NORTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
13 WAYS TO GET LUCKY IN THE LEGISLATURE
N.C. CENTER FOR NONPROFITS
PUBLIC POLICY FORUM
FEBRUARY 25, 2005
1. First, be specific as to what you want from a legislator, county commissioner, or an agency official in in the executive branch. If it’s money, say exactly how much and what it’s for. If it’s a law or regulation, try to say or write in plain English how you think the law should read. When I worked as a legislative staffer in the Fiscal Research Division, I had a legislator come to me with a letter from a constituent because he couldn’t figure out what bill the constituent was talking about or even who the sponsor was. The legislator wanted to help, but the constituent hadn’t been specific.
2. Second, work at the committee level, and always talk to the committee chairperson. If you wait until a decision is made on the floor by the full House or Senate or by the head of the department, you’ve waited too long, you have less chance of affecting policy, and you’ve narrowed your options.
And, the power of committee chairs is a very important lesson. I worked on a health care bill one time and worked hard to get a good sponsor. The day the bill was introduced, it was not referred to the Health Committee but to the Banking Committee. I immediately ran to the sponsor and asked him what the problem was. He said, “There’s no problem at all. I’m the Chairman of the Banking Committee, and we’re assured of getting a favorable report there and getting it to the floor.” He was right, the bill passed in 5 minutes.
3. Third, try to take the decision-makers to see a problem. Visiting a foster home or talking to foster children will stick in their minds a lot longer than a piece of paper. One of the things I’m most proud of in my career is helping get legislation passed that gave children with disabilities a right to an education in North Carolina – 2 years before the federal law passed. I think it passed because we took legislators to visit programs serving children with different kinds of disabilities and to see that those children were capable of learning and being productive citizens. [Other examples – Rep. Richard Morgan with nearby hog farm his support for a moratorium; Rep Gregg Thompson and jail fire in his district prison safety reform.] An alternative if you can’t get them to go see a program is the power of stories. Public policy issues have faces. Many people afflicted with spina bifida visited the General Assembly to talk to lawmakers. People in wheelchairs made the problem more real. Nonprofits are good at telling stories, like: “Let me tell you about John. He was homeless, dirty, smoking crack cocaine, had no education, and no job. We brought him in, washed him up, gave him 10 workshops, and today he’s a Senator.”
4. Fourth, put your position and what you want in writing. The process of writing it down will actually refine your own thinking and help the policymaker. But don’t use jargon or acronyms, and keep what you write for the policymaker brief – to one page if you can.
5. Fifth, do your homework on your facts, your opponent’s facts, and the people who have the power to make policy. Produce a fact sheet that supports your position and check behind yourself. As 19th century humorist Artemis Ward put it, “It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us in trouble. It’s the things we do know that just ain’t so.”
Never lie, and do not try to hide facts that cut against your position; you’ll lose the trust of the public official. Your credibility is your most effective asset in advocacy or lobbying.
6. Sixth, use your numbers of people – your clients, your members, and your volunteers. Nothing impresses a policymaker like large numbers, and numbers are most nonprofits’ main strength. There are 4 main resources in policy and politics – money, talent, credibility, and people. Nonprofits don’t usually have money, but they do have talent and credibility, and they often have large numbers of people –your clients, your volunteers, your peers in other communities. [Another resource is media coverage to put pressure on policymakers.] The most effective groups have as many of their members, clients, or volunteers call as many legislators in as many counties as possible.
Also, don’t concentrate all your calls on one person because then you’ll get one vote. Call as many members of the committee or policymaking board as possible. Call the opponents on the committee last but do call them; this may make them more willing to compromise or at least keep them from being so vocal.
7. Seventh, form an alliance or coalition with other groups with the same concerns. There is strength in numbers, but greater strength in greater numbers. I do think that coalitions tend to work better on single, short-term issues than on broad, long-term packages of issues.
8. Eighth, don’t ever threaten elected officials – saying for example that you’ll see that they won’t get re-elected for example! It makes them do the opposite of what you want. Some people have unrealistic expectations about how fast change will happen in the legislature. It’s like that George Carlin line, “I put a dollar in one of those change machines, but nothing changed.”
9. Ninth, go visit the decisionmakers in person. The “system” in North Carolina is still remarkably open. Ask the legislators or policymakers point-blank – but diplomatically – if they support your position. It is much harder for a policymaker to say “no” to a person than to a sheet of paper. Don’t be intimidated; they are people just like you.
The lobbyists that I think are really effective will usually keep a tally sheet after visiting with legislators, and it’ll have 5 possibilities to record:
For your position
Leaning for
Undecided
Leaning against, or
Against.
Then, once the vote occurs, they’ll check how the legislator actually voted so they can learn from their mistakes. As one of my favorite lobbyists told me once, “Experience is something I always think I have until I get more of it.” Being a good vote counter is the highest level of skill in lobbying. It’s one reason Jim Black is Speaker because he’s a very good vote counter.
10. Tenth, meet with your opposition and see if you can reach a compromise. Having both sides present a compromise or consensus position is a very powerful tool for getting something passed. In effect, it solves legislators’ problem of not wanting to make somebody unhappy. Even if you can’t reach a compromise, talking to the other side will at least prepare you for what their arguments will be.
11. Eleventh, look out for the words, “We need to study this a little more.” You’re about to get sent to the graveyard of a subcommittee or a study commission. This is an even worse option now that legislative sessions last so long. It used to be that if your bill got sent to a study commission, you could at least use that as an opportunity to educate legislators on the study commission and develop a champion for the session to come. But now, there’s no interim in interim study commissions. In 2001, the legislature adjourned in December, and in 2002 in October, so there’s been little time for study commissions to meet between sessions.
12. Twelfth, be prepared for the 4 questions public officials ask most frequently:
(1) What will it cost?
(2) Has it been tried in other states?
(3) How do you know it will work?
(4) Who else is for it and who is against it?
If you think the answer to the cost question is $0, you probably need a self-administered dose of truth serum. It’s rare that somebody’s money, time, or resources isn’t involved.
On the question about where else this has been tried, legislators are especially interested about what’s happened in other states in the South. That’s why in debates about whether the state should begin a lottery, one of the arguments used by proponents is that N.C. is surrounded by states with lotteries, and one of the arguments used by opponents is that studies in other states (like FLA) show lotteries often don’t end up really increasing the amount of money going to education.
13. And the 13th way to get lucky in the legislature is that when you get help or get what you want, thank the official. Praise them in a letter to the editor (but not as a campaign endorsement). Give them an award. Let your members know who helped them, and ask them to thank the official also. Public officials usually only hear from people who are dissatisfied or unhappy. And, to keep them on your side, you have to let them know that their action is helping someone. Tell them what happened as a result of that bill being passed. Thanking someone is often best form of advocacy
