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NAHU Legislative Chair Training

So you’re a Legislative Chair…Now What?

August 2013

Presented by:

NAHU State Staff

Marcy M. Buckner

Director of State Affairs Regions 1, 5, 6 [email protected]

Pam Mitroff

Director of State Affairs Regions 3, 7, 8 [email protected]

Dan Samson

Manager of State Affairs Regions 2, 4 [email protected]

•

Overview of Responsibilities

Congratulations!

supposed to do?

You’ve been appointed (or maybe you have been begged to serve) as your chapter’s legislative chairperson for NAHU…Now, what are you •

Major Responsibilities:

– Managing the legislative and regulatory activities of your chapter, and – Serving as the link between your chapter members and the national office staff, Legislative Council and the BoT on legislative and regulatory issues of interest to the association.

Managing Your Chapter’s Government Relations Activities

•

The first thing you will need to do is establish a team of people to help you.

– Ensure a line of succession • no one should be legislative chair for life!

– Ensure that important policy decisions are made by a representative group of members.

– Ensure that all of the work gets done in a timely manner, with no one volunteer shouldering too much of the load.

State Legislative Committee

• • •

Who should be on the team?

– State legislative chair, vice-chair, representatives from each of the local chapters, state president, state president-elect, HUPAC chair, state PAC chair, media chair, and the chapter lobbyist

How often should you meet?

– It depends on your state legislative session, at least monthly, even when the state is not in session.

Assign everyone a job

– PAC, Grassroots, Coalition Building, Monitoring the DOI, working with the state lobbyist, election activity, etc.

State Legislative Management Team

• Develop a State Legislative Management Team to make emergency decisions.

• So that decisions are not, or don’t appear to be, made in a vacuum, the team should include a few critical officers such as: – State President – Legislative Chair – Vice Chair – Lobbyist © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Establish Broad Policy Positions for Your State on Key Issues

– It’ll be much easier to respond to legislation that surfaces in your state if you develop broad policy positions on key issues, e.g. role of the navigators, CE requirements, etc.

– Develop a P&P on how policy positions by the state association are approved, and then follow that structure.

• Ex., State Board votes to approve policy positions. Share with members.

– Disagree in private, but

speak with one voice

in public. Failing to support that position in front of others may damage your chapter’s credibility on non-related issues.

• Review the NAHU guidelines for chapters on speaking with one voice.

– Talk to your state affairs director. Other states may have experienced similar problems. He/She might also be able to find a middle ground that you didn’t already notice.

Serving as the Link Between Your Chapter and National

• In addition to coordinating all of the legislative and regulatory activities of the chapter, a legislative chair also serves as the primary link between NAHU’s national government relations staff, the NAHU Legislative Council, and the NAHU Board of Trustees.

• It’s legislative chair’s job to disseminate legislative information provided by national back down to the state board, the state legislative committee, local chapters and the rank and file membership.

• How do you do this?

– Glad you asked…check out the next slide!

• •

How You Can Communicate…

With Your Members

– Give regular legislative updates at chapter meetings (even a quick 10 min rundown works!) – Participate in monthly regional legislative teleconferences – Grasstops, Grasstops, Grasstops! Find out who your members know and utilize it!

– Legislative Events: Day on the Hill, Candidate Briefings, Health Care 101, Education days with legislators

With National

– Participate in monthly legislative update webinar – Keep in contact with your State Affairs staffer – Read the State Update – Utilize the resources of Operation Shout!

You Are the Strongest Link Between Your Chapter and National

• The other part of this job, which is just as important, is your state.

communicating

the feelings of your state membership about policy issues back to national and keeping us informed and involved in legislative and regulatory activities going on in © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

How NAHU Communicates with You

• Monthly

legislative update

webinars on federal issues and state trends. Third Wednesday of every month at 1:00pm ET • The

Washington Update

, which goes out almost every Friday, gives members up-to-date information about health insurance issues pending on Capitol Hill.

• NAHU regularly runs legislative

articles in HIU

, including a monthly column on federal issues.

• The most widely used source of information for legislative chairs, policymakers and other interested parties is the

NAHU website

—www.nahu.org.

• And always feel free to contact us.

What NAHU Does In the States

• NAHU regularly assists our chapters with legislative language and strategy for pending state-level legislation and regulations.

• We often develop charts, testimony, position statements, articles, analyses, and other policy documents at the request of our state chapters.

• We work with state legislators, regulators, and other officials on implementation of legislation and particularly on state/federal cooperation on federally passed legislation.

The NAHU Government Relations Staff

• • • • • • • •

Janet Trautwein

Executive Vice President and CEO •

Jessica Waltman

Senior VP of Government Affairs

John Greene

VP of Congressional Affairs

Chris Hartmann

VP of Congressional Affairs

Pamela Mitroff

Director of State Affairs

Charlotte Denekas

Government Affairs Coordinator

NAHU also retains outside counsel through Washington Council Ernst & Young. Through this mechanism, we have four additional people representing NAHU’s interests.

Marcy Buckner

Director of State Affairs

Dan Samson

Manager of State Affairs

Laura Eldon

•

The Legislative Management Team

Trei Wild

Legislative Council Chair • • • • •

Ken Statz

Legislative Council Vice-Chair

Tom Harte

NAHU President

Ryan Thorn

NAHU President-elect

Janet Trautwein

NAHU Executive Vice-President and CEO

Jessica Waltman

What Can NAHU Do For You?

• • • • • • •

NAHU Legislative Chair Services

Assist with legislative language and strategy for pending state-level legislation and regulations.

Develop charts, testimony, position statements, articles, analyses, and other policy documents.

Operation Shout Source of information about federal issues, trends, etc.

Provide the ability to connect with other states to address trends, share information and develop policy (working groups, monthly calls) Link to other stakeholder groups Back you up with state legislators, regulators, and other officials © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

NAHU Resources

• • • • • • • • • Capitol Conference: February 24-26, 2014 PPACA Certification Class —Register at www.nahu.org

Legislative Chair Manual Compliance Corner Resources Compliance Corner Free Monthly Webinars Monthly Legislative Update Webinars Washington Update State Update NAHU Newswire © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Important Legislative Chair Responsibilities

NAHU’s Capitol Conference

• NAHU hosts a Capital Conference in Washington, DC every spring for our membership. • The event is comprised of educational training sessions for our members, legislative updates from the NAHU staff, amazing speakers representing the Congressional and Executive branches of government, direct lobbying by the member attendees on Capitol Hill and a closing Congressional Reception. • Leg Chairs lead their states delegations.

– Make sure that your member attendees are prepared and energized for the event, and organizing your state’s lobbying visits.

Capitol Conference

• Things LCs can do to make sure your state delegation has a successful visit to Washington, DC.

– Make sure that every office is covered and that at least one member from that Congressional district is present.

– Make sure that any Members of Congress from your state that holds a “key” committee or leadership will be covered by an effective team. • If you think one of your visits is particularly important to NAHU’s agenda, ask one of our staff lobbyists to come along.

– Develop teams of members to handle the visits. • These teams shouldn’t be too large (3-6 members is perfect) • One person should be designated as the discussion leader. • You should also designate one person to fill out the NAHU debriefing form • You should designate one person to maintain follow-up contact with the office and send a thank-you note.

Capitol Conference

• In addition to coordinating those lobbying visits, some other things legislative chairs should be focusing on at and around Capitol Conference: – Making sure that your delegation stays energized, attends all presentations and events, and is properly briefed on both the issues and lobbying etiquette.

– Making sure that first-timers enjoy themselves and then harnessing the enthusiasm they bring to your group.

– Making your delegation aware of events such as the Capitol Club luncheon and how to qualify, the HUPAC fundraiser, etc.

– Making sure that someone from your state is taking pictures and notes for follow-up press releases, chapter publications and award submissions.

– Making sure that members of your chapter stay for the Congressional Reception and follow-up with the legislators and congressional staff that are present.

Holding a State Day on the Hill

• If your state is not hosting an event at your state capitol – a Day on the Hill - every year, it should be.

• This is an easy way to get your members fired up about legislative issues, make your presence known and establish yourselves as a resource to legislators and staff.

• An easy way to do it is to mimic the structure of NAHU’s Capital Conference, with a combination of speakers, direct lobbying of legislators and a reception or other social function.

Holding a State Day on the Hill

• Some things to keep in mind when organizing your event: – You can use Operation Shout! to let legislators know you’ll be in town – Pick the venue and the day/time carefully. Make sure your legislature is in session. Pick an easily accessible location that’s convenient for both your members and high profile speakers. – Many chapters combine their days on the hill with other agent groups or other coalition partners to ensure greater attendance and more focus on their issues.

– Follow your state’s protocols for scheduling lobbying visits.

– Educate your members before you get there!

Health Insurance 101 Briefings

• A great way to establish yourself as a resource group for legislators, legislative staff, the media and other groups • A good time to do this is just before the legislative session starts or as part of your Day on the Hill.

• Legislators are generalists, as are reporters. Most of them only understand the very basics of private health insurance. • National has a template presentation – some topics to consider include (next slide) © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Health Insurance 101 Briefings

• How health insurance markets work • How these markets work in other states that are regulated differently than your own (i.e., states with community rating, states with medical underwriting, states with risk pools).

• Changes that are expected due to federal health reform and how they impact consumers and the insurance market are critical issues in the next year.

Grassroots Activity and the Legislative Chair

• Encouraging grassroots activity, at both the state and federal levels, is a key part of the legislative process.

• The good news is that NAHU has lots of tools available to help you and your state legislative committee members out with grassroots activities.

• Remember, it’s a good idea to assign one member of your legislative committee to handle grassroots action, since all politics are local and grassroots contact is such an important part of the process.

Taking Advantage of Operation

• To access it, go to

Shout!

• Operation Shout is NAHU’s primary grassroots tool for members.

www.nahu.org

, and click “Operation Shout!” located under the “Membership” tab • Operation Shout can be utilized to contact local, state, and federal elected officials and government agencies.

• Operation Shout also has a lot of other really cool and under utilized features, such as: – Political background information on state and federal elected officials; – Links to local, state, and federal government websites; – Local media contact information; – Legislator voting records; – Summaries of key federal bills; – Election information; – Voter registration; and – A sign-up for weekly e-mails on how your representatives vote.

Legislative Chairs and Operation Shout!

• Responsibility of State Legislative Chairs regarding Operation Shout!

– Familiarize yourself with the system so that you can answer questions and help others.

– Encourage the local legislative chairs to do Operation Shout training sessions for the general membership during local chapter meetings. NAHU has a pre-made one-hour training session, and we are available to help via webconference or we can train-the-trainer.

– Answer federal action alerts!

State-Level Operation Shouts!

• Using Operation Shout to send out state-level alerts is probably the most under-utilized tool that NAHU provides to state legislative chairs.

• Many states have their own system of emailing, faxing or calling their members to let them know they need to contact their legislators.

• Operations Shout can not only be a more efficient way of accomplishing that same task, but it also has many other advantages that can help you and your chapter. © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Advantages of Using State-Based Operation Shout

• You can customize who you would like to receive the responses (i.e., members of the Senate, members of a specific committee, members of a specific party).

• You can use it to contact executive branch officials too (i.e., the governor, the insurance commissioner) • It involves NAHU legislative staff so we can help you draft your letters and legislative alerts.

• National can track your chapter’s responses. This will help you: – Know which members of your chapter have responded (particularly helpful if you need to target specific legislators) – Qualify for the Triple Crown Program – Use the data for other award submissions (i.e., Landmark and Pacesetter) © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Non-Traditional Uses for State Based Operation Shout

• Letting state legislators know who NAHU members are, what your areas of expertise are, and how you would like to serve as a resource.

• Inviting legislators to your state Day on the Hill.

• Soliciting survey responses from members.

• Spreading the word to clients.

Procedure for Setting Up A State Based Operation Shout

• To ensure that a state-based Operation Shout is really what the state chapter wants, only the state president, legislative chair, and/or lobbyist can request one.

• To order one, contact NAHU’s legislative department.

• States can either prepare their own action alert and sample letters or ask NAHU staff to prepare them.

• The process generally takes only a few hours, and even less if the letter and alert are pre-made by the chapter.

Town Hall Meetings

• Legislators, especially federal legislators, frequently arrange town hall meetings when they are out-of-session to get constituent feedback on key issues.

• The state legislative committee should monitor these meetings to make sure that NAHU members are invited and attend.

• Invitations are normally sent out to all constituents or to constituents in certain interest groups (i.e., Seniors) • NAHU staff may contact you regarding upcoming town hall meetings as well.

• Tips for attending town hall meetings: – Bring colleagues or clients to the meeting.

– Prepare questions ahead of time.

– Follow-up with a letter or e-mail.

– Let NAHU know that you attended the town hall meeting. What happened? Any pictures taken?

In-District Meetings

• Meeting with your legislators (both state and federal) when he or she is out-of-session and back at home in the district can be a great way to make contact.

• NAHU’s coalition partners frequently arrange in-district meetings with key members of Congress on specific topics. – NAHU government relations staff may call on you or other chapter members to participate.

• NAHU members are always cited as very valuable inclusions for in district meetings because not only are our members articulate, knowledgeable, and used to giving presentations, but they also bring a unique perspective to the table. – Many are small-business owners themselves, and they can all bring the perspective of their business-owning clients to the table. • The state legislative committee may want to arrange its own meetings on specific issues or with specific representatives. • This can be a very effective way of making personal contact, directing a legislator’s attention to a key issue and explaining why it’s important to the state, and establishing you and your chapter as a resource.

Tips for Attending an In-District Meeting

• Send a letter or e-mail requesting a meeting. • Invite colleagues and clients to attend the meeting!

• Attendees should meet in advance to review presentation.

• Identify yourself immediately by name, business, and home town. Remember: ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL!

• Discussion should be focused on issue and its impact on your business, your clients, and the community!

• Leave behind written materials. Thank legislator and staff.

• Promptly fill out an In-District Debriefing Form and return to NAHU.

Building Grassroots and Grasstops Networks

•

Grasstops

are those people who have a more personal connection with an elected official (i.e., the Assembly Speaker is your next-door neighbor, you have supported your Congressman since he ran for dog catcher in your home-town 30 years ago, you are married to the state insurance commissioner). • Sometimes NAHU or the state legislative committee needs to act quickly on a particular piece of legislation, and having the ability to contact members who “really know” their elected officials at a moment’s notice can come in very handy.

• The state legislative committee needs to make it a priority to develop an up-to-date list of members that have a personal connection with a member of Congress, governor, state legislator, or insurance commissioner, and share this list with the NAHU staff.

Building Grassroots and Grasstop Networks

• To get up to the grasstop level, you have to start with grassroots contact, which means individual communication with your elected officials.

• In addition to using Operation Shout to send messages and attending legislative meetings, the state legislative committee should be encouraging the state chapter members to engage in other forms of grassroots activity. Some examples include: – Attending local functions where elected officials will be and introducing yourself – Volunteering for town board and committees – Becoming active in local party politics by volunteering your time, attending fundraisers, making phone calls, etc.

Regulatory Activity and the Legislative Chair

• In addition to appointing a grassroots chair to serve as part of your chapter’s legislative committee, NAHU also strongly recommends that each chapter appoint a member of the legislative committee to oversee regulatory affairs.

• The devil is in the details and the regulatory bodies in each state are the ones that make key decisions about how laws are implemented. • It’s possible to be just as engaged in the regulatory process as it is the legislative process, but regulators are often overlooked. • NAHU chapters need to be involved in the regulatory process!

Advantages to Working With Regulators

• The process is less formal.

• In most states, regulators are appointed rather than elected. They are generally less beholden to political forces. • The employees of the regulatory agencies often times work there for years. – Advantage - It’s possible to build long-term relationships.

• There can be more opportunities for members of the public to participate in committees or boards with regulatory agencies with decision-making authority.

Who Should You Be Working With?

• The obvious regulatory body that NAHU members should be interacting with is the state Department of Insurance.

• However, NAHU members also need to be making contacts at the agencies that regulate Medicaid and the SCHIP Program. • These contact will be particularly important now, as ACA comes into full implementation. © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Hiring and Managing a State Lobbyist

• One of the most powerful steps a state chapter can take towards becoming a more effective legislative and regulatory presence in the state capital is to hire a contract lobbyist to represent it.

• State legislatures are becoming more professional each year, and relevant meetings, hearing and activities occur all of the time. • Monitoring all of them is too much work for a volunteer, and hiring a professional not only gives you expert advice and representation, but it also lends a greater degree of legitimacy to the association. © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org

Hiring and Managing a State Lobbyist

• Having a team in place to manage the lobbyist is key: – Ideal function of the state legislative committee.

– Make sure expectations are clear on both sides.

– Set up a schedule of regular meetings and means of communication.

– Make sure your lobbyist understands your top priorities, the basics of health insurance markets and the role of the agent.

– Develop clear policy positions to give your lobbyist a solid guidelines to use when advocating your position.

– Have a procedure in place for handling possible conflicts of interest.

Coalition Building

• Another key component of gaining influence in your state capital is building coalitions and joining coalitions that are already out there.

• In virtually every state there are existing coalitions (some formal and some much less so) that work on issues NAHU is interested in.

• Your chapter

NEEDS

to be a part of all of these groups and coalitions. – Examples of these types of groups include coalitions of agent groups, healthcare coalitions, health insurance coalitions, carrier groups, and business groups.

Coalition Building

• Attending the meetings and functions of coalition groups, even if you do not agree with all of their issues or if their current focus doesn’t always seem to be completely on target is crucial. • First of all, simply being seen at these events establishes your organization’s presence. • Second, you can glean all sorts of powerful information, and • Third, you never know where your friends and allies are going to come from and when you are going to need them. • An effective lobbyist can help you to gain access to these coalitions or form them if they do not already exist.

Being Proactive

• Legislators and regulators hear “No, no, no” from other organizations and constituents all the time. • Also, many groups get wrapped up in being responsive to other people’s proposals, and they forget to advance their own positive agenda.

• Try to establish your association as a positive force for private health insurance market solutions. • Look for areas of common ground and ways in which you can work together or modify proposals to make them more palatable.

Presentation Title

Transcript Presentation Title

NAHU Legislative Chair Training

Overview of Responsibilities

Managing Your Chapter’s Government Relations Activities

State Legislative Committee

State Legislative Management Team

Establish Broad Policy Positions for Your State on Key Issues

How You Can Communicate…

You Are the Strongest Link Between Your Chapter and National

What NAHU Does In the States

The Legislative Management Team

What Can NAHU Do For You?

NAHU Resources

NAHU’s Capitol Conference

Capitol Conference

Capitol Conference

Holding a State Day on the Hill

Holding a State Day on the Hill

Grassroots Activity and the Legislative Chair

Taking Advantage of Operation

Shout!

Legislative Chairs and Operation Shout!

State-Level Operation Shouts!

Advantages of Using State-Based Operation Shout

Non-Traditional Uses for State Based Operation Shout

Procedure for Setting Up A State Based Operation Shout

Town Hall Meetings

In-District Meetings

Tips for Attending an In-District Meeting

Building Grassroots and Grasstops Networks

Building Grassroots and Grasstop Networks

Regulatory Activity and the Legislative Chair

Advantages to Working With Regulators

Who Should You Be Working With?

Hiring and Managing a State Lobbyist

Hiring and Managing a State Lobbyist

Coalition Building

Coalition Building

Being Proactive

Directory