About the Day...
Who | Goal| Legislation | History | Schedule | How we do it
| Lodging and Travel | Why should you do it?
Capitol Hill Day 2010 is a joint effort between the Ohio Fire Safety Coalition, Campus Firewatch, the Congressional Fire Services Institute and the Michael H. Minger Foundation. Each organization is dedicated to helping reduce the loss of life from fire on our nation's campuses.
The goal of Capitol Hill Day 2010 is to meet with Congressional staffers and discuss several of the bills going through Congress relating to campus fire safety and ask for the Senator's or Representative's support on the bill and to become a co-sponsor. THIS WORKS, it really does, and it is really an important part of getting a bill passed through Congress. Writing letters and making phone calls is great, but having a personal visit by students, parents, fire officials and advocates really makes a huge impression.
We will be discussing the followin pieces of legislation. More detailed information can be found at Thomas.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act
S 1791 and HR 2136These bills will provide matching grants to colleges and universities to install automatic fire sprinklers and other systems in residence halls and Greek housing. These bills were named after the late Representative Tubbs Jones, a long-time campus fire safety advocate, who died in office in 2008.
Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act
S 2947 and HR 1194These bills will reduce the length of time over which a sprinkler system installation can be depreciated, creating an incentive for off-campus landlords to install these systems. Over 84% of the fire fatalities since 2000 have occurred in off-campus housing.
Campus Fire Safety Education
(To be introduced shortly)These bills, to be introduced shortly in both the Senate and the House, will provide grants for schools to develop and deliver campus fire safety education programs.
For the past two years, busloads of students from the University of North Carolina and the University of South Carolina, parents who have lost children in campus fires, fire officials and fire safety advocates from across the nation have gathered together on Capitol Hill to meet with Members of Congress and their staff. We have held press conferences each year with Members of Congress before spreading out over the Hill.
Monday, March 22 Briefing
4:00 pm to 6:00 pmWe will be holding a mandatory briefing with everyone that will be taking part. We will make the team assignments and go over what you will be doing during your visit.
Tuesday, March 23
Times are to be determined but plan on from about 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on the Hill followed by an evening wrap-up reception
- Breakfast where we all get together and get ready to go over to the Hill
- Kick off meeting or press conference (to be determined)
- Group picture on the steps of the Capitol
- Break into teams and start visits
- Evening wrapup reception
- You are assigned to a team of three or four people with an experienced team leader
- You are given a set of talking points to use during your visit about the legislation we'll be asking for their support. These bills include:
- Soon-to-be introduced legislation that will provide grants to schools to develop and deliver fire safety education
- The Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act that will provide tax breaks for the installation of automatic fire sprinklers in apartments where students live (did you know that over 84% of campus-related fire deaths occur off-campus?)
- The Stephanie Tubbs Jones College Fire Prevention Act that will provide schools with grants for the installation of fire safety systems
- You are given a handout to leave with the Congressional staffer summarizing the legislation
- You will be scheduled to meet with between three to five different Congressional offices during the day. Each meeting is about 15 minutes long (they are very busy people) so it is important to get in, make your pitch and leave them with information they can use.
- The result? The more legislators that sign on as co-sponsors on a bill, the better the chances of it moving through successfully. This effort has resulted in Representatives and Senators becoming co-sponsors on bills and one bill was introduced in the Senate last year as a direct result of our visits.
- There are also generally opportunities to go into the House or Senate Gallery to watch Congress in action.
Everyone is responsible for their own travel and lodging. There are a large number of hotels in the DC area that you can find through Google and the Capitol is easily accessible via the DC Metro. The two nearest stops are Union Station and Capitol South.
If you are traveling by air, the nearest airport is Reagan National which is in Washington and is accessible via the Metro. Baltimore Washington Airport has train service (Amtrak or the MARC Penn Line, which is cheaper) to Union Station or Super Shuttle. Dulles is located in Virginia and it is a little bit more difficult to get to DC from this airport unless you use Super Shuttle.
This is a great opportunity to take part in helping make legislation possible. We have been successful in the past and that is only because of the involvement and commitment of so many people. It is a great feeling to see something you worked on make it through Congress.
This is also a great opportunity to learn how things are done on Capitol Hill and in Congress. Several students from previous trips changed their majors after their experience and others planned on applying for internships and summer jobs. Here is your opportunity to get some exposure, make some contacts and, well, who knows what it may lead to? Future Senators or Representatives? Just listen to what the students said from last year in the videos they shot during the day.