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Strategies for Advocacy
- Understand the legislative process
- Choosing with whom we communicate a particular message and when to do so
- Know your audience
- Communicate clearly and offer solutions
- Relate the impact of a particular piece of legislation with a personal story
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS
Proposed legislation moves through the House of Representatives and Senate from committees in both legislative chambers. There are important committees in the House and Senate that will be targeted for grass roots advocacy during the legislative session.
In the beginning of the session a lot of times the message will be focused in smaller sub-committees and as the process goes on, the advocacy efforts will shift to the large committees.
Near the end of the process advocacy efforts will shift again to joint committees between the House and Senate, and ultimately will end up in the hands of The Speaker of the House of Representatives and The Senate President.
WITH WHOM AND WHEN
Targeting our communication with key legislators is critical and the timing of our message is equally important.
Elected officials are most concerned about the issues that affect their constituents. That is why it is important for them to hear directly from the individuals that elected them to serve.
Our approach as advocates should focus our communication with the local delegation that serves Tampa Bay (BALD) whenever possible, and should start with House and Senate Members that sit on committees in which our issues are heard.
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