I have to make a few phone calls, and dance a joyous Lymie dance, (moving toes on both feet) and I will be back to you later. But just wanted you all to know:

My body cant dance but my brain is doing a great jig. Thanks for all the hard work!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH ELLEN...and to EVERYONE who worked SO hard for SO long on this!!!

I will be smiling all day

Debbie

AND OUR BILL WAS ONE OF ONLY 12 BILLS TO PASS OUT OF HUNDREDS OF BILLS.!! � OUR GRASSROOTS EFFORTS HAVE PAID OFF.

There is more to be done, i.e., we will have to keop on top of
Governor Pataki to make sure he signs the blll into law. I will put out information on what to do as soon as I have had a chance to recover.
In the meantime, thanks to everyone who participated in this wonderful grass roots effort.

And , of course, thanks to Monica whose work has led us to the victory.

There are many people to thank individually, which I will do later on. But for now I just want to thank Cheryl, who, along with Steve , started this grassroots organizing with me four years ago. and has been a huge help in getting us to where we are now. Ellen

In the meantime, I just want to put out a few more thank yous to those who were invaluable in our grassroots organizing. This is just start of the thank yous.
Thanks to Pat Smith, Jill, Lia, Regina, Linda, Carol, Pat, Eva, John, Maureen (Mo), Diane, Liz, Tincup, CWS, Sharon , Joan, Judy, Rita, Sarah, Marie, Amy, Bob and Ardith.

More thank yous to come.
If I didn't thank you yet, please rest assured I will realize it later and be wracked with guilt.

You will be relieved to now that I'm going to collapse for a while now, so ths stream of emails may stop for a while. Ellen

[This message has been edited by ellenlu (edited 21 July 2004).]

Jordan

Thank you everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for participating.

For those of you who have been to rallies; gatherings; protests; lobby days; worked behind the scenes; posted wonderful, inspiring calls to action; written countless letters and faxes; made innumberable phone calls it's been hard- especially for those of you who are so ill- and it has taken so long.

For the healthier ones, I'm certain there have been challenges of a special kind for you throughout this effort. Thank you for contributing your energy, time, skills and your compassion for the benefit of the rest of the Lyme community.

I remain in total awe of the strength of character demonstrated by our LLMDs and their families through these many years of maltreatment. They are quite simply moral giants. It has been a great privilege to me to have witnessed their courage. My thanks to them for their steadfastness and their dedication to patients and furthering our understanding of tick-borne illnesses and treatments.

I hope that they, their families, and all of you will take great satisfaction in what has been achieved today.

Thank you Monica, Ellen, Pat and others for lighting the way and for the countless hours of work that led to today's success.

Tons of thanks to all those who worked so hard to make this happen.

To go from "legislators laughing at us" to
unanimously passing the OPMC Bill shows what dedication, co-operation, persistence, & excellent leadership can achieve.

I found out kinda late in the day..we were at Doc J's when I got the phone meggage.

The news was met with a Big grin from the Big J as well.

Ellen and Monica...you did it!!

You got this Bill through thr "eye of the needle"..

I know we are all about to start our mail to Pataki, but I have to jump and cry and scream for just a minute here..I'm a little behind..

This is just stupendous!

Thank God for ll of you working on this for SOOOOOO long..

and for our Doctors, the bravehearts on the frontlines.

Mo

California, then Oregon next!

Then....Ms. Reber....YOUR STATE....

one by one...well take em down and tackle em

*pea's doin' a jig*

Thank you for example to *Sarah, Chazmyn, and MomToEight to name just a few.

Many thanks also to those who got the message out to their own lists and support groups.

There are those who have quietly and consistantly worked long, hard, and smart to play a major role in bringing us this far.

They do it for no other reason than that they care so much about doctor's and patients welfare in all of this.

Mo

I suspect you have some adrenaline running tonight, Miss Ellen..

Now that you've played a MAJOR role in taking care of ALL of us..

I hope you soon have a chance to take care of YOU.

We love you, Ellen! You're our heroine..

Mo

Mo

We all deserve so much credit for fighting for our rights!
A toast to everyone!
Keep fighting!
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember to send thank you notes to all the legislators who have helped us!

Special thanks to Ellen and Monica and all the rest of you on the front lines.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!

------------------
Lyme Disease Help
http://www.wildcondor.com

What wonderful news!!!

Thanks one and all for the hard work you all did for this. Especially, Ellen and Melanie for being so tireless throughout this whole ordeal.

We love you guys!!!

Trout

This will help doctors in Canada and around the world who treat lyme also.

You have done a great thing for lymekind!

Thanks to all of you who worked so hard for so long!!

I have been getting thank yous from so many people. But I was just the one who did most of the emais over the years. The one with the big mouth.

Everybody else was working very hard behind the scenes. And they are even too many to thank publicly.

But it's easy enough to do, so why not shoot one off right away?

*****From Ellen yesterday:

Okay, We can start emailing Govenor Pataki right now. (Those who still
might have some energy). Tell him how excited you are that S4148a has
passed the legislature. Ask that he sign the bill into law.

Go to: http://161.11.3.75/
Scroll down to the middle of the page. There is a form to fill out to
send your email.
Thanks,
Ellen

****It's also referred to in Doctor Burrascano's letter re: the Bill:

Congratulations to all of us!!!

The OPMC reform bill passed both the state Senate and House, UNANIMOUSLY!
Throughout the history of OPMC, it was recognized that reforms were needed. Many physicians in the past, as well as the NY medical society, had tried year after year to correct the problems, and all their attempts had been unsuccessful.

Now, because of my OPMC case, and all the glorious, much appreciated support and hard work by all of you, we/you have accomplished what no other individual or group has ever done!
We have truly made history!

**At this point, these reforms are NOT guaranteed- the governor must sign the bill.
You MUST stay tuned to know how best to approach this- Monica Miller and FAIM will be working on this, along with the truly outstanding folks who are working with them. They will let us know what to do.

Speaking of FAIM, PLEASE join this great organization, and PLEASE consider making a donation to them too. Through my OPMC battles, FAIM had worked steadily, generously, and often behind the scenes for the benefit of us all. This victory would not have happened without them.

It's funny, but I never really felt any relief after my case ended- not even when my two-year probation ended. But now, I do feel good- relief, elation, and deep gratitude. Imagine what you all have done! Remember, never before has this been accomplished!

All of you, pat yourselves on the back, say a prayer of thanks, and enjoy the glow. Please forward this to everyone!

With much warmth and deepest appreciation, from
Dr. B.........................................................................!

Albany -- Report puts Legislature dead last among state governments for systematically limiting input from the public and rank-and-file lawmakers
�By ERIN DUGGAN and ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau
First published: Thursday, July 22, 2004
As state leaders continued meeting behind closed doors Wednesday, a new report names New York's Legislature the nation's most dysfunctional -- largely because most lawmakers are shut out of the process.

"Neither the U.S. Congress nor any other state legislature so systematically limits the roles played by rank-and-file legislators and members of the public in the legislative process," concluded the report released by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

In 11 of 14 categories, New York ranked worst or tied for worst, said Jeremy Creelan, the Brennan Center's associate counsel and an author of the report.

Creelan and supporters of the report, "The New York State Legislative Process: An Evaluation and Blueprint for Reform," hope it will spark the change other good-government advocates have tried in vain for years to instigate.

"This will provide not just a rallying point, but shows that New York has no legitimate excuse for its existing state," Creelan said.

The "three men in a room" problem would be greatly reduced, the Brennan Center concluded, if the Assembly and Senate would change the rules governing legislative committees. These rules largely determine which bills go to the floor for debate and a vote, and which are buried.

The study found the committees now do little real work, have few hearings on bills and release almost no reports to help members make voting decisions.

It also said it is more difficult to bring a bill to a full house vote in New York than any other state.

Every two years, both the Senate and Assembly adopt rules for their committee processes.

Those rules will be voted on in January; their passage requires neither agreement among the legislative leaders nor gubernatorial approval.

The report also suggested:

Making it easier for members to request a public hearing on a bill.

Require all bills reported to the floor to have a detailed public committee report reflecting the debate held on each.

Limit committee assignments to no more than three per lawmaker per legislative session.
Restrict the number of bills passed under a "message of necessity" from the governor, which gives lawmakers little time to read what they are voting on.

The report also calls for the end of proxy voting. Legislators can swipe their ID cards, reporting themselves as "in," and leave the chamber -- sometimes even going home -- but still have their votes recorded. Those votes are automatically counted in the affirmative.

Citizens are cheated by the existing system, Creelan said. Many bills of public interest never receive public hearings.
The report found that from 1997 to 2001, the Senate held only one public hearing on a bill out of the 152 pieces of major legislation that passed the Senate.

The Assembly also held only one committee hearing on a specific bill during those years, with 202 pieces of major legislation that it approved, the report found.

Meanwhile, just 4.1 percent of bills proposed in 2002 in New York were enacted, compared with 69 percent in Michigan, which has the nation's best enactment rate. In California, the most populous state, 41 percent of bills passed.

Only New Jersey and North Carolina, both at 2.7 percent, ranked worse than New York.
The Brennan Center study was not well-received by the legislative leaders Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno called it "pure nonsense."

"The people who do that are just reading books and studying and doing research," Bruno said.
Bruno likened the Legislature to a big corporation.

"What are you going to do, have a discussion and have 212 employees decide what the agenda is?" he asked, referring to the 212 legislative members. "Then you'll have 212 different agendas. That is just chaotic.

"It's a representative government," Bruno continued. "People elect representatives, representatives elect their leader, their leader represents their interests."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was more tempered in his response, but he, too, insisted the members of his Democratic majority have more than a passing involvement with making legislation.

"We have conferences at least once a day," Silver said. "Nothing happens here in Albany in the Assembly without the input of the rank-and-file legislators ... the lowest seniority freshman has direct input into the process."

Gov. George Pataki said he hadn't seen the report, and didn't want to comment. When pressed, Pataki recalled it was "hard" to be a minority member of the Assembly (a position he held before moving to the Senate and the governor's office), but he still managed to "get some significant things done."

"Ideas come from people regardless of what party they're registered in," Pataki said.

The Brennan Center plans to hold statewide town meetings on its report to inform voters of the problems and encourage them to pressure their lawmakers into voting for rules changes.

"Who knows if this will succeed," said Scott Schell, the center's director of public affairs. "But we're constructing something that has never been tried before." ��

� � �

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lymelighter:
Is this going to be in the NY Times or other NY periodicals?

---

Yay for us.

ANd, yes, Mo is definitely right. We have to push really hard now to make sure the Governor doesn't veto the bill.

But today is for celebrating.

Is that a promise or a threat?

This is great! Thanks to all who have worked so hard to get this done!

Celebrate!

The next step is to work to make sure the Governor doesn't veto it,but let's just take some time enjoy this victory.

Watch out!

No Pah-Tay till we make sure Pataki pulls out his pen..

But anyone else experiencing spontaneous gigling and mumbling incohertently to themselves since this Bill passed?

Mo