The roadblock, says Ms. Pennock, is that the few legislatures that
allow carryover of legislation only let it convey from an odd year to
even year — you wouldn't have to reintroduce the bill from 2019 to
2020, for example, but you couldn't carry it over to 2021. Also, it's
often best to wait to introduce legislation if legislatures have shorter
sessions because of an election year, says Ms. Pennock.
It wasn't ideal timing to introduce the Colorado smoke evacuation
bill late in the 2018 legislation session, says Ms. Pennock now that
she looks back. Officials were focused on addressing budget issues
and didn't have enough time to address surgical smoke. "It's not nec-
essarily a problem people are aware of," she says. This year, Ms.
Pennock made sure the Colorado bill was introduced early so that it
didn't get lost in the shuffle of contentious oil and gas bills, full-day
kindergarten bills and background check bills. "It may have been
overlooked," she says.
Grassroots advocates
So, yes, be patient. And be proactive. There's much you can do on
your own to lay the groundwork for legislation. For example, if you've
taken your facility smoke-free in the absence of legislation for manda-
tory smoke evacuation, Ms. Pennock can hold you out as an example
to legislators and perhaps even enlist your help to testify.
"If a facility goes smoke-free, I'm empowered by their stories," says
Ms. Pennock. "It helps my lobbying efforts to say, 'Look what this
nurse did in her own facility.'"
Don't think you can speak before lawmakers? Think again, says Ms.
Pennock. "Once advocates start speaking with legislators and policy-
makers, they're surprised to see how much they care about the issues
that impact them," she says. "With nurses being one of the most trust-
ed professions, when they speak to legislators, they really listen and
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