Tips and strategies for working effectively with legislative staff

1. “Working Effectively with
Legislative Staff”
by
Stephen Hogge
Stephen Hogge Consulting
www.stephenhogge.net
Presentation to the Florida Association of Professional Lobbyists
@Florida Association of Realtors
November 20, 2012

2. Why is a Good Working
Relationship So Important?
Having a good, solid working relationship is critical—your relationship can make or break
you
• Staff are key players; they are the most trusted and relied upon source for information
and analysis on legislation
• Staff are about the only things that’s relatively permanent
• Staff evaluates your legislation and drafts amendments
• Staff sets agendas, manages the calendar, controls access to legislators, often gets the
last word
• Staff are the gateway to committee chairs, members and other staff
• Staff can go places you may not be able to when some urgency arises
• They can help you avoid land mines
• Staff are an information railroad leading to all points
• It’s the professional thing to do, regardless of their critical role
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3. Types of Staff
• Senate vs. House
• Substantive vs. Fiscal
• Committee vs. Personal
• Leadership vs. Committee
• Partisan
• Operational
• OPPAGA vs. House/Senate
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4. Role of Operational Staff
Sergeant for House & Senate
• Handles security, logistics, duplicating,
maintenance, and physical plant, including
committee rooms.
Clerk/Secretary
• Publishes the calendars and journals, with
whom bills and floor amendments are filed,
preside over floor sessions.
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5. Role of Personal Staff
(Legislatives Aides and Assistants for Members)
• Roles vary from one extreme to the other
• Keep their member’s calendar
• Meet with lobbyists/intermediary or “go-between”
• Make sure their member is in right place at right time
• Keep the member focused and organized
• Make sure member’s bills and amendments are timely filed
• Coordinate with committee staff as necessary
• Research policy and constituent issues
• Keep their member connected to the folks back home
• In some cases, present their member’s bills in committee
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6. Role of Leadership Staff
(Speaker’s & President’s Office)
• Provide policy advice and counsel to the presiding
officers
• Serve as a liaison between the Speaker/President and
Committee Chairs and other members
• Oversee the work of the committees/staff directors
• Develop proposals and options to implement the broad
policy objectives of leadership
• Develop strategies for moving priority legislation
through committees
• Recommend committee references and approve
agendas
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7. Role of Committee Staff
(Staff Directors, Analysts, Attys, CAAs)
• Staff for the committee chair and committee members
• Difficult tightrope to walk/Chair vs. Speaker vs.
Members
• Nonpartisan/no personal beliefs
• Vary by position/but all play vital role
• Staff Director—overall staff leader; assigns bills to staff;
reviews all staff analyses; meets with chair to discuss
bills; makes recommendations re bills and agenda
• Analyst/Attorney—prepares bills and staff analyses,
first line of contact, most knowledgeable on issue
• Committee AA—Key operational player; can be MVP
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8. Keys to Working Effectively
With Committee Staff
• Understand their world
• Be honest and instill trust
• Mind your manners
• Know the process
• Appreciate youth
• Engage early and often
• Be seen as a resource, not a burden
• Be “solution-oriented” and flexible
• Be credible
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9. The World of Committee Staff
• People coming at you from all sides
• Juggling a multitude of personalities and issues; yours is
just one issue of many
• Functioning under intense time pressures
• Trying to process reams of information and become an
expert in a matter of hours
• Being judged by all sides and often scapegoated
• Researching and analyzing issues often with no subject
matter knowledge
• Meeting with members, other staff, lobbyists
• Setting agendas, managing calendars and access
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10. Be Honest and Instill Trust
• DO NOT LIE!
• Be reliable; keep your word
• Don’t throw staff under the bus
• One-sided position papers and testimony can
hurt your credibility
• Don’t overstate legislator’s intentions
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11. Mind Your Manners
• Respect the personal work space of staff
• NEVER threaten staff or publicly criticize
• Be patient and considerate; respect and dignity
• Observe committee’s operational protocols
• Avoid gossip
• Don’t be overly social
• Don’t hold grudges
• Avoid drop-bys on issues that are not time-critical
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12. Know the Process
• Take the time to learn the fundamentals
• Know how a bill becomes a law
• Be familiar with House/Senate procedural rules
• Drafting bills and amendments
• Know the various types of legislation (special act,
general law, committee bill)
• Know the key terms and acronyms (PCB, CS,
enrolled vs. engrossed)
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13. Appreciate Youth*
• You may be surprised to find that Legislature has
many relatively young staffers
• Be tuned in to the various mediums in which
young staffers may communicate (especially
through social media)
• Don’t act like a dinosaur
• Be patient; don’t act like you’re the repository of
all wisdom because you have years of experience
*Phraseology used in numerous online sources without attribution such as www.stroke.org, speakout.com, and www.aallnet.org.
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14. Engage Early and Often
• Don’t wait until the last minute
• Meet with staff in advance (even before bill filed)
• Avoid last minute surprises or requests
• Follow up after meeting; don’t just disappear
• Be responsive, not demanding
• Communicate throughout the year, not just
during Session, knowing their favorite way to
communicate (e.g., phone, visit, email, text)
• Don’t monopolize staff time; keeping meetings
purposeful and timely will increase access
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15. Be Seen as a Resource, not a Burden
• Be substantive, not superficial
• Know your issue, know all sides, be prepared
• Share helpful information
• Don’t rely on politics to carry you through
• Be flexible in resolving an issue
• Remember staff doesn’t work for you
• Be accessible
• Be an informational resource
• Don’t be so quick to blame staff
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16. Be “Solution-oriented” and
Flexible*
• Come with solutions
• Be open to alternative ways to address your
client’s issue (e.g., meeting with agency,
letter)
• Appreciate and respect the parameters within
which staff may be working to resolve your
issue
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*See Rick Hess Staright Up, “Some Tips on Working with Legislators,” July 6, 2011.

17. Be Credible
• Credibility goes a long way with staff
• Establish it by doing the things we’ve
discussed
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18. Conclusion
• A solid working relationship with staff is a key
to success; make it a priority
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19. Stephen Hogge
A member of the Florida Bar, Stephen Hogge has over 20 years of senior-level legislative
management and association lobbying experience in Florida. While with the Florida
House of Representatives, Stephen served as a senior staff director for nine different
committees and an attorney/analyst for two others, a policy advisor to a House Speaker,
and Director of the House Policy Council. He staffed many of the most politically
charged and complex policy issues in Florida. Stephen also has years of experience on
the other side of the table, as Director of Government Relations and lobbyist for the
Florida Association of Counties and, most recently, as owner of Stephen Hogge
Consulting, a public affairs and government relations firm.
*****
Stephen Hogge
Stephen Hogge Consulting
117 South Gadsden Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301
850.459.3029
www.stephenhogge.net
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