Legislative Conference and Committee Report
4-16-09
The culmination of 8 months of hard work by the officers, execs, and former and current legislative committee members provided NASCOE with a successful legislative conference. A total of 195 legislative contact reports were completed during the conference held March 17th and 18th. It would be great if the legislative arena was like a basketball game and after everything is complete we would immediately know the score that determines whether we win or lose. However, it does not work that way. The process is more like gardening in that we plant the seeds, water, fertilize, cultivate and hope for a bountiful harvest at some point in the future. This legislative conference is the planting of the seeds there is still much work to be done before any harvest can be expected.
The selection of the seeds that were planted came as a broad based effort that began at last years National Convention. During the legislative committee meetings members expressed their views and gleaned information from their area meetings. On the second day of the legislative committee meetings the group prioritized the areas of concern and interest. The legislative committee then adopted these issues as the priorities for the next year’s legislative agenda. The legislative committee was then charged with developing position papers that reflected the wishes of the membership. Bob Redding our legislative consultant was an integral part of this development. The primary paper on NASCOE’s view of modernization was developed over many months and several pass backs from NASCOE officers and executive committee. The RMA and Animal ID papers that were presented were mainly support documents for the much larger view of modernizing USDA. In addition, to these positions a comprehensive benefits position was prepared in cooperation with Jennifer Blanford, National Benefits Chair. All of these position papers are available on the legislative link on the NASCOE web page
The format of the conference was somewhat different from those in the past. The legislative committee created a proposal to target our message toward members of key committees. The intention was to concentrate our efforts and control the cost of the legislative conference. The idea was pitched to the full executive board and was approved in Charlotte. The key committees targeted were Agriculture and Agriculture Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate. The primary issues discussed with these members were Modernization, Crop Insurance and Animal ID. All other offices visited that were not on these key committees were presented our position paper on employee benefits as our primary concern. The majority of attendees began to arrive Tuesday morning March 17th. An intense training session was held with conference attendees from 2 until 6 pm to get them prepared for their hill visits. Also, a new focus this year was to concentrate our visits on the hill Wednesday to heighten the awareness of NASCOE being in Washington, DC. A reception was held at Art and Soul for members of our targeted key committees and some special guests Wednesday night.
Several positive comments were received about the new format. Some persons were concerned about the tight schedules but, they usually understood when told that it was an attempt to save NASCOE funds. At this point one thing that might be a suggested change would be to bring the officers and execs in a day earlier than we did this year. Just in case any last minute details must be worked out. This would be an additional cost but, it might be one that the exec committee should consider before the next conference. All and all the conference seems to have been successful. Especially, with the movement of the FERS Sick leave bill right after we were on the hill. We weren’t the only one pushing this legislation but, we pushed our share of buttons. In consultation with Bob and based on the contact reports our issues were well received and supported. Several congressional members have expressed an interest in working on these issues on our behalf.
Comments from Bob, “The reports were much more positive on our issues than in the past. With regard to the House, if votes were held in the House Agriculture Committee or House Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee on our key issues, we should do very well. In addition, reports from California and Texas have improved and indicate that we have more support in those states than previously thought.
In the Senate, no clear democratic leaders have arisen to carry the ball on the key committees. There were some stronger reports than in the past from members that have not been on our radar.”
Conclusion:
1. Our strongest position continues to be the House.
2. The fly-in has value for re-enforcing our positions with our congressional base and picking up new members.
3. Weak spot is the Senate; not necessarily for support but for issue leadership.
4. We have to spend more time determining a Senate leader.
Bob Redding has created a spreadsheet that details all of the visits and the specific interest of the members based on the conference contact reports. This will be very helpful in the future as any of our legislative issues begin to move. Currently, we are hoping for movement of the FERS sick leave issue in the Senate. The remainder of our issues will primarily be dependent on the Chairman of the House agriculture committee or movement through the appropriations process. Bob is working in these areas daily. I want to take this opportunity to thank the legislative committee for all of their hard work and for the cooperation and leadership of the executive board. Also, I want to extend a special thank you to all those members that came to Washington, DC to work on behalf of all of NASCOE. You are commended for a job well done.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mike Mayfield and Loren Nelson