LEGISLATIVE REPORT/IMAGE ARTICLE
FALL '09

By now, the election is over and we know who our next governor is (although at this writing we are still 3 days away from that election). Our state association donated money to both campaigns after making an urgent plea to both candidates to champion our causes. We shall see how we fare.

The General Assembly Session for 2010 is rapidly approaching and we are gearing up for our "Day-On-The-Hill". That is scheduled for January 14, 2010 and I am hoping we can have a big showing this year. We will be delivering our "goody bags" as usual but along with our "goody bags" we need to be delivering our message. PMPV has always been the association of professional contractors and one issue that came up in our survey (the Board surveyed all members back in the summer) was the issue about "unlicensed contractors". I am in the process of connecting with a delegate that is a proponent of stopping "unlicensed contracting".

We need to begin dialogue with him and see if there is something legislatively that we, as an association, can do. There are a lot of sides to this….and that is why we need the dialogue. I am not sure we will actually put in legislation this year but we can begin to look at it from all sides, figure out who would be against this and counter their arguments. If you have any personal stories about "unlicensed contractors", please let me know as it always helps when I have actual stories. Legislators always like, need and depend on the "personal" stories. Anytime a legislator thinks that one of his/her constituents has been harmed by something, he/she is more likely to want to do something about it. Send me your "stories" but even more importantly, please come and help, on January 14th, deliver that message….I cannot do it alone.

As always, I will be monitoring all the legislation that gets "dropped into the hopper" and make sure there is nothing out there that will harm our contractors.

Thanks and as always, if you hear of any other issues you think we should explore, legislatively, let me know.

Respectfully Submitted,
Laurie C. Crigler
Legislative Chair, PMPV