Delegation Bulletin: Less than a month to go!

Thanks for a fantastic weekend, everyone! Bob II was a great success. Your advisors are really proud of the work you did this weekend. Well done!

Meeting Schedule!

No meeting this Wednesday, January 22. Our next meeting is January 30. Bill sponsors (Rose, Alex) and NIC proposal authors (Tony) should be prepared to make presentations!  Time to practice for Sac conference. We will also review our progress on the Delegation of Distinction factors.

Our February 6 meeting IS MANDATORY. That is our final conference preparation meeting. Parents are encouraged to attend.

Link Love!

Here are all the links you need for various applications, valuable information, and more. If you have questions about specifics of any of these, check past bulletins first. Then email your lead advisor.

If you are applying to something that requires an advisor signature or letter of recommendation, let the advisor know, via email, ASAP!

• Here's a letter of support from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for you to provide to your school.
• Here is a sample letter to give to your school about your absences. Please personalize it to fit your needs. 
• National Judicial Competition - due upon arrival to Sac Conference (Feb 14)
• MUN Secretariat Application - due upon arrival to Sac Conference (Feb 14) 
• Youth Member of the Y&G Board of Governors -  due upon arrival to Sac Conference (Feb 14) 
• Awards Nominations - due upon arrival to Sac Conference (Feb 14)
• Conference on National Affairs (CONA)  - will be due upon arrival to Sac Conference (Feb 14)
• Want to get a jump on your committee's bills? Curious about Y&G Legislation this year? Check out the Daily File here.

Taxes!

• After a long legislative process, California Y&G now appears on California tax returns (form 540) as an organization to which California taxpayers can contribute. Contributes will constitute deductions for next year. To remain an option, we must receive $250,000+ for two years or we drop off. If every California taxpayer gave us $1 we'd raise over $30 million. Please help us get the word out. Share the flyer you received after Bob II and this letter with your parents and ask them to share it with everyone they know.

Sac Conference Preview!

You will be required to arrive at the Hyatt hotel on L Street in downtown Sacramento between 10:30 and 11:00am on Thursday, February 14.  You'll need to arrive in Sac attire. We will not check into our hotel rooms until later in the evening on Wednesday. Luggage will be held in a secure room at the convention center. Label your luggage clearly.

Hotel rooms: rooms will be occupied by 4 delegates. Some rooms have 1 king bed, some have 2 queen beds. You won't know in advance how many beds will be in your assigned room. Talk with your roommates in advance about who should bring sleeping bags or whether you will rotate who sleeps in a bed and who camps out.

Meals: We will provide you dinner on Friday and Sunday nights during the conference. Some program areas (Lobbyists), leadership roles, or those participating in the annual fundraising campaign may have an additional meal provided.  All other meals will be on your own. There are many places to get food within our program area boundaries - many of them inexpensive and many places offer delegate specials. We recommend bringing non-perishable breakfast food (bananas, oranges, apples, instant oatmeal, granola bars, etc) because you'll be short on time in the morning and lines for breakfast food can be very, very long. We recommend a budget of between $80-$100 for meals for the weekend, but that depends on your appetite. If you have any concerns about meal budgeting please speak with your lead advisor ASAP. Everyone needs to eat. No one goes hungry.

Sac Attire: We've gone over the dress code several times.  You'll be in dress code from 8:00am until 10:00pm every day. Dress for comfort - especially your footwear.  Break in those new shoes now! If you have questions, please ask an advisor. Some often forgotten things:

• Guys:
• You must wear a collared shirt and a tie. 
• Your dress shirt must be covered (suit jacket, sports coat, sweater) at all times. Outdoor coats must be removed in-doors and don't count as a shirt-covering.

• Girls:
• Skirts must hit your knees.
• Leg-coverings must be worn (nylons, tights; can't have patterns; black, nude only - though you could probably get away with navy blue, brown, or dark gray. Don't aim to stand out)
• No bare-feet even with dress pants - so buy some trouser socks or knee-highs or wear your tights, etc with your dress pants. 

Test question: Want a free lunch during Sac conference? Email Christiana with the subject header: "I read the whole bulletin, see!" by Friday, January 25.

Special notes for the hometown crowd: We live here. It's tempting to ask our friends to drop by during the conference. Don't. Pretend we're spending the weekend in Chicago or on Mars. Pretend you're out-of-town. No, you can't have dinner with your significant other on Valentine's Day. Share the love with your delegation instead!  Also, there are in-bounds and out-of-bounds areas of downtown Sacramento during the conference that might not match where you'd rather go to get lunch. We know you know better food places on 18th Street or over on P Street, but you won't be able to visit them during the conference. You cannot go home during the conference to visit or sleep. You can't leave the program area boundaries. This is for your safety and supervision.

Special notes for parents: You've shuttled your delegate to meetings for months. Written large checks. Helped raise money. You want to see it all come together! Unfortunately, the same rules that apply to your delegates apply to you: no visitors.  If your delegate is in one of the legislative houses which will meet inside the California State Capitol, I can't tell you it's okay to come watch them in action. I can tell you that the State Capitol remains a public building, open to the public every day of the week, and that the Senate and Assembly chambers have viewing galleries. What you do with that info is up to you. Participants in other program areas, however, don't meet in public buildings with viewing chambers. If advising staff (any advisors from any Y) or program staff see delegates interacting with people without Y&G badges, we'll intervene and ask non-program participants to leave. Again, this is for the safety and supervision of delegates. Please contact advising staff if you have any questions.