TIPS ON MESSAGING THAT NONPROFITS CAN USE IN BEING EFFECTIVE LEGISLATIVE ADVOCATES

Ran Coble, Executive Director, N.C. Center for Public Policy Research

The best argument for any advocate in this legislative session is that your proposal will create jobs. On the budget, another good argument this year is that your proposal will save money now. To legislators this year, it means “What can I cut?” Remember that they’ve got to cut about a fifth of the budget this year, so a lot of people in this room are likely to be targets of budget cuts.

If you find yourself in that situation , the best advice I can give you is to focus on the impact of a budget cut on your clients, on the people you serve, in their district. Take your clients to the legislature so that the impact of a budget cut has a face on it. And, when the legislators are home – usually on Mondays, Fridays, and weekend – take them to see what you’re doing and whom a budget cut would affect. Visiting a foster home or talking to foster children or foster parents 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.

If you can’t get legislators to go see a program, use the power of stories. Public policy issues have faces. I’ve seen people afflicted with spina bifida visit the General Assembly to talk to lawmakers. People in wheelchairs made the problem more real. And nonprofits have good stories to tell.

13 WAYS TO CREATE GOOD LUCK IN THE LEGISLATURE

Ran Coble, Executive Director, N.C. Center for Public Policy Research

1. Be specific about you want from a legislator, county commissioner, or an official in the executive branch. This is a better session to be asking for changes in law rather than asking for more money. If it is money – even if it’s the same amount you got last year – say exactly how much and what it’s for. If it’s a law or regulation you want, 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 who the sponsor was, or even what the problem was. The legislator wanted to help, but the constituent hadn’t been specific in what she wanted.

2. Work at the committee level, and always talk to the committee chair and the committee staff. If you wait until a decision is made on the floor by the full House or Senate or by the head of a department, you’ve waited too long, you have less chance of affecting policy, and you’ve narrowed your options. The staff in a part-time citizen legislature are key. And they’re among the most talented people in state government.

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. 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 from your own field – this is most nonprofits’ biggest weakness. And, keep what you write for the policymaker brief – to one page if you can.

4. Fourth, do your homework on your facts and your opponent’s facts, and find out more about the people in the legislature. What’s their background? What does their spouse do? Check out their Website. Produce a fact sheet that supports your position and check behind yourself.

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.

5. 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 and can’t legally contribute to campaigns, but they do have talent and credibility, and they often have large numbers of people –your clients, your volunteers, your peers in other communities. The most effective groups have as many of their members, board members, clients, or volunteers call as many legislators in as many districts 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 group 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.

6. Form an alliance or coalition with other groups with the same concerns. There is strength in numbers, but greater strength in greater numbers.

7. Don’t ever threaten elected officials – saying, for example, that you’ll see that they won’t get re-elected! It makes them do the opposite of what you want. Some people have unrealistic expectations about how fast change happens in the legislature.

8. Visit the decision makers 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 toward your position; 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. Being a good vote counter is the highest level of skill in lobbying.

9. 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’ problems 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.

10. 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 that will never meet or to a study commission that may never get appointed.

11. Take advantage of pivotal events that happen and that present an opportunity to put your issue on the public agenda. For example:• A tragic shooting with an unregistered gun might be an opportunity for a gun control group;• A scandal in government might present an opportunity for a reform group advocating for campaign finance or ethics reform;• A manufacturing plant that got state tax incentives to locate in North Carolina and then closed up gave Bob Orr and the Institute for Constitutional Law a chance to highlight his arguments against this practice.• A hurricane, an ice storm, a flood, or some other natural disaster might present an opportunity for relief groups or for advocates for new floodplain maps;• A fire at a poultry plant in Hamlet or an explosion at a storage facility for hazardous chemicals in Cary can lead to reforms in workplace safety or stricter rules on storing of hazardous waste;

12. Be prepared for the four 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, resources, or time isn’t involved.

On the question about where else this has been tried, legislators are especially interested about what’s happened in other Southern states. That’s why in the debates about whether the state should start a lottery in 2005, one of the arguments used by proponents was that N.C. was surrounded by states with lotteries, and one of the arguments used by opponents was that studies in other states (like Florida) showed that lotteries often didn’t really end up increasing the total amount of money going to education.