Saturday, January 28, 2006

Positive Coverage in the Greenville News












Saturday, January 28

Families struggling to pay for autism care

Senator fights to get insurers to cover bills

By Liv Osby
HEALTH WRITER losby@greenvillenews.com

Ashley Covington took out a second mortgage.

Susan and John Sachs gave up vacations and new cars.

Lisa and Cliff Rollins used their son's college fund.

One way or another, they all paid for treatment -- treatment that can cost up to $50,000 a year -- to help their autistic children because their health insurance wouldn't cover it.

It's a situation that state Sen. Ray Cleary says amounts to discrimination against families with autistic children.

"The misery index of these families can't be measured," said Cleary, R-Charleston. "Many have to sacrifice a great deal."

So he has sponsored a bill that would require insurers to pay for treatment -- a fix the insurance industry opposes.

Autism is a set of developmental, communication and social interaction disorders that strikes between one in 166 to 500 children, afflicting about 9,000 people in the Palmetto State, boys four times more than girls, according to the South Carolina Autism Society.

Intensive early intervention can help these children reach their maximum potential, says Dr.
Pierrette "Mimi" Poinsett, a California pediatrician who specializes in disorders like autism. It can keep them out of more costly special education classes and institutions, and help them to become productive citizens.

But according to parents, insurers argue they should not cover such treatment because it's experimental, educational or not medically necessary, or because they consider autism a mental illness or an incurable lifelong disability.

Larry Akey, spokesman for the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, said he doesn't know if it's standard in the industry to deny coverage for autism; it is covered in a number of states.

Most employer-sponsored insurance plans exclude experimental treatments, he said. And autism is considered a mental illness and subject to the same coverage limits as other such disorders in a policy.

However, Akey said he's never heard that treatment was denied because it was considered educational or a lifelong disability.

"We cover any number of lifelong disabilities," he said.

Susan Sachs of Simpsonville says her insurer denied coverage for her son, Michael, now 13, saying his was an educational disability.

"The first year, we spent $35,000," she said .

One of the greatest sacrifices the Sachs family has made to provide treatment involves time. John, an engineer, has taken better-paying work out of state to pay for therapy. For the past two years, Susan says, he's been in Kuwait.

"We didn't eat out. Didn't have cable TV. We drove old clunkers. And we have gone through every penny we've ever had," she says. "But the biggest sacrifice is that my husband has taken out-of-town jobs because of the money he could make.

"In the last eight years," she added, "he's been home maybe a total of three years. He's missed a lot of his child's life."

But thanks to that therapy, Sachs says, Michael, who was diagnosed in 1996, has made tremendous progress, and she expects he'll become a successful adult.

Developed in the 1960s and once considered an "alternative" therapy, intense early intervention has been standard treatment for about 10 years, said Dr. Desmond Kelly, medical director of the division of developmental-behavioral pediatrics at Greenville Hospital System Children's Hospital.

"There's no doubt that it is beneficial," he said. "It results in improvement of the child's physical symptoms and their functioning capacity."

In fact, he says, research shows that up to half of all autistic children will improve with early intervention, and go on to succeed in school and hold down jobs as adults.

A year of that therapy took Lisa Rollins' son Walker from losing the 20 words he had mastered by the age of 2 to speaking more than 1,000 now at age 3. But it costs $5,000 a week, and insurance doesn't pay for any of it, she said.

"We've been spending money that we had saved for college," said Rollins, of Saluda. "But there are lots of families who have taken second mortgages, or moved to smaller homes, or gone into debt."

For most parents, providing therapy is a great financial burden, says Kelly. And those who can't do it feel a terrible sense of guilt.

Besides a second mortgage, Covington, of Greenville, borrowed on her life insurance and gets help from her parents to pay for therapy for son, Chas, 6.

"It's been a strain on the pocketbook," said Covington, a consultant for a health and wellness company. "But you'll sacrifice anything for your children."

Like many parents of autistic children, Susan Kastner quit her job to care for son, Andrew, now 11.

"Getting your child to therapy would require missing work," she says. "We used to juggle who's taking him to therapy today, and it became too stressful to worry about missing work to take care of your child."

Rollins says she can't understand why therapy, which typically lasts two or three years, isn't covered like it is for other neurological disorders, such as stroke or brain injuries. Treatment is prescribed by a physician and is medically necessary, she says.

And Cleary says it's penny-wise and pound-foolish not to cover autism. Compare $150,000 for three years of treatment with up to $3 million for lifetime institutionalization, he says.

"With maybe two, three years of this intensive treatment, 47 percent of these children can be mainstreamed and become functional, taxpaying citizens," he said, "instead of non-productive, non-functioning lives."

The rest also make progress, he says.

Sachs adds that autistic children have only one shot, and that's through intensive early intervention.

"We have an opportunity to give these children their lives back, these families their hope back, and you can only do that on the front end," she said. "Either we do this now, or we're looking at group homes and institutions."

But Akey said the industry opposes mandates on insurers, saying purchasers are better able to make decisions about coverage than lawmakers. Mandates typically result in higher premiums for subscribers, he said, and often don't account for evolving therapies.

"The purchasers of health insurance decide what they want to have covered," Akey said. "We'll cover any illness or injury that people want to buy insurance policies to cover."

The bill, S.0958, is currently in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. Rollins says she's optimistic it will come to a vote this spring.

Cleary said, "These children with autism should not be discriminated against." She said, "It's the right thing to do and I'm hoping the legislators will realize that."

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

A Banner Day for Children with Autism -- More Than 20 New Sponsors Added in the House


Ryan's Law picked up more than 20 legislators this week, bringing the grand total in the House of Representatives to 58! This is almost half of all South Carolina House members!

Here is the current list of sponsors in the House. If your legislator's name is not on this list, please call him or her to politely ask for sponsorhip.

Sponsors: Reps. Ballentine, W.D. Smith, Vick, G.M. Smith, Altman, Hagood, Haley, Neilson, J.E. Smith, Haskins, Jennings, Funderburk, Jefferson, Hinson, G. Brown, Limehouse, Townsend, Miller, Agnew, Pinson, Sinclair, Bannister, Frye, E.H. Pitts, Clark, Umphlett, Leach, Bailey, Loftis, Battle, Kennedy, Anthony, Allen, Mack, Anderson, Moody-Lawrence, Mitchell, McLeod, Coleman, Clemmons, Delleney, Stewart, Rutherford, R. Brown, Parks, J.H. Neal, Howard, Clyburn, Govan, Hodges, Cobb-Hunter, Hosey, J. Brown, Young, M. Hines, Weeks, Hiott and Toole

If your legislator's name IS on this list, please drop him or her a note of thanks.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

More Letters in Support of Ryan's Law

Here is a reprint of a letter to Senator Kaye Patterson from one of his constituents. The author of this letter is not a parent of a child with autism, but simply a friend of our cause.

Failure of insurance companies to pay for effective and physician-prescribed treatments for Pervasive Developmental Disorders is a fundamental disservice to the State and to its citizens. The purpose of insurance is to guard against catastrophic unforeseen medical issues and, just as importantly, to provide preventative and therapeutic treatments that, in the long run, save both the insured, the insurer, and society at large from even greater costs that arise from untreated medical issues. Autism, and other pervasive developmental disorders, fall into both areas. These are not "mental health" issues; they are neurological-physiological illnesses that respond to proper treatment.

There are currently therapies available to physicians for the treatment of pervasive developmental disorders. They are effective. They are expensive. I expect that my insurance carrier will pay for radiation and chemotherapy in the event that I, or my dependents are diagnosed with cancer. These treatments are also effective and expensive. Likewise, I expect that my carrier should pay for medically necessary therapies should my dependents be diagnosed with a developmental disorder. Such treatments are why people have insurance and pay their premiums. In exchange for these premiums insurance companies generate healthy profits. Failure to provide minimal adequate coverage saves nothing. Any immediate savings to insurers are doubtless lost to increased services necessary to support the families of those afflicted with these conditions. I submit that insurers likely lose many times the cost of fully covering insured beneficiaries with developmental disorders by underwriting the cost to the hospital system of treating the uninsured that walk in for treatment. If the insurance industry is concerned about this proposed legislation raising insurance rates, they are better served addressing that problem than by lobbying against this positive and necessary bill.

When insurance providers do not cover such costs, the financial burden is invariably and ultimately shifted to the state. Governmental medical and maintenance programs are inefficient and ineffective - eventually developmentally impaired individuals must be cared for by someone when their family members are unable to, or when they have passed on. That someone is the state. Untreated developmental issues also result in a reduction in productivity due to illness and/or care for ill family members when parents who cannot afford proper medical treatments are forced to care for their children as best they can. This financial and emotional strain on families places them under a huge amount of stress and leads to divorce in many cases. This further complicates the situation of the developmentally challenged child. All of these points aside, there is the most important issue of the quality of life of the child.

Autism and other developmental disorders are little understood medical conditions. This is largely due the the fact that, until fairly recently, such illnesses were treated by locking the patients away in an asylum. Children with autism, Asperger's, and other disorders were an "embarrassment," and were hidden away and feared as recently as the 1970s. The United States does not have a proud history of treating its developmentally impaired citizens. Fortunately, our society has moved beyond that - but our insurance companies have not. Now such children are feared by the insurance companies, not because of a lack of understanding of their disorders, but because of a fear that providing proper coverage to them will cut into the corporate bottom line. This position is reprehensible.
Failure to pay for readily available treatment effectively condemns these children to a lifetime of limited education, limited opportunities, limited function - essentially a modern asylum.

Developmentally challenged children can be and are a gift and a joy to their families, but there is no escape from the constant and never-ending care that is required for them. Eventually this takes its toll on anyone. With proper treatment, developmentally impaired children can function at a higher level, which puts them in a better position to take advantage of the public education system and other services, to contribute more to their communities and families, and to live richer, fuller lives. In short, covering these treatments is better for South Carolina and South Carolinians.

Some few states have courageously passed similar legislation already. They are leaders. South Carolina has a chance to lead as well. Let's not come in last in this area, too.

I ask Senator Patterson to carefully consider the testimony that will be presented to the sub-committee Thursday morning and to support this bill.

Sincerely,
Geoffrey M. Clemens
Irmo, SC 29063

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Momentum Continues to Build


The legislative sponsors continue to roll in, thanks to amazing grass-roots efforts around the state. The latest list of sponsors includes:

In the House:
H. 4351
Reps. Ballentine, W.D. Smith, Vick, G.M. Smith, Altman, Hagood, Haley, Neilson, J.E. Smith, Haskins, Jennings, Funderburk, Jefferson, Hinson, G. Brown, Limehouse, Townsend, Miller, Agnew, Pinson, Sinclair, Bannister, Frye, E.H. Pitts, Clark, Umphlett, Leach and Bailey

In the Senate
S. 958
Senators Cleary, Elliott, Lourie, Leventis, Scott, Anderson, Reese, Land and Sheheen

If you have not yet contacted your House member and your Senator, please do so right away. If you don't know who your legislators are, go to www.scstatehouse.net and enter your zip code.

Keep up the great work, everyone!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Four new sponsors today!


Great news! Rep. Nathan Ballentine, our lead sponsor in the House, say we have four more official co-sponsors:

Rep. Bruce Bannister (Greenville)
Rep. Marion Frye (Lexington/Saluda)
Rep. Ted Pitts (Lexington)
Rep. Ken Clark (Aiken/Lexington)

Please write notes of thanks to these House members, and don't forget to thank our primary sponsors as well -- Rep. Nathan Ballentine in the House (ballentinen@schouse.org) and Sen. Ray Cleary in the Senate (clearyr@scsenate.org) -- for their tireless efforts on our behalf.

Congratulations to those of you who contacted the above legislators -- your efforts paid off!

Monday, January 16, 2006

A Celebrity Who Cares About Autism

There was a celebrity in our midst at the January 12th hearing. Perry Major of Greenville brought his friend Edwin McCain, who cares deeply about children's issues. Edwin listened to all of the testimony and never sought any special recognition for attending. Further, he wrote the following letter a few days after the hearing. Thanks, Edwin, for taking the time to care and to do something about it.


To all of our friends in South Carolina,

A friend of mine whose son is autistic asked me if I would go with him to a state senate subcommittee hearing this week. This hearing is about "Ryan's Law", a bill to require insurance companies to cover autism treatments.

Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the US.

Autism impairs a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. Autism is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

The good news is that Autism is treatable. With early intervention involving applied behavioral analysis therapy (ABA) there has been a 44 percent success rate in mainstreaming autistic kids back to their original grade levels with their peers. These kids become indistinguishable from other typical kids and continue without the need of further therapy. It should be noted that in the cases where autistic kids can't be placed back in the same class, the progress that they make with ABA therapy is remarkable. Currently there is no health insurance coverage offered for treatment of any autism spectrum disorders in SC.

Out of pocket expenses for ABA treatments can range from $50,000 to $100,000 depending on the city. Obviously that far exceeds most families' ability to help their children. These kids receive little or no treatment and eventually become wards of the state instead of functioning members of society. This practice puts a great burden on the economic welfare of our state systems. Currently Georgia, Texas, Indiana, New Hampshire, and California mandate coverage for ASD disorders.

If you are a resident of South Carolina, please go to
www.scstatehouse.net, click on the link that says "find my legislator" and please call your senator and representative and let them know that you are interested in their position on Senate Bill #958 "Ryan's Law" or House Bill #4351.

I was moved by how many people I recognized at this hearing who have autistic children. I was also impressed by how many of the families had a success story involving ABA. I am very passionate about children's causes but I also realize that hope sometimes clouds the judgement of parents who would do anything for their kids. In the past there have been many questionable therapies involving autism and other developmental challenges. When I got home I spoke with my father who is a retired pediatrician. He helped me do some research on ABA therapy. All of the response we received from the doctors we called about ABA therapy was overwhelmingly positive. ABA therapy works if the kids can get the help early and often. The only way to insure that this happens is to cover the treatment with health insurance. Please help us get the attention of our legislators so that these kids can get the help they deserve.

Thank you for taking this time,

Edwin Mc Cain

Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Senators to Reach NOW!

Below are the 17 senators on the Banking & Insurance Committee. We need to reach them now -- by telephone, e-mail, letter, personal visit -- any way you can handle. Please make personal contact, and please have your family members and anyone else who loves your child make personal contact.

All contact information for these senators is available at www.scstatehouse.net.

Thomas, David L., Chairman
McConnell, Glenn F.
Setzler, Nikki G.
Courson, John E.
Matthews, John W. , Jr.
Patterson, Kay
Reese, Glenn G.
Hayes, Robert W. , Jr.
Jackson, Darrell
Martin, Larry A.
Rankin, Luke A. , Sr.
Alexander, Thomas C.
Richardson, Scott H.
Ford, Robert
Ritchie, James H. "Jim" , Jr.
Cromer, Ronnie W.
Pinckney, Clementa C.

Letter to Senate Banking & Insurance Committee

Some of the parents who attended the January 12th hearing were prepared to speak and to present written stories about their children, but did not get an opportunity. If you are one of those parents, please consider sending your child's story to the members of the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee, which will consider our bill next. Bill Bauer wrote a beautiful letter, which he has given me permission to copy here:

From: Margaret and Bill Bauer
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 5:56 PM
To: sbi@scsenate.org; BallentineN@scstatehouse.net; JBL@scsenate.org; HJU@scstatehouse.net

Subject: Ryan's Law

Dear Members of The Senate Banking & Insurance Committee:

Thank you for your time and attention to the very serious matter of insurance coverage for therapies of children with Autism. I believe you will all agree that the amount of support shown in the room yesterday is evidence of the importance of this matter, and I know all of your constituents will appreciate your attention to it.

Attached please find a copy of my son’s story. I was unable to speak yesterday, and would appreciate it being entered into the committee’s record. While the letter speaks for itself, the long and the short of it is that my now six and half year old son has gone from a three year old with almost no language or social skills to one of the ‘indistinguishable’ people with Autism who is reading and doing math at a sixth grade level in a typical classroom in Richland County School District One. He is well on his way from being a tax user to someone who I’m sure will contribute greatly to the tax base.

There are several points I’d like to make in this email since I wasn’t able to speak during the meeting.

First, I want to, again, thank you for your consideration of this bill.

Second, I want to make sure that you all understand that nobody is asking the government to step in and take control of or pay for anything. Insurance companies are in the business of making a profit, which I am all in favor of. But they make that profit by pooling the risk of those that they insure, the risk that one of their policy holders will get sick and need coverage. Well, we’ve got an epidemic of sick children stricken with this disease and it is time for the insurance companies to do what they are required to do.

Lastly, I’d like to address the gentleman who was representing the insurance companies. I appreciate the time that members of the group supporting Ryan’s Law were given by your subcommittee, as well as the time the insurance company representative was given. I was very interested to see in how this entire process begins, as well as the views held by both sides of this issue. What I didn’t like was the attitude this particular lobbyist had as he approached the lectern to take his turn. You may or may not be aware, but he made a comment to the effect that he thought he might should have worn a ‘Darth Vader costume’. While I certainly agree with his analogy to himself, I think that was neither the time nor the place for that type of humor. This speaks directly to the lack of interest and respect his organization holds for this opportunity to do what is right.

Again, thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to this bill having its opportunity on the Senate floor.

Sincerely,

Bill Bauer

ATTACHMENT

Margaret & Bill Bauer

January 15, 2006

Dear Legislator:

We are writing you this letter regarding our son, Wills Bauer. Wills is a six and half year old who was diagnosed four years ago with Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, and borderline Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

When Wills was diagnosed, his pediatricians, Dr. Laura Ledlie and Dr. Don Wuori, both recommended intensive ABA therapy (Autism therapy) be started immediately. This included 40 hours per week of ABA, two hours per week of speech therapy, and 1 hour per week of occupational therapy. All three types of therapy were provided by private practitioners.
Throughout the program, the amount of time necessary for Wills’ therapy decreased. As his verbal skills began to improve through consistent work from therapists, Wills was able to enter a preschool program and “learn to learn” similarly to the “typical” children. His therapy hours decreased over several years until it became only necessary for Wills to be seen once a week by his therapists. Currently, Wills is not receiving therapy as he has ‘graduated’ from his prescribed program.

The reason for this graduation is the early intervention and intensive therapy that Wills received. He is now in a typical first grade classroom at Brennen Elementary in Columbia’s Richland County School District One. Wills began the program at 2 ½ with very limited vocabulary, only speaking 3-5 words. By the age of three he had some sentence usage. Because of the therapy he received, Wills has blossomed. This first grader now reads at a 6th grade level and is doing 5th grade level math. He has friends, loves video games and plays well with his peers. All of this is due to the intensive therapy that Wills received early on. While he does have a shadow in his first grade classroom, the shadow’s purpose is to simply keep Wills on task, not to babysit him. The fact that he is in a mainstreamed classroom and is performing at an above average level in this classroom is due to the ABA therapy he received prior to starting elementary school.

Unfortunately, the cost of the ABA therapy limits many families from being able to provide their autistic children with this very important program. Wills’ program cost an average of $1700 per month, in addition to the hourly cost of “line therapists” trained by the program coordinator to work daily with him. For years, we have had a very good insurance program and have paid our premiums in order to cover all of our family’s medical expenses. We were sickened to find out that private insurance typically does not cover the cost of autism therapy, or speech therapy, for children who are not developing verbal skills. Even with a medical diagnosis, and a Doctor’s referral, insurance companies do not consider the therapy necessary. They would gladly pay for marriage therapy or mental therapy if the need should arise. Instead, we are expected to pay out of pocket or sit back and send these children into the special education system for the rest of their lives. All the while knowing that so many of them could have the same or similar results to Wills’ and save taxpayers the great expense that this “epidemic” is going to cost us all in special education. Insurance should be responsible for providing the coverage for these children that they need and is deemed necessary by their physicians.

Please consider Wills’ success story when you review this bill. We truly appreciate your support and believe that the taxpayers of South Carolina will as well. It will ultimately save them their hard earned tax dollars that can be better utilized elsewhere, and that shouldn’t be used based on the fact that it is the insurance companies’ responsibility to cover all illnesses of those that they insure.

Thank you for your helping to make Ryan’s Law a reality.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Legislators Who Care About Autism

Here is a list of the legislators who have already signed on to the bill as official co-sponsors! Congratulations on your great work in reaching all of these Representatives and Senators.

Please send thank you notes to all of these legislators, and contact the legislators who are not on these lists!

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Bill number H. 4351
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill Sponsors: Reps. Ballentine, W.D. Smith, Vick, G.M. Smith, Altman, Hagood, Haley, Neilson, J.E. Smith, Haskins, Jennings, Funderburk, Jefferson, Hinson, G. Brown, Limehouse, Townsend, Miller, Agnew and Pinson

Introduced in the House on January 10, 2006

Currently residing in the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry
Summary: Pervasive developmental disorder
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/7/2005 House Prefiled
12/7/2005 House Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry
1/10/2006 House Introduced and read first time HJ-41
1/10/2006 House Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry
HJ-41
1/10/2006 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Altman, Hagood,
Haley, Neilson, J.E.Smith, Haskins
1/11/2006 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Jennings,
Funderburk, Jefferson, Hinson, G.Brown, Limehouse,
Townsend, Miller
1/12/2006 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Agnew, Pinson

IN THE SENATE:
Bill Number S. 958
STATUS INFORMATION
General BillSponsors: Senators Cleary, Elliott, Lourie, Leventis, Scott, Anderson, Reese and Land

Introduced in the Senate on January 10, 2006

Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance
Summary: Pervasive developmental disorder
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
Date Body Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/29/2005 Senate Prefiled
11/29/2005 Senate Referred to Committee on Banking and Insurance
1/10/2006 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-14
1/10/2006 Senate Referred to Committee on Banking and Insurance SJ-14

Hearing a Smashing Success!


The public hearing on January 12 before a subcommittee of the S.C. Senate Banking and Insurance Committee was an overwhelming success. More than 100 supporters of the bill (probably 150 -- did anyone count?) showed up -- families, therapists, doctors, friends, and other interested parties. The room was so full that the Chair of the subcommittee asked attendees to occupy the empty Senator chairs in the front of the room. Even after we filled the empty Senator chairs, there were dozens of people spilled out into the hallway! So, by all accounts, we showed them that we care about this issue and we'll show up to make our voices heard.

Senator Thomas, the Chair, started around 9:30 and took two hours of testimony, making himself late for the Senate session which started at 11:00. He did not want to cut us off, although he ultimately had to stop with many parents still on the list of speakers. The line-up of speakers was:

Professor Lorri Unumb, Parent (and law professor)
Dr. Jane Charles, MUSC Developmental Pediatrician
Ann Eldridge, Director of the South Carolina Early Autism Project
Dr. Gina Green, BCBA, Author of Cost-Benefit Analysis, Member of BACB Board
Dr. Scott Edwards, Parent (and anethesiologist)
Phil Blevins, Executive Director of Carolina Autism Supported Living Services
Lottie Koster, BCBA with CASLS
Lisa Lane and Susan Sachs, Hope Academy
Dr. Shelly Holstrum, USC Developmental Pediatrician
Walt Jenner, CDC Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Project
Lisa Rollins, Parent (and one of the organizers of this effort)
Lois Park Mole, DDSN
Larry Marchant, Lobbyist for insurance industry and chamber of commerce
Marcella Ridley, Parent (and one of the organizers of this effort)

Unfortunately, Marcella did not have time to say anything other than "please send this bill to committee," which is exactly what Senator Thomas and the subcommittee did!

So we accomplished our first goal! We passed the subcommittee (without amendment) and now need to pass the full Banking and Insurance Committee of the Senate.

We don't yet know when the full committee will consider the bill, but it could be as early as January 25. Thus, we need to contact all of the senators on that committee to let them hear our voices!

Thanks to everyone who made work and babysitting arrangements so that you could attend the public hearing. We really made an impression on the legislature of South Carolina.