[Ohio-Talk] Effective Strategies for Interacting with Policy-Makers

[Wanda]

Good to hear this info. Wish I could be there with you all. Wan

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jordy Stringer via Ohio-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2020 8:46 AM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>; Jordy Stringer <jssocil at gmail.com>
Cc: Jordy Stringer <jssocil at gmail.com>
Subject: [Ohio-Talk] Effective Strategies for Interacting with Policy-Makers

Greetings all, I hope this message finds everyone well. As a number of our Federation family are set to take the hill in less than one week I thought the below excerpt from a book I'm reading would be timely.

Yes, Richard, I read…

It talks about the hereing process and how important it is to the legislative process.

Additionally, As the time is nearing for us to educate our senate members about the necessity for accessible prescription labeling, and the necessity for protections for parents with disabilities you might take particular note of the paragraph related to testimony.

The author and title are listed below.

Effective Strategies for Interacting with Policy-Makers

By Robert Silverstein, J.D.

>From Chapter 5



An official hearing is a critical component of the legislative process. At the most basic level, hearings provide an official and permanent record of the

views of key players on a given subject matter (where no legislation is currently pending), pending bills or implementation of existing legislation (oversight).

These key players include appointed officials of the Executive branch, elected officials of the Legislative branch, academics and interest groups.
Since

testimony is included in Congress’ permanent record, those invited to testify in hearings must prepare carefully.

A hearing can serve several purposes. One purpose is to gain the attention of elected officials and staff, particularly those on or working for the committee

holding the hearing. As a result of the hearing, a Member or staffer who previously had not focused on an issue might decide to get more involved.
Similarly,

a Member might decide to co-sponsor a bill, agree to speak out on the issue, direct staff to follow the legislation more closely or to get more input from

constituents.

Another purpose of a hearing is to gain the attention of key officials in the Executive branch. Whether or not a representative of the Executive Agency

or Department is asked to testify, the Executive Agency or Department will usually have representatives at the hearing to take extensive notes. Often,

a witness demanding legislative action can get the Executive branch to take an administrative action that may achieve the same objective. By pressing an

issue, witnesses may force the Executive branch to take action.

A hearing can also serve as a tool to gain the support and enthusiasm of the grassroots. A hearing may also serve the purpose of getting the issue on the

radar screen of the media, which may in turn increase an issue’s visibility for the general public and indirectly influence the elected officials and staff.



Still another purpose of a hearing is to ascertain whether a bill is “ready” to move to the next stage in the legislative process—review by the committee

or subcommittee in a “mark- up” session. A “mark-up” session is where elected officials of the committee or subcommittee have the opportunity to amend

the bill before it goes to the House or Senate floor. Based on the hearing, elected officials and their staffs as well as elected officials of the Executive

branch and interest groups can determine, among other things, whether the content of a pending bill needs major revisions or simply fine-tuning , the political

“lay of the land” in terms of the degree of partisanship or support, the magnitude of support/ opposition by interest groups (identifies major
camps) and

areas where consensus may be possible.

Testimony from hearings is also used by committee staff as background for writing a committee report, which clarifies and explains the intent of language

included in a bill. Testimony may also be quoted in floor statements by elected officials and for inclusion in memos distributed to other staff.



-- 

Jordy D. Stringer, Executive Director

Southeastern Ohio Center for Independent Living, 418 South Broad Street Lancaster, OH 43130

E-mail: jssocil at gmail.com

Phone: (740) 689-1494 EXT (11)


"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

 -Henry David Thoreau
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