Legislative Action Steps

PREPARE TO TAKE THE FIELD  Identify the issue’s potential impact on you and on your business.  Reach out and alert others in your situation.  Frame the issue in simple, straightforward terms and identify the bottom line.  Reach out to other people who share your concerns.

PREPARE TO TAKE THE FIELD (cont’d)  Build consensus around the issue and foster a high degree of committed support from like-minded individuals, companies, organizations, and industries.  Make sure supporters know what the proposed changes will mean for their livelihood.  Develop a working coalition to support legislative action on your behalf.  Draft legislation that illustrates the high degree of support among stakeholders and coalition members; make sure the proposed legislation solves the issue.

KNOW THE PLAYERS AND THE GAME Do reconnaissance to uncover the opposition. Know who opposes your position and how strongly they feel about it. Seek out your opposition t and present your position. Ask how you could address their objections to support your overall goals. Identify the scope and intensity of tacit support and of committed support in your coalition. Ask the coalition members, “What will increase your level of hard support for preventing EPA overreach?”

KNOW THE PLAYERS AND THE GAME (cont’d) Re-draft legislation to reflect feedback from supporters and initial opponents without compromising the bill’s core objective. Analyze what the bill does and does not do. Educate lawmakers, stakeholders, the media, and the public. Create talking points, white papers, point-counter-point arguments, cost- benefit analyses, etc. Determine the best congressional sponsors/cosponsors for bills in both the House and Senate. Set appointments to ask for their commitment to sponsor ypur legislation. Solicit their counsel moving forward, and factor in their insights on timing, etc., to advance your issue.

FOLLOW-THROUGH FOR THE WIN Meet with the congressional committee and subcommittee staffs that have jurisdiction over your bill. Present justifications for the legislation, and disclose both support for and opposition. Introduce the bill in the House and Senate. Support bill’s cosponsors and subcommittee /committee staffs to schedule hearings on the bill in both chambers. Generate support calls, s, and social media conversations from constituents back home. Urge subcommittee/committee leaders and staff to schedule mark-up of the bills. Solidify subcommittee and full committee members’ support prior to the bill’s mark-up.

FOLLOW-THROUGH FOR THE WIN (Cont’d) Work with committee leadership, the bill’s cosponsors and party leadership to schedule floor consideration. Generate grassroots support calls/ s to the full House/Senate for their vote in favor of your bill on the floor. Some personal contact with members of Congress back home may be necessary. Lobby to defeat any amendments that weaken the bill, and support amendments that strengthen it during floor debate. Compromise with the legislation’s sponsors, committee leadership, and members of the House-Senate Conference Committee to resolve differences between versions once the bill has passed both chambers. Coordinate with sponsors, committee leadership, and House and Senate leadership to secure the President’s commitment to sign the bill.