YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME
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Says another advocate: “Looking at last year, labor introduced a dozen bills that would increase costs on employers through litigation and other ways – just to get a few of them through. Members say, ‘I can’t vote against all of them.’ So what a lot of business groups do is prioritize their bills. Of course, every bill is labor’s top priority.”
Wander the halls of the Capitol for a day or so and you quickly learn that there are procedural moves, acronyms, buzzwords and a language that is unique to the business of legislative advocacy. Playing the Game In spite of it all, most practitioners actually believe the system works, for the most part. “It’s not perfect but it’s the best one we got,” says one advocate. “California has a fulltime Legislature, it’s a diverse state with a host of complex issues. I think we have one of the most transparent processes in the country – definitely more transparent than Washington, D.C.,” says another Capitol veteran. iStock
Campaign finance laws in California, for example, call for transparency on where and how political dollars flow; in fact, the state probably leads the nation in that regard. But the process, these experts say, isn’t driven solely by money. “Often, labor beats business out because they play the entire campaign game – money, campaign signs, boots-on-the-ground, endorsements, get-out-the-vote efforts – and, that’s why they win,” says one advocate
Another shares a tale from last year’s session where environmental groups blanketed legislators’ districts with mail criticizing their votes on a priority issue. “The ‘enviro’ community has thousands of members who can email district offices, send letters to the editor – they can be very influential at the district level,” says the same lobbyist. Social media platforms are also used against members who, in her words, don’t’ toe the line. “Frankly, a lot of groups can’t compete with that,” the lobbyist says. “Businesses can’t always do that; they have to make payroll. So that’s what a legislator is faced with. It can be intimidating. I can see why Members are frightened.” Fear is bi-partisan, according to one advocate. “The Republicans are no better. They live in fear of being attacked by the Howard Jarvis activists,” he states. “For example, four or five years ago, the Investor Owned Utilities’ public goods charge – which is a small percentage fee paid by every rate payer – was going to expire and we needed a two-thirds vote to raise it. We could not get Senate Republicans to go up on the charge even though it would have helped many in business, agriculture, etc, because they were worried about the Jarvis people.” Tricks of the Trade Wander the halls of the Capitol for a day or so and you quickly learn that there are procedural moves, acronyms, buzzwords and a language that is unique to the business of legislative advocacy. And, as one lobbyist put it, “There is also the process part that people find abhorrent. I have to tell clients everyone hates the gut and amend process until you need it.” According to the California State Legislature’s Glossary of Legislative Terms, “gut and amend” refers to the act of making amendments to a bill remove the current contents in their entirety and replace them with different provisions.
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Another advocacy expert echoes that sentiment: “Labor’s ground game is the best. They have an advantage over other interest groups because they have foot-soldiers,” one advicate says. “So, if you’re a legislator and you’re thinking about your district, you’re worried about how they [labor] are going to tell voters what you’ve done.”
“The last thing legislators are thinking is ‘is SEIU going to give me at $4,200 check?’ No, it’s all the other things that come along with SEIU’s support,” says one lobbyist.
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