Fall 2010 NAGPS Legislative Action Days (LAD)

Date

Event Description

The upcoming Fall 2010 NAGPS Legislative Action Days are scheduled for October 3rd to 5th. The event will kick off with an introductory meeting and discussion of the issues led by the NAGPS Legislative Concerns Committee on Sunday night. The majority of the lobbying activities will take place from 10:00 to 4:00 on Monday and Tuesday with some training sessions by professional D.C. lobbyists during the evening on Sunday. In addition, please plan to attend the debriefing sessions after your lobby visits on the 4th and 5th. These debriefing sessions are especially important for feedback on what did and didn’t work so that the best talking points and techniques are used during future lobby visits.

Register for LAD >>

Possible Accommodations

The District Hotel Washington DC
1440 Rhode Island Avenue North West, Washington DC DC 20005
(Cheapest option, close to training session and debrief meetings)

L'Enfant Plaza Hotel
480 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20024
(More expensive but close to Capitol Hill)

Holiday Inn Washington-Central/White House
1501 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20005
(Close to training session and debrief meetings)

Schedule

Sunday - October 3rd

2:00 to 4:00 PM – Check in to your Hotel

5:00 to 7:00 PM – Professional lobby training at SPARC's lobbying consultants office (1050 K St NW #400, Washington, DC 20001) and general meeting to provide some additional training by the NAGPS Legislative Concerns Committee and clear up any outstanding questions about the issues we will be discussing, some lobby visit documents will be handed out at this meeting as well

Monday - October 4th

8:00 to 9:00 AM – Tentative professional lobby training at SPARC's lobbying consultants (1050 K St NW #400, Washington, DC 20001)

10:00 AM to 4:30 PM – Lobby visits on Capitol Hill with a coordinated lunch time period in Longworth Cafeteria for lobbying groups

5:30 PM to 6:30 PM – Debrief meeting at the SPARC offices (21 Dupont Cir NW #800, Washington, DC 20036)

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM – Dinner in groups around Dupont Circle, a NAGPS executive will accompany each group of 6-8 people

Tuesday - October 5th

10:00 AM to 4:00 PM – Lobby Visits on the Capitol Hill with a coordinated lunch time period in Longworth Cafeteria for lobbying groups

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM – Extended debrief meeting at the SPARC offices (21 Dupont Cir NW #800, Washington, DC 20036) with a discussion about what could be improved for the LAD event

Issues

• Federal Research Public Access Act (S. 1373 and H.R. 5037)
• Higher Education Affordability and Equity Act of 2010 (H.R. 5078)
• Employee Educational Assistance Act of 2010, (H.R 5600)
• Graduate Student Loans

Planning for LAD

Attendees are responsible for making appointments with their local congressional delegation. Please try to do this scheduling a month in advance of LAD. A fax to the Legislator's office is often required but an email with a PDF attachment of the letter followed by a direct phone call is a better method. Walk-ins while at the Capitol are possible but you are much less likely to obtain a meeting. Ask to speak to the Legislator, if possible, or their education and tax policy staffers, depending on the issues you plan to discuss. Please plan on meeting with the Education Committee and Judiciary Committee members from your state, even if you are not in their district.

Sample meeting request letters for Representatives and Senators are provided on the NAGPS Legislative Concerns Committee webpage for your reference. These sample letters will give you and idea of the standard structure of these requests but please do not use them verbatim. Personalize them to your own University and graduate student association. Call the legislator's Capitol office directly and ask to speak to the meeting scheduler to expedite the process. They will likely end up giving you the scheduler's email address, to which you can then send your meeting request letter. Normally meetings are scheduled in 30 minute blocks which is manageable if all the meetings are in the same building/area. Allow more time between meetings that are scheduled on opposite ends of the Capitol Complex.

Meeting Preparation

The Legislative Concerns Committee will have both talking points sheets for the lobbyist and informational leave behind documents for the legislator available a month before LAD. These documents will be available in the Advocacy Materials section of the Legislative Concerns Committee webpage. The Legislative Concerns Chair will host a general call-in session prior to LAD on September 19th at 6:00 PM PST/9:00 PM EST for the participants in order to answer any questions about the issues. Details about the conference call will be sent out to the registered attendees. In addition, the leave behind documents should be ready at that time for the participants to look over prior to the call-in period. For those attendees who are new to lobbying, check out the "Lobbying 101" document on the NAGPS Legislative Action webpage to become familiar with the best practices for an effective lobby visit.

Meeting Pointers

View the NAGPS Lobbying 101 Handbook >>
Print out your meeting schedule and map of Capitol Complex before each lobby day. Plan to arrive at your meeting location 5-10 minutes early to ensure you are never keeping a staffer or legislator waiting. Have a stylized logo folder from your university containing the leave behind documents ready to hand out. Designate speaker roles before entering each meeting to ensure there is no confusion during these short meetings.

Please look your best when conducting lobby visits on Capitol Hill. Traditional business attire is recommended, which means men are in full suits with ties and women are in skirted suits or tailored pantsuits. Lobbying is about looking confident and professional while being prepared to discuss in depth the issues that are of concern. The leave behind documents will be sufficient to provide you with talking points for your visits, but be prepared for more detailed discussions. Take a look at the history of your legislator and see what parallels can be drawn upon in support of our efforts. Be polite but try to keep them on topic if they start sidetracking the conversation.

Try to get a statement of support by saying something along the lines of: "Would your legislator support/cosponsor issue/bill X? What could they support/what would it take?" Try to be a resource if you have information of which they are not aware. Gather information for NAGPS on the issues you discuss with the legislator or staffer and note any recommendations they might have which could help future lobby visits - this may include things such as information sources or points of contact.

Please take copious notes during the lobby visits and share these with the NAGPS LAD group at the end of each lobbying day at the debrief meetings. These notes will help refine the advocacy efforts as they move forward and assist you in filling out the NAGPS Lobby Visits Reporting forms which will be turned into the NAGPS Legislative Concerns Chair. Don’t forget to send a personalized thank-you card or email to everyone who met with you during your visits.

Registration

Please register for the below and contact the NAGPS Legislative Concerns Chair, Chad Foerster, at lcc@nagps.org with any further questions. I look forward to seeing everyone in DC!

Register for LAD >>