REGISTER NOW !!  SIGNUP DEADLINE IS JANUARY 21 !!
Northern California registrants, Southern California registrants.
Please fill out the form pertinent to your current location.

Welcome to the official Lobby Day 2008 Information page.

PRESS: Please see our Action Alert, Media Advance - Rally, Media Advance - Vigil, and Fact Sheet.

PUBLIC: Please JOIN us for either of two events: a Noon Rally (North steps of the Capitol, facing L Street); and/or our Candlelight Vigil at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 1017 11th Street (across from Pyramid Brewery; download flyer)

LOBBY DAY PARTICIPANTS: Lobby Day 2008 actually spans two days this year: first, a spectacular Training Day at UC Davis School of Medicine on Sunday, January 27; then, on Monday, a noon Rally (on the North steps of the Capitol), afternoon Lobby visits, then a closing Candlelight Vigil to reflect on the human toll of our current profit-driven private health insurance system at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (across the street from the Capitol) from 4:30 - 5 pm.

Although we will gladly accept you if you can only make it for Monday, we have designed the Training Day to prepare you for Lobby Day; do whatever it takes to be present for both days. Because of space limitations at UCD SOM on Sunday, only if you can attend Monday will you be able to register for Training Day.

Please use the menu to the left to jump to the section of your interest.

Read about SB 840. You can read about the bill on Sen. Kuehl's website.

Lobby Visit Homework! After you find out with whom you have appointments, look them up. Use the State Senate and Assembly websites to look up their voting history AND their 'relationship' with the private health insurance industry on FollowTheMoney.org.

The Appointment Team will tell you if your person is a particular 'target' - i.e. someone we especially want to 'win' over and get onboard.

Frame Your Argument. Learn about framing and decide how to frame your discussion of universal health care. You might encounter some common arguments but you'll be prepared with counter-arguments.

Wash Your White Coat! And BRING it for the Lobby Day rally! Look "sharp" for your Monday lobby visit - you may choose to wear your white coat or not during the visit. Ties for the boys (suits are not necessary); women, you know what to do. Sunday is casual (UHC T-shirts encouraged!).

Pick Your Roommates. Each school will have a separate mechanism for doing this, but the point is to match up (groups of 4) before you arrive for training. Joubin will have ALL room keys with him, dangling from his digits, at training; designate ONE person in your room group to succor one out of him.

REGISTER NOW !!  SIGNUP DEADLINE IS JANUARY 21 !!
Northern California registrants, Southern California registrants.
Please fill out the form pertinent to your current location.

Lobby Day 2008 is set up as a 'single-payer' experience-the fee covers the Training Day/Health Symposium, hotel room (shared with up to 4 people), bus transportation, and food, among other things.

This is ONLY possible because of very generous funding we received. Just as in a 'single-payer' system you might not 'utilize' all of the offerings (you'd be in pretty bad shape if you made use of all the benefits in SB 840!), the same might be for some at LD; perhaps you carpool instead of take the bus, or perhaps you don't eat. We all still pay the same; if we charged the 'real' (i.e. unsubsidized) cost on a piecemeal basis, it would likely cost more. There's no 'a la carte' at Prom!

As this is a 'social experiment,' we'd love your feedback at the completion of Lobby Day 2008!

Note: Information on buses will be posted later on this site.

Sunday consists of 3 parts:

• Training Day/Health Symposium at the UC Davis School of Medicine (must be registered for Lobby Day to attend);
• Dinner and poster-making at Pyramid Brewery (online directions; website);
• Check-in at the Best Western Sutter House Hotel (online directions; website).

Training Day/Health Symposium

Location:

UC Davis Medical School (online directions)
4610 X Street
Sacramento, CA 95817

We've assembled a fabulous line-up of speakers and subjects to take your knowledge and thinking to a whole new level! You will leave this training confident and fired up! for your lobby appointment-with your 'message playpen' constructed and ready to deploy in the visit.

Dress is casual for the day - most of you will be traveling by bus anyway, so be COMFORTABLE! Word is that 100% of SoCal folks will be sporting the AMSA 'Envision UHC' t-shirts, but NoCal thinks its too cold for that...

Please note that you must be registered for Lobby Day to attend the Training Day/Health Symposium. Also, note that Southern California buses arrive by 2pm; you will miss the first two lectures-consider it an incentive for you to read up beforehand!

Training Day/Health Symposium Schedule

12:00 - 12:30 pm	Healthcare System 101 Richard Quint, MD/MPH, CaPA Board member, retired Pediatrician, UCSF
12:35 - 1:10 pm	Life of a Bill Josh Daniels, UC Berkeley, Boalt Law School student
1:15 - 1:55 pm	LUNCH (SoCal buses expected to arrive during lunch)
2:00 - 2:45 pm	"The fundamental flaw of private health insurance, and why it can no longer serve the needs of Americans" Don McCanne, MD, Senior Health Policy Fellow, Physicians for a National Health Program
2:50 - 3:10 pm	SB 840 Sara Rogers, Staff Member, Senator Kuehl's Office
3:15 - 3:30 pm	BREAK
3:30 - 4:10 pm	It's Care, Not Insurance: Framing the Health Debate Eric Haas, Director of Public Affairs, Rockridge Institute Message-in-a-Box: Controlling the Frame of your Legislative Visit Parker Duncan, MS4/MPH(c), UC Irvine
4:30 - 5:30 pm	Breakout Sessions 1 & 2 Stella de la Vega, MS2, UC Davis
5:30 - 5:50 pm	Closing Remarks Vanessa Calderon, AMSA Region X Trustee; Richard Quint/John Shearer, CaPA
6:00 - 6:30 pm	Transportation to dinner Board buses (quickly!), drop off in front of Pyramid Brewery (buses then go park at BW; leave luggage on bus)
6:30 - 8:00 pm	Dinner: Pyramid Alehouse & Brewing Company Postering to follow in the Group Room
8:00 - 10:00 pm	Check-in at Best Western Sutter House (KEY plus your LD Packet for Monday)

Dinner: Pyramid Alehouse Brewery & Restaurant

Dinner is the exception to the single-payer experience; pay by table.

Location:

Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant (online directions; website)
1029 K Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: (916) 498-9800

The buses will drop us in front of Pyramid Brewery (which is right across the street from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament; note for Monday), then will go park at the Best Western.

As dinner wraps up, we'll retire to the 'community room' at Pyramid, where you'll unite your Training Day knowledge and creative energies (or those induced by the Pyramid brew!) into pithy and compelling slogans!

Hotel: Best Western Sutter House

Location:

The Best Western Sutter House (online directions; website)
1100 H Street
Sacramento CA 95814

Your single-payer LD fee covers the hotel room which you will be sharing with up to 4 people. Select your roommates before arriving for Training Day. When you've exhausted your creative talents (or your pitcher!), walk the 3 blocks along 11th Street BACK to the Hotel.

As you enter, please stop at our REGISTRATION TABLE we'll have in the lobby. Even if you have the key to your room, we ALSO want to 'pre-register' you for Monday; we'll give you a Lobby Day packet, which you should then spend the waning minutes of your evening reviewing!

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Monday consists of 4 parts:

• Check-in and Training at the State Capitol (morning);
• Rally (NOON, North steps);
• Lobby Visits (afternoon);
• Candlelight Vigil, 4:30 pm, Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

Check-in and Training

For those coming just for Lobby Day, we want you at the Capitol, in Room 4203, by 8am !!!

If you are staying at the hotel and have already received your LD packet (now you see the incentive), we recommend you CHECK-OUT of your room at 8am, and head to the Capitol. We'd like you there, in the room, by approx. 8:30 - 8:45 am.

Note for ALL: you WILL go through security (i.e. just like the airport, so leave pocketknives, flammable liquid and matches at home or at the hotel!), which can take 10 or 15 minutes, at times, especially in the morning!

Directions to Room 4203: after clearing security, wave hello as you pass the Governor's Office, then take the main elevator to the 4th floor.

Orientation and Training begins at 9:00 am sharp, per the schedule. Key to know is that once we break for small group practice sessions, you will have just over 1 hour to do three things: organize your lobby strategy session with your group; EAT (lunch will be brought in at 11 am) and MOVE down to the North steps of the capitol by 11:45 am.

Lobby Day Schedule

08:00 - 09:00 am	Check-In at the Capitol For those only going Monday please check in promptly and get your Lobby Day folder at the hearing room
09:00 - 09:15 am	Welcome Parker Duncan, MS4, UC Irvine; Renu Tipirneni, MS4, UCSF; Joubin Afshar, American River College
09:20 - 09:40 am	SB 840 - and how to address it in the visit Sara Rogers, Senator Kuehl's Office
09:45 - 10:10 am	How to Lobby Tom Riley, Cal Capitol Group
10:15 - 10:30 am	Message-in-a-box (part 2!) Parker Duncan, MS4, UC Irvine
10:35 - 10:45 am	What's in Lobby Folder Appointment Team
10:50 - 11:40 am	LUNCH (while meeting with your Lobby Visit Team)
10:50 - 11:40 am	(1) Meet with your lobby team and plan strategy; (2) Lunch
11:45 am	North Steps, Capitol
12:00 pm	RALLY
1:00 - 4:00 pm	Lobby Visits (per your packet) Return to Cafeteria (5th floor) after visit to complete survey
4:00 - 4:15 pm	Leave Capitol, proceed to Vigil
4:30 - 5:00 pm	Candlelight Vigil Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 1017 11th Street

Rally: White Coats, get Loud!

Location: Be at the North Steps of the Capitol (facing L Street) by 11:45 am. The Rally begins at NOON! Bring your signs.

Keynote Speakers:

• Senator Sheila Kuehl;
• Lt. Governor John Garamendi (the highest ranking elected politician in the state who openly supports SB 840!);
• Richard Quint, California Physicians Alliance.

We will have a series of student speeches, as well. This is where you get fired UP to proceed to part 3 of the day, your Lobby Visit!

Note: it's Sacramento in winter, so weather could be 'inclement' to say the least; plan accordingly. We're going to raise hell, rain or shine!

Lobby Visits

You will have at least one, maybe two lobby visits, somewhere between 1 - 4 pm.

Your specific information will be in your check-in packet (which you receive either Sunday at the hotel or Monday morning). The motivated student, though, will have already researched before even arriving at Lobby Day who their appointment is with, and researched the voting and gift from pharmaceutical and private health insurance industry history of those members. Social progress rarely moves forward being nice!

After your visit, come to the cafeteria (5th Floor) to 'check-out.' This means handing in your Lobby Day Survey and telling us how it went.

Feel free to hang out until Vigil time. We will begin heading down from the cafeteria to the Vigil site at 4 pm.

Candlelight Vigil

Location:

The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (website)
1017 11th Street
Sacramento CA 95814

We will close this fabulous day with a Candlelight Vigil to remember the human cost of our current dysfunctional, profit-driven system of health insurance.

Pick up your candle in the cafeteria at 4 pm, then head down and out of the Capitol, in order to assemble at the Cathedral by approx. 4:15 pm. Guides will be stationed along the route to direct you once you leave the Capitol (can be a bit confusing!). Keep in mind it is directly across from Pyramid Brewery.

The Vigil will begin promptly at 4:30pm, in order to finish before Mass at 5 pm.

As soon as the Vigil ends, board the buses (which will be either in front of the Cathedral or at the hotel parking lot) and head home. Last one to nap is a rotten egg-you deserve a rest!

And then the REAL work begins. Lobby Day is our beginning; an initial salvo. Take the energy, creativity and enthusiasm this experience will definitely engender in you and keep it GOING back on your campus. If you need specific ideas, just ask...

THANKS for making this Lobby Day a HUGE success !!