awareness proclamations
A proclamation is a public announcement made by elected officials at a local, state, or national, level, which is used to recognize a topic of importance to the constituents of those officials.
Since 2004, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and its community members have obtained “Mesothelioma Awareness Day” proclamations for September 26 from both their local and state-level executive government branches as well as the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
While the legislative branch on the state and federal level can pass laws marking permanent proclamations, depending on legislative agendas, that isn’t always possible.
Currently, states with permanent proclamations passed into law by their legislative branches include Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia.
Generally, it is much easier and in many ways better to request annual proclamations from executive branches at the state and local levels because those are done annually and keep the topic fresh in everyone’s mind. Here, we offer a step-by-step guide for how to do so.
Get Started
The process is easy!
1
Has anyone requested a proclamation in your state yet this year?
Look through our list of states below, find your state, and see if the request is already in progress. If so, you can still contact your state by clicking on the link provided, reiterate your connection to mesothelioma, and the importance of raising awareness.
2
Submit a request
Follow the steps in the link we provided for your state (each state handles proclamations a little bit differently, but most require the submission of a web form). Make sure to email us to let us know when your submission is complete, so that we can mark it as “requested” on our list.
3
Download the sample proclamation template
To make it easier on government offices, we drafted a sample of the proclamation here. You can download it or copy/paste it (see below) and send it with your request. States sometimes edit the text we provide but they are always grateful for not needing to do it from scratch.
Information by state
Click and expand your state to find out if someone has already requested a proclamation. If the answer is “yes”, see point #1 above. If the answer is “no,” continue to point #2 and #3.
Proclamation template
Download a pdf of the template here, or copy/paste the text below.
Whereas, mesothelioma is an aggressive and incurable cancer that affects the linings of the lungs, abdomen, or other organs; and
Whereas, mesothelioma is most often associated with exposure to asbestos; and
Whereas, asbestos was heavily used in the military, shipbuilding, manufacturing, industry, and construction of virtually all office buildings, public schools and homes built before 1980, and has been recognized as the worst occupational health disaster in U.S. history; and
Whereas, asbestos continues to be present in such structures to this day; and
Whereas, there is no safe level of asbestos exposure; one fiber at one time can be enough to cause mesothelioma; and
Whereas, because of occupational, military-related, household, or incidental exposure, and the latency of this disease ranging from 10-50 years between exposure and disease development, tens of millions of Americans are now at risk for developing mesothelioma, including first responders from Ground Zero in New York City on and after September 11, 2001; and
Whereas, median survival with treatment is 12-18 months and 5-year survival is less than 10%; and
Whereas, in 1999, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation was formed to eradicate the life-ending and vicious effects of mesothelioma, and progress is finally being made in developing effective treatments for the disease; and
Whereas, Mesothelioma Awareness Day would raise public awareness of the disease and of the need to develop effective treatments for it.
Now, therefore, it is resolved that September 26, 2023, be hereby proclaimed Mesothelioma Awareness Day.
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://contact.governor.alabama.gov/contact_procs.aspx
Requested: No
Deadline: August 15, 2023
Use this form: https://aws.state.ak.us/CrmForms/Home/WebRequest
Requested: No
Deadline: August 15, 2023
Use this form: https://azgovernor.gov/engage/form/proclamation-request
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.arkansas.gov/online-services/proclamation-request-form/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 29, 2023
Use this form: https://www.colorado.gov/governor/proclamations
Requested: No
Deadline: August 29, 2023
Use this form: https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/Contact/Request-a-proclamation
Requested: No
Deadline: September 5, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.delaware.gov/request-proclamation-tribute/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://gov.georgia.gov/contact-us/proclamations/proclamation-request
Requested: No
Deadline: August 29, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.hawaii.gov/contact-us/request-a-commemorative-message/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://gov.illinois.gov/contact-us/proclamation.html
Requested: No
Deadline: August 15, 2023
Use this form: https://www.in.gov/gov/governors-office/request-a-proclamation/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 15, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.iowa.gov/services/request-proclamation
Requested: Yes
Deadline: August 23, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.kansas.gov/serving-kansans/constituent_services/proclamation-%20guidelines/proclamation-request/
Requested: Yes
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://secure.kentucky.gov/formservices/Governor/ProclamationRequestForm
Requested: No
Deadline: August 22, 2023
Use this form: https://gov.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/form/home/13/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 10, 2023
Use this form: https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/contact/request_proclamation
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://md.accessgov.com/governor/Forms/Page/cs/letter/1
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://www.mass.gov/forms/request-a-proclamation-from-governor-healey
Requested: No
Deadline: August 15, 2023
Use this form: https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/proclamations/proclamationrequest.jsp
Requested: No
Deadline: July 26, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.mo.gov/contact-us/proclamation-request
Requested: YES
Deadline: September 12, 2023
Use this form: https://montana.servicenowservices.com/gov?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=553540f11bca5d100b73a8efe54bcb7f
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.nebraska.gov/proclamation-request
Requested: No
Deadline: August 29, 2023
Use this form: https://gov.nv.gov/Forms/Request_a_Proclamation/
Requested: No
Deadline: Unclear
Use this form: https://governor.nc.gov/submit-request/request-proclamation
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://www.governor.nd.gov/proclamation-request
Requested: No
Deadline: July 26, 2023
Use this form: https://new-hampshire.my.salesforce-sites.com/support/GOV_Proclamation
Requested: Yes
Deadline: August 10, 2023
Use this form: https://www.governor.state.nm.us/contact-the-governor/requesting-a-%20proclamation/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://oklahoma.gov/governor/contact/commendation-or-proclamation.html
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/Proclamation-Request-Guidelines.aspx
Requested: No
Deadline: August 15, 2023
Use this form: https://www.governor.pa.gov/contact/#OnlineForm
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://acceleratesc.my.site.com/constituents/s/contact-the-governor
Requested: No
Deadline: September 5, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.sd.gov/office/executive-proclamation.aspx
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us/constituent-requests/proclamation-request.html
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact-us/assistance
Requested: No
Deadline: August 29, 2023
Use this form: https://vermontce.my.vermont.gov/s/governor-office-ce?tabset-171b4=2
Requested: No
Deadline: August 10, 2023
Use this form: https://www.governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/request-a-proclamation/
Requested: No
Deadline: August 10, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.wa.gov/contacting-governor/requests-invites/request-ceremonial-proclamation-greeting-or-letter
Requested: No
Deadline: August 26, 2023
Use this form: https://appengine.egov.com/apps/wv/governor/request-proclamation
Requested: No
Deadline: August 10, 2023
Use this form: https://appengine.egov.com/apps/wi/governor/document-request
Requested: No
Deadline: August 10, 2023
Use this form: https://governor.wyo.gov/contact/proclamation-requests
Requested: No
