Communicating with State Legislators & Staff
The basics of communicating with legislators are the same, whether the policymakers are state, federal, or local. See the "Writing a Letter to a Legislator," "Meeting with Legislators," "Meeting With Elected Officials: Dos & Don’ts," "Hosting a Site Visit," "Compiling Borrower Profiles," and "Position Papers and Fact Sheets" sections of this guide.

Coalition Building & Grassroots Networks
One of the most effective ways to interact with your state legislature is by getting other individuals and groups involved through a grassroots network. The goal is to identify others who are interested in your issue and actively engage their participation.

Coalition Building
Coalitions provide a structure for groups with similar goals to effectively focus collective resources. Coalitions are usually created for a specific purpose (i.e., passage of a particular bill) and for a defined period of time. This can prevent duplication of efforts and present a united front for the greatest impact. Coalitions are especially helpful for building volunteer support, gaining allies, and achieving goals that may not be possible otherwise.

Coalitions should encourage diverse membership including for-profit companies and industries that might be interested in the issue (i.e., home builders, small business associations, etc.). You should invite all potential supporters to be involved. If your coalition needs a name, make it issue-related, i.e., The Coalition for the Illinois CDFI Fund.

At the beginning of a coalition, it is important to delegate duties: designate someone to be responsible for all communication, someone to facilitate consensus building, and someone to assume fiscal responsibilities (if any), etc. The coalition should:

• Create a purpose statement and outline an action plan;

• Clarify the decision-making process;

• Specify achievable goals;

• Hold regular meetings;

• Define and assign tasks;

• Establish short-term goals to maintain enthusiasm for the project;

• Measure actual results against planned goals;

• Address concerns early; and

• Produce tangible products (fact sheets, position papers, etc.).

Coalitions can be powerful tools for promoting issues and coordinating efforts. The key to success is commitment by all involved.

Grassroots Network
Grassroots lobbying takes a lot of work and effort, but it is an extremely effective way to influence the legislative process. The goal is to identify persons who have a personal relationship with a state legislator or who is willing to establish a relationship to promote your issue. You may be surprised to know that legislators welcome this opportunity to have a key contact as a resource to whom they can turn to for advice and counsel.

Developing a grassroots network takes a lot of coordination and you should assign someone to this task. The first step is to identify interested individuals and groups. A good starting point is Opportunity Finance Network’s membership for other CDFIs in the state who will likely share your interests. Responsibilities for the network coordinator include:

• Identify key legislators;

• Contact potential participants and identify personal relationships;

• Recruit participants for all key legislators;

• Create a database of participants, including notes from meetings;

• Provide each participant with Opportunity Finance Network’s advocacy guide as well as legislative contact information, and outline exactly what you need (e.g., meet with Senator X, ask for support of legislation during committee meeting, and report back on the meeting);

• Stay in contact with participants. Provide them with progress updates, sample letters, and other important information that they can relay to the elected officials; and

• Coordinate all key activities and meetings.

Working with a Lobbyist
As opportunity finance specialists and practitioners, your time is valuable and limited. Effective lobbying can be expensive and resource intensive. Since legislative efforts take a great deal of time, it may be more cost-effective in the long run to consider hiring a professional lobbyist.

If you decide you need a lobbyist, you should develop clear objectives and goals. You want to hire the right lobbyist for the job, so it is important that you know what you want and expect. Define the scope of the lobbying effort and determine if you want someone full time or on an as-needed basis. Determine if you are looking for someone to monitor legislation or actively pursue passage of specific legislation. Do you want someone to represent you at meetings or set up meetings?

Lobbying is a very specialized field and it may take time to find the right person to represent your interests. Remember, a lobbyist that is brilliant with homeland security may not be good at opportunity finance. You should talk with other organizations, legislative staff, and even the legislators themselves for recommendations. Finding the right match is the key to success.

Once you have identified two to three potential lobbyists, you should develop a very specific job description and outline your expectations. This process includes identifying your issues of interest, setting your legislative agenda, short- and long-term goals, the level and type of representation you expect, and if you want nonlegislative services, such as grassroots building and preparation of materials.

Interviewing a potential lobbyist is just like interviewing for any other position in your organization. You should ask open-ended questions and guide, but not dominate the discussion. You should request references and a list of past and current clients. And don’t just request this information, follow up with the references.

Lobbyists work under a contract. You should have this contract written by an attorney. It should include the length of the contract, work expected including goals and objectives, fees, payment schedule, who is responsible for incidental expenses such as copies, lunches, etc., and a termination clause. You should evaluate the lobbyist’s performance at least annually.

Working with Regulators
Legislators create laws and regulatory agencies interpret, implement, and enforce the laws. They can reverse all your legislative gains through adverse interpretations and rulings. On the other hand, these agencies can also be your strongest allies, especially guarding against adverse legislation.

In interpreting the law, regulators sometimes use inaccurate, problematic terminology, so it is important that you work closely with them. Also, where no law exists, many states give their regulatory agencies significant power and latitude in enforcement.

The process that creates the regulations is of vital importance. Unfortunately, if you thought the legislative process was complex, the formulation of regulations can be positively bewildering. Nevertheless, the regulatory process often has a much more immediate effect on opportunity finance.

There are two opportunities for influencing regulatory language: during the drafting of proposed language and when the proposal is submitted for public comment. Luckily most regulators are committed to their work and are receptive to the opinions of those who have expertise or are most affected by the regulations. Suggestions for working with regulators include:

• If you formed a coalition to pass legislation, it is a good idea to keep the group together through the issuance of final regulations.

• Work out any disagreements on the proposed regulations and stand united. If this is not possible, comment only on areas that are important to your organization. Stay focused on your issue.

• Emphasize the public good, not just the good for your organization.

• Try to understand and give credence to the agency’s issues. Together, you may be able to work out an acceptable solution.

• Provide accurate, complete, and timely information.

• Providing draft language can expedite decisions since agencies are often short staffed.

• Know who shares your point of view and who doesn’t and why.

• Make sure your suggestions and requests make good policy sense, are permissible within the agency’s legal authority, and are consistent with the original legislation.

• Offer to continue to work with the agency as issues arise.

• Remember, agencies are generally not risk takers.