Part 2 - Organizing Your Chapter Legislative Affairs Committee

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In Part 2:

•	Getting Started -- Setting Goals
•	Chapter Legislative Chairperson's Responsibilities
•	Chapter Legislative Affairs Committee Responsibilities
•	Information Gathering
•	Legislative Tracking Systems

Getting Started -- Setting Goals

Local CCIM chapters should form a legislative committee to work with chapter leadership to determine legislative priorities, goals, and objectives. The chairman of the legislative committee will automatically become a member of the CCIM State and Municipal Affairs Committee.

In many instances, legislative goals and objectives will be dictated by the legislature's calendar. There are several methods of monitoring issues to be considered in the legislature that will be covered later in this manual. In addition to reacting to the scheduled legislative items to be considered, local CCIM chapters may wish to initiate legislation of its own, specific to the commercial investment real estate industry. If the legislature is considering several major issues during the current session, it may be wise to delay pushing your legislation until a later session. However, local chapters must determine, along with the legislation's sponsor, the most opportune time for seeking passage of your legislation.

Outline appropriate current or impending commercial investment real estate issues to be monitored or acted upon and collect information from chapter members regarding legislative issues and their subsequent impact and legislative time frame. After consulting local sources such as the local or state REALTOR® lobbyist or other industry government affairs’ professionals, you will need to list the legislative objectives and issues you wish to address for a given time period (one year, for example). After listing these issues you will need to prioritize them and address those that will have the biggest impact on your chapter membership.

Chapter Legislative Chairperson's Responsibilities

It is important that the chapter legislative chairperson have some knowledge of the basics of how your legislature works (see "How a Bill Becomes a Law" in the Appendix). This information is crucial in targeting your efforts. Legislative chairpersons are responsible for leading discussions of issues and actions during the legislative committee meetings. The chapter legislative chairperson will serve as the liaison between the institute and the local chapter. Frequent contact between the institute and the local chapters will ensure chapter compliance with policies and goals.

Chapter legislative chairpersons should encourage member participation and involvement in federal, state, and local politics and policy debates. They should be familiar with the institute's “Statement of Policy and Current Positions” manual and act in accordance with its contents.

They will be responsible for the issuance of legislative or regulatory "calls-to-action" and coordinate chapter activities in response to legislatively dictated needs and CCIM directives.

Legislative chairpersons will benefit from establishing a solid working relationship with state and local political officials, state and local real estate boards, other real estate organizations, chambers of commerce, and other community interest groups.

The ideal candidate for chapter legislative chairperson would possess a few of the following characteristics.

•	Knowledgeable and interested in government and politics
•	Free of other committee responsibilities
•	Involved in local political or civic activities
•	Affiliated with other real estate-related organizations
•	Possesses the conviction, drive and perseverance to achieve chapter legislative goal

Chapter Legislative Affairs Committee Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the chapter legislative affairs committee to establish legislative priorities and provide direction for the group's lobbying efforts. Your chapter's lobbying power resides in the number of members that the committee can get to support its actions. In order to achieve maximum involvement, committees should set up a legislative network to mobilize members. Your network may wish to assign committee members to a geographical region for which that member will be responsible for communicating the directives of the committee.

Subject and issue committees should also be formed. Certain members will possess expertise on specific issues. Use the knowledge and experience of your members to form positions on specific legislation. Lawmakers appreciate legislative input from professionals who can relate real-life experience to proposed legislation and discuss its effect on constituents.

Legislative committees should consider establishing resolutions or policies before they are needed. Doing so offers an opportunity for grass-roots participation in policy formulation -- always a plus in terms of member satisfaction and an excellent way to identify interested, able members who will take part in future legislative efforts. By anticipating issues, chapters will be better positioned to be pro-active in a timely manner.

The principal goal of the chapter legislative committee is to assemble the talent and information necessary to establish positions and communicate a unified voice for the purpose of promoting and advocating favorable legislation and regulations, disseminating information, and analyzing public policy that affects commercial investment real estate. The following activities will help to achieve these goals:

1.	Have a system in place to monitor, on a regular basis, state and local legislative and regulatory actions that affect the commercial investment real estate industry.
2.	Become actively involved in the formulation and development of state and local legislation and regulations at the state and local level.
3.	Establish policy positions on behalf of CCIM chapter members and communicate these positions to appropriate state and local officials and other interest groups.
4.	Provide regular communication of legislative and regulatory developments to CCIM chapter members and to the CCIM Institute.
5.	Coordinate all communications with state and local policy makers through the CCIM chapter to ensure a unified message is presented to the legislature or other decision-making bodies.
6.	Seek to broaden legislative committee involvement to as many chapter members as possible in order to increase committee visibility and effectiveness.
7.	Promote better understanding of commercial investment real estate public policy issues between CCIM members and the general public.

Information Gathering

Chapters will vary widely in the resources available to devote to state and local government affairs. The level of resources needed depends on the level of member involvement of the legislative affairs committee. Obviously, CCIM chapters cannot monitor issues unless they are aware of what the issues are. In an effective legislative affairs program, the first order of business entails tying into the issues through allied associations and groups of public officials by (1) getting on their mailing lists; (2) using your state association of REALTORS® as a resource; (3) joining groups such as the State Government Affairs Council, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and the Council of State Governments; and (4) attending meetings of organizations representing elected and appointed public officials.

Build relationships with lawmakers or, better yet, legislative staff, who can be relied upon to inform you of impending legislative proposals that will affect your business. Personal relationships of this type are extremely valuable, especially during the frenzied end of a legislative session when many proposals are being considered at once and time does not allow for the normal flow of information. Your personal contacts in the state capitol could be the difference between legislative success and failure.

Chapter surveys are an effective way to identify members knowledgeable about state government affairs issues and the types of relationships that members have with legislators and staff.

Legislative Tracking Systems

State Net and Commerce Clearing House, both in Washington, D.C., are two computerized services offering legislative and regulatory tracking. For a fee, a chapter can monitor issues of concern from a bill's pre-filing, through its movement in committees, to action on the floor of the state legislature. For an additional fee, special features are available such as establishing individual computer files to track the progress of selected bills, and receiving texts of legislative and regulatory proposals.

Bill tracking systems should not be seen as a substitute for personal contact with the legislature and good, old-fashioned pounding the pavement in following the progress of legislation. It is difficult for any tracking system to keep up with fast-moving state activity. Legislatures can meet for as few as 30 to 60 days per year, and bills can move within a week from introduction, through committees, to a floor vote. Tracking systems may not supply information early enough for your chapter to respond, nor do they distinguish the truly important bills from the vast number that have little political viability.

An additional way to keep up is through the many publications that report state legislative activity and predict future "hot spots." These include State Policy Reports, State Budget & Tax News, National Tax Journal, State Legislatures, State Government News, and Governing. Other publications containing sections on state legislative activity include Commercial Investment Real Estate and NAR's Realtor magazine.

The CCIM Institute's legislative newsletter, is also an excellent resource dealing exclusively with issues affecting the commercial investment real estate industry. The legislative staff compiles legislative and regulatory information received directly from local CCIM chapters and distributes this information via e-mail to CCIM members throughout the country.

It is also important to monitor state regulatory agency activity. The institute's legislative staff subscribes to the Federal Register, a record of all federal agency directives and rule makings. Many states provide a similar publication dealing with state regulations. Some state agencies also issue newsletters regarding their activities. Personal relationships should also be developed among agency personnel for the same reasons as mentioned above.

To be effective, a state government affairs program needs to identify and pull together a variety of resources -- from staff (when available), to volunteer members, to outside services. Much of a program's success depends on prioritizing and keeping pace with legislative issues of concern and knowing when members and staff can handle an issue themselves and when outside professionals need to be brought in. Time and budgetary considerations also are key factors in running a hands-on program, as are liaisons with allied groups and state and national associations. Properly identified, well balanced, and effectively managed, these elements can ensure a chapter will be an important and effective participant in the increasingly magnified realm of state and local government affairs.

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