Good evening! Please note this further information from CLA about SB 148. There are suggestions and links about how to make your voice heard at this crucial time, especially if your legislator is on the P&D committee! Below that is an example and information about what to write. If you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to email me: president@ctcasl.org and I’ll do my best to help. We appreciate your help! Sincerely, Jenny Dear Colleagues, We have an opportunity to advance Connecticut’s own eBook & digital audiobook licensing bill here, joining ongoing efforts across the country. GREAT NEWS!! The Connecticut General Assembly’s Planning & Development Committee has raised SB 148: An Act Making Certain Terms In Electronic Book And Digital Audiobook License Agreements Or Contracts Unenforceable. WHAT’S HAPPENING & WHEN The Planning & Development (P&D) Committee will hold a hybrid public hearing Wednesday, February 21 starting at 1:30 PM. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED We need people to sign up to testify—especially librarians and residents of the districts of members (see below) of the P&D Committee. We also need people from all over the state to email letters in support of the bill! (CASL folks - we will get info to you about this soon. This could be administrators, teachers, parents, community members. ) ~~~ HERE’S WHAT TO DO NOW ~~~ Submit Written Testimony by 5 PM on Wednesday, February 21 (but the sooner the better). Here’s the link. GUIDE TO TESTIMONY NEXT STEPS  Visit CLA’s action-oriented "Speak Up!" page for more info, as well as suggested talking points. See below too! Last year when the bill was introduced for a 2nd time, the committee heard from us that this was an issue that they should pay attention to. If anything, that is even more critical now, so our numbers really, REALLY matter. Tell legislators what a big deal this is! Thank you for your support! Kate and Olivia LibraryDirector@colchesterct.gov & orhysb+CLA@gmail.com *Members of the Planning & Development Committee are: Eleni Kavros DeGraw (Co-Chair), MD Rahman (Co-Chair), Joseph H. Zullo (Ranking Member), Ryan Fazio (Ranking Member), Brandon Chafee (Vice Chair), Norman Needleman (Vice Chair), Jan Hochadel, Rick Lopes, Tony Hwang, Andre F. Baker, Aundre Bumgardner, Christine Conley, Michael D Agostino, Roland J. Lemar, Cristin McCarthy Vahey, David Michel, Tom Delnicki, Doug Dubitsky, Irene M. Haines, Carol Hall, Tami Zawistowski Looking for how to get started when sending written testimony? Here you go! Adapted from CLA’s Kate Byroade: CASL members, please use this as a guide, but try to use your own words. Think of it as Mad-Libs. Focusing on your budgets and the students you serve will be key. The legislators already understand the value of reading so that part can be short. Any stories about how eBooks help students with special needs would be especially helpful.  Sample letter for School librarians: I’m the school librarian at [School Name] in [Town] serving [Number of students] in grades [K -12]. [Anything distinctive about the school population/district—free & reduced lunch population, ELL students, Title 1 population, % children of immigrants, etc.] [Something positive about your students!] Each year I have [$00.00] to spend on materials for the school library. It’s a struggle to stretch those funds and the prices I pay to lease ebooks for students don’t help. For example, [Title of Book] costs [$00.00] to lease but after two years it disappears, and yet [every third grader reads this book in my school]. Yet if I buy paperback copies of this title, I’d pay only $00.00 each and we’d have them for the students until they fell apart or got lost. [Something about the importance of reading choice to promote reading fluency, or something similar.] Please support SB 148 so Connecticut’s school libraries can stretch our limited funds to provide more reading choices for children! Thank you, [Your Name]