal locations. Very recently, there has been movement which adds language which is more favorable to the horse industry, but it is still a work in progress. We are asking you to call the members of this committee. Their office and district numbers are listed below. Tell whomever answers the phone your name, and that you are in the horse industry. Inform them that HB 2111 addresses all the issues that are critical to saving the Texas horse industry from being destroyed by competition from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Tell them you are asking the Representative you are calling to please support your industry. While you are at it, please forward this email to family and friends and ask them to call as well. The more calls, the better. Send it to everyone you know and ask them to call. Licensing & Administrative Committee Telephone/District Telephone/Capitol Mike Hamilton* - Chair 409-745-3644 512-463-0412 Joe Driver 972-276-1556 512-463-0574 Charlie Geren 817-738-8333 512-463-0610 Roland Gutierrez 210-532-2758 512-463-0452 Patricia Harless 281-376-4114 512-463-0496 John Kuempel 830-379-8732 512-463-0602 Jose Menendez 210-673-3579 512-463-0634 Additionally, we want you to call the offices of the Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House. You need to tell them that it is critical the legislature act soon to give the Texas horse industry the necessary tools to restore itself in the face of withering competition from Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Their office numbers are listed below as well. Lieutenant Governor: David Dewhurst 512-463-0001 Speaker of the House: Joe Straus III Telephone/Capitol - 512-463-1000 Telephone/District – 210-828-4411 The last time we asked you to call these committee members, those calls were made the same day Texas HORSE succeeded in getting approximately 1200 horse folks into the capitol. At that time there seemed to be no sentiment to address our needs. Your calls helped change that. Now is the time for you to do it again. Your industry is depending on each of you. For additional information, go to the TEXAS H.O.R.S.E. website.