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Legislative Officer, Carey Beth Wooley

As the Legislative Officer for New Voices Texas, I hold the responsibility of communicating with legislative officials in both the House and the Senate. I work to be a bridge between these legislative bodies and the supporters of New Voices legislation.

Carey Beth Wooley

I will attend meetings with both school board officials and people involved directly in the legislative process. In order to achieve this, I will further educate myself about the inner workings of the Texas legislative system as well as spread this information to our supporters and student journalist across the state.  

By the end of the year I hope to have begun talks with a senator who could possibly work with us. I also hope to have had meetings with school board officials and officials on the other side of this fight to further understand their thought process and to educate them about ours. 

To achieve these goals and get closer to our overarching aim to pass this bill, I will work closely with the other New Voices Texas officers to set up events and spread awareness about this important issue. This New Voices bill is crucial to not only student journalists, but Texans everywhere. Throughout this next year I hope to have helped this fight and gotten us just a little closer to being able to call Texas a New Voices state.

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Legislative Officer Job Description

As the legislative officer of New Voices Texas, I work to build relationships between our supporters and members of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Senate. 

This involves setting up meetings with members of the Legislature’s education committees, identifying bill sponsors, and providing them with the resources they need to advance the legislation through the lawmaking process. 

I will familiarize myself with the legislative process and work to educate other supporters about effective strategies needed to pass a bill into law. I will work to build positive relationships with lawmakers of all parties to pass this non-partisan law that will benefit all Texans.

I also work with the Student Press Law Center to enlist experts on matters of censorship and student press rights to ensure we are providing accurate and helpful information to pass New Voices legislation.

I will work closely with the other New Voices board officers to organize lobbying efforts in which supporters will show their support for the immediate need for this law to ensure the press rights of students and protect teachers and administrators from misconceptions involving the publication process.

I will assist in the coordination of efforts to build support from various stakeholders including school board trustees, administrators, students, and parents.