A couple weeks ago I printed a copy of all the bills that had been introduced in the Indiana Legislature. Silly me, I thought those would be most of them. Well…. not so much; they now have over 1200 bills introduced. The introduction of bills is over for this session. Now to be a good civic minded person I have looked at all the bills that I feel that I could contribute to the thought process on. You see, 1200 bills are a lot, and legislators are humans too and they also find the task daunting. I think it is my civic duty to help in the areas that I have expertise (and sometimes a stake in). Legislators are not experts in all fields and they rely on others to help them decide what is best for their constituents. So I try to send emails or talk personally to some of the legislators that I know and that I think might have interest in the bill. Many people think lobbyists are bad people and it is all about payola. Well, in my many years of visiting the Indiana legislature I have never experienced anything like that. They rely on lobbyists to help them learn about issues. The thing that most people don’t understand, lobbyists must always be honest and present the issue with both pro and con views. The thing that most people don’t understand is that for a lobbyist to be effective they must garner trust and they can only do that if they are well informed on the issue and can talk about the positive of their side as well as the negative of their side. It does not take long for a lobbyist to loose trust if they hide truths from legislators. Their entire future is based on telling the truth every time.
I am not a lobbyist, and that automatically provides me a unique opportunity to influence legislation. There is nothing more important or convincing to legislators than to see their constituents especially a businessman show up to talk to them about a subject. BUT, you must always be truthful and present both sides of the issue and how the outcomes might affect you. One thing that I have found is that if you are not always asking for something that helps you and if you offer your expertise on other matters that you are educated on then they will seek your advice on subjects. Legislators have a tough job, your help is appreciated.
Today and yesterday I spent the day contacting a couple of the professional groups that I am involved in to solicit advice to pass along. There are a couple of bills that have language that will affect the Wisp industry and we had a meeting with our coop and I used that meeting to share the text of the bills with the group. As a group we discussed the good and bad and gave it a thumbs up with no changes. So this is information that I will pass along to several legislators and the Lieutenant Governor’s office because of her interest in the subject. Earlier I had sent a couple of emails to her Chief of Staff and will follow up in the near future.
Another group of bills that I am intimately interested in are the bills related to property tax assessment. This issue is a very costly issue to me financially; but really to tell the truth it is more of an issue of principal. Through the 45 years of golf course ownership I have seen rampant favoritism in golf course assessments. It may be done to help the quality of life in a county because they understand the value of a healthy golf community or maybe the county just needs the money and assesses a similar golf course much higher. I will talk more in another post about this subject. To continue on my efforts today; I sent information of several bills that will impact the golf industry to the INGCOA board so that when we meet next week we can formulate a posture and strategy on these bills. I have already laid the groundwork with 2 senators and 3 house members so that I can report back to them which bills might be helpful and why; and why some bills are onerous to us and might even include suggested language to insert or delete from the bill in an amendment.
This is the time of year it all happens and happens very quickly. I must get my communication in quickly because I will be doing consumer golf shows soon and my time at Indianapolis will be limited. The critical time is when the bills are being heard in committee; this is when citizens and lobbyists show up to tell the committee how it effects them, often just prior to a vote. Sometimes the room is packed and sometimes it is just the committee.
It is all about giving trusted information to the right legislators that either authored the bills, co-authored or are influential in the area of legislation. Certainly the legislators that represent me will evaluate if my side of the bill is the best way to vote or not; but they will certainly listen to me, (all but maybe 1 and I am not sure he listens to anyone). I should not have said that, but there are always people you believe in and some that you don’t. It is really my fault, he is new to represent our area and I have not established my reputation with him yet so I will give him the benefit of the doubt and I will work to earn his trust.
Stay tuned, the session happens fast and this is where elbow rubbing happens!