[extropy-chat] To All Alcor Members

[Greg Burch]

This is a MAJOR victory for Alcor!  I spoke with Tanya earlier this week and know ya'll were working your hearts out.  I got one response from one of the committee members to the emails I sent, and it was positive for our position and appeared to be other than a form message, so it looks like this was a classic example of a successful lobbying effort -- They were paying attention!

Way to go!

Greg Burch, VP, Extropy Institute

> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
> [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org]On Behalf Of Stephen J.
> Van Sickle
> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2004 8:29 PM
> To: ExI chat list
> Subject: [extropy-chat] To All Alcor Members
> 
> 
> >From Joe Wanick
> President/CEO
> Alcor Foundation
> 
> 
> 
> To All Alcor Members;
> 
>  
> 
> I am happy and proud to say that Alcor, its members, and the state of
> Arizona have won a great victory today! 
> 
>  
> 
> Early Wednesday morning, Barry Aarons, Tanya Jones, and I met with
> Representative Stump and several of his advisors for nearly forty-five
> minutes to discuss HB 2637. We were very pleasantly surprised at the
> openness and flexibility demonstrated by Mr. Stump in our sometimes
> frank discussions. During that meeting, we were able to successfully
> communicate to him the sincere concerns we had with his bill as
> originally proposed and why our membership was so strongly opposed its
> passage. 
> 
>  
> 
> It is our opinion that prior to this meeting, Mr. Stump sincerely did
> not understand the unintended negative consequences his bill would have
> on Alcor, its members, and on the science of cryopreservation as a
> whole.
> 
>  
> 
> After patiently listening to our concerns Mr. Stump expressed a
> willingness to modify several key provisions of the bill as a show of
> good faith to the constituents of this legislation in exchange for a
> commitment from us to continue dialogue for appropriate oversight of
> cryonics as practiced in the state of Arizona.
> 
>  
> 
> Since representation at the negotiation table is what we’ve been
> requesting from the day Alcor first became engaged in the legislative
> process, we were of course elated at the opportunity to sit with
> representatives of the legislature and their advisors in a spirit of
> cooperation and craft legislation that will provide the level of
> oversight legitimately required by the state while simultaneously
> securing protection for patient privacy, guaranteeing the constitutional
> right of self-determination of our members, and establishment once and
> for all the legislative legitimacy of cryonics.
> 
>  
> 
> At the conclusion of that meeting, Representative Stump demonstrated
> outstanding leadership and courage by agreeing in principle to consider
> amendments to his bill that would eliminate some of the most serious
> concerns of Alcor and its membership in a show of good faith. We were
> most impressed.
> 
>  
> 
> Today, literally an hour before the hearing was to begin, we received
> word that amendments had been filed and that Representative Stump was
> receptive to hearing the balance of our concerns that blocked agreement
> to a bill. After reviewing the amendments and exchanging negotiating
> points with Representative Stump that outlined some of our remaining
> issues we were able to secure the following understanding:
> 
>  
> 
> 1.                 Alcor’s ability to utilize the UAGA was restored via
> amendment;
> 
>  
> 
> 2.                 The requirement for an embalmer to store our patients
> or participate in our procedures was struck from the bill via amendment;
> 
>  
> 
> 3.                 In addition, we committed to meet with all interested
> parties and seek agreement upon the following:
> 
> a.     Expand the Funeral Board by up to two members to include experts
> in the field of cryopreservation or change the composition of the
> existing board to include up to two experts in the field of
> cryopreservation;
> 
> b.     Require a cryopreservation expert on the staff of the Funeral
> Board to execute oversight;
> 
> c.     To establish the statutory legitimacy of cryonics through a
> legislated definition of cryopreservation;
> 
> d.     Define the scope of the oversight through legislation and not
> left singularly up to a rules committee;
> 
> e.     To extend the effective date of the bill to September 1, 2005 to
> leave open our option of legislative redress in the unlikely event that
> appropriate rules cannot be agreed upon between Alcor and the Funeral
> Board.
> 
>  
> 
> Due to the good faith agreements obtained prior to the committee hearing
> in conjunction with the proposed amendments, Alcor reduced its
> opposition to passage of HB 2637 on the condition that agreement can be
> reached on the verbal understandings listed above.
> 
>  
> 
> It should be noted that several members of the Health Committee
> expressed reservations about having Alcor overseen by the Funeral Board,
> but conceded that if legislation were necessary, it would be placed
> there but reserve the right to find a more appropriate place to house
> cryonics oversight in the future. Moreover, many of the committee
> members reserved the right to change their vote when the bill is
> presented on the House floor if agreements cannot be reached on the
> aforementioned items. Our heartfelt gratitude, respect and admiration go
> out to the courageous Representatives who agreed to support our cause.
> 
>  
> 
> After the hearing, I had the opportunity to have some very constructive
> dialogue with Randy Bunker and Rudy Thomas who both enthusiastically
> looked forward to engaging Alcor and finalizing the framework of the
> proposed oversight. 
> 
>  
> 
> The progress of today’s hearing would not have been possible without the
> tireless efforts of a number of good people, including Barry Aarons,
> David Brandt-Erichsen, Saul Kent, Tanya Jones, Aubrey de Grey, and Steve
> Rude. In addition, we must thank all the brave souls who traveled to
> Phoenix to testify but were unable to do so due to legislative time
> constraints including Steve Harris, Mark and Judy Muhlestein, Ted and
> Bobby Kraver, Jim Lewis, and two organ preservation scientists who wish
> to remain anonymous.  
> 
>  
> 
> We must also thank those members who attended the hearing as a public
> show of support for Alcor. Lastly, but certainly not least, we must
> thank all of the members who took time away from their busy schedules to
> eMail, fax, and call Arizona state legislators, urging them to oppose
> this bill. When they revealed to us that they were receiving from
> 150-200 eMails per day we realized that you all really made a
> difference! Thank you!!!
> 
>  
> 
> Joe Waynick
> 
> CEO/President
> 
> Alcor Life Extension Foundation
> 
>  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat