ACTIVIST SPOTLIGHT: Tami Stanley

By: Dan Ignaszewski, National Advocacy Specialist

The Utah legislature considered prosthetic parity legislation for their state in their 2009 legislative session. With the determined work of one of our local activists, Tami Stanley, and the continued support of Representative Litvack, the Utah bill was introduced in the House on January 13, 2009. On February 20, the House Health and Human Services Committee passed it favorably by a vote of five to one, and on February 27, the full House voted to pass the prosthetic parity bill by a vote of 46 to 27 with two abstaining. When the session ended on March 12, the bill was just a couple of bills shy of being debated and voted on by the Utah Senate. As a result, the bill did not pass this session.

While many people might first see this as a failure, in all actuality, this was an incredible success for prosthetic parity in Utah. In 2008, the bill had been introduced in the House and was killed in the House Committee by a vote of 10 to 3. With the continued determination of local activist Tami Stanley, the bill not only passed overwhelmingly out of committee, but it passed overwhelmingly through the full House!

Tami worked tirelessly to educate lawmakers and keep this bill moving. She made countless calls. She was up at the capitol almost every week knocking on office doors and really fighting to raise awareness and build support for the parity bill. She gave so much of her own time and of herself for the parity campaign. We are truly grateful to her for all of her hard work.

While it was disappointing that the Senate ran out of time to vote on the prosthetic parity bill this year the fight is not over. With all of Tami's great work, we have built very strong relationships and identified a strong base of bipartisan support. In just one year's time the bill went from dying in committee by a large margin to being passed through the House by a huge margin! By continuing to build on these efforts, we are confident that we can get this bill through next year!

Our sponsor and allies have already committed to re-introducing the legislation in 2010. This summer, the ACA is holding a statewide organizing meeting to really ramp up support, identify possible coalition partners and build an even stronger foundation going into the next legislation session.

Sometimes with the legislative process, a perceived loss can actually be a tremendous win, and in Utah's case it couldn't be more true. Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” With the hard work of a few determined people in your local community, prosthetic parity legislation can be passed in your state and in every state. With the continued leadership of incredible activists like Tami, we know that we will be successful!

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Ignaszewski is the National Advocacy Specialist for the Amputee Coalition of America. He provides day-to-day technical assistance to the individuals and campaign committees working to advance state parity bills. He can be reached at state@amputee-coalition.org or 202/742-1885.