Legislative Committee

Legislative

The legislative committee’s responsibilities, under the general direction of the board of directors, are as follow:

	To monitor local, state, and national legislative developments that might affect service retirees, active duty personnel, and the dependents of either group, or national security.
	To keep the board of directors and chapter members informed regarding legislative developments of particular interest.
	To recommend to the board of directors, when appropriate, new or revised policies or objectives in the field of legislative affairs.
	To recommend to the board of directors, when appropriate, courses of action to achieve legislative objectives.
	To execute tasks related to lobbying that the board of directors might specifically direct or authorize.
	To maintain liaison with other local organizations concerned with military or veterans’ affairs or retiree problems, with a view to obtaining their support for achieving the chapter’s legislative objectives.
	To maintain liaison with the legislative committee of the state council of chapters and MOAA’s Government Relations Department relative to state and national political offices on matters vitally affecting service retirees or national security.
	To ascertain and disseminate to chapter members, but not to the general public, the records and positions of candidates for local, state, and national political offices on matters vitally affecting service retirees or national security.
	As far as possible, establish and maintain good working relations with local, state, and national legislators who represent voters in the area and with their key assistants.

The legislative committee should consist of at least three members, although five to seven would be best. If possible, one member should be a lawyer who can conduct legal research and interpret legal terminology. It would also be advantageous to have a former member of the state legislature serve on the committee. Finally, sustaining a high degree of continuity is most important because little usually can be accomplished during the course of one year.

Committee members should be assigned responsibility for monitoring legislative developments at each of the three levels of government: local, state, and national. For example, at the local level one would follow local elections, city or county ordinances, and local tax proposals. At the state level, one would follow statewide legislative matters, in part through subscribing to appropriate journals or newspapers published in the state capital. At the national level, the focus would be on developments on Capitol Hill. If the chapter area does not lie entirely within one congressional district, it might be preferable for a separate committee member to cover each district.

Many states have legal restrictions on lobbying. These vary greatly from state to state. Before engaging in any lobbying, the legislative committee should become thoroughly familiar with pertinent provisions of state law, especially requirements for registration and for filing of financial reports.

The legislative committee should bear in mind that the chapter should be politically nonpartisan. As an organization, it should do nothing to support or oppose any candidate for political office. However, the legislative committee can and should make a deliberate effort to inform the membership of the records and positions of opposing candidates in matters of particular interest, so that members are well informed when making their individual choices.

One helpful action the committee can do is to arrange for opposing candidates to have for equal time to speak at chapter meetings. Another is to address written questions on a few issues to the various candidates and to publish for the membership the replies received. However, exercise care not to show bias in formulating the questions.