Organizing a State Lobby Day! It's easier than you think.
AMSA AND LOBBYING
The American Medical Student Association has had a long history of political activism. We believe that it is necessary to work with legislators to create a healthcare delivery system that is optimal for both patients and physicians. If politicians are not aware of medical student opinion, then they are more easily influenced by those special interests that do not place patient welfare first.
Every year, AMSA hosts a variety of lobby days on important health care issues. National lobby days take place in Washington, D.C. and are important components of national conventions and leadership institutes. But much of the health care battleground is on the state level, and we rely on local chapters to plan state lobby days. These state lobby days can be an incredibly influential and important part of state legislative initiatives. AMSA members in the past have lobbied state legislatures on smoking laws, free clinic funding, and state-based single payer plans.
I'M INTERESTED IN PUTTING TOGETHER A LOBBY DAY… WHAT DO I DO FIRST?
The two rules of a successful event are to recruit students and delegate the responsibilities. Four simple steps will help you achieve those two goals.
First, contact AMSA's Legislative Affairs Director (lad@amsa.org) for help. The LAD is a medical student who works full time at AMSA headquarters to help chapters plan events like lobby days. The LAD can provide you with assistance in contacting legislators and planning your lobby day. You may also want to contact your school's Office of Government Affairs for help. Many schools employ professional lobbyists that can help you organize your event and choose topics specifically relevant to students at your school.
Second, start talking early about the lobby day with members of your class. This will reinforce that this is an important event that they want to attend. Pass around a signup sheet at a meeting to see who would be interested in planning and attending such an event.
Third, approach other medical student organizations and see if they would like to cosponsor the event with you. This will have the advantage of increasing attendance at the actual event, and also will provide you with some other leaders who can help you to organize the event!
If possible, involve other schools or community groups in the event. Are there other medical schools in your city? Think big - are there other med schools in the state that you could work with? Having medical students from across the state descend on the state capitol can impress legislators. Don't just limit yourself to medical students though. Try to think of other allies that may be located right under your nose. Is there a School of Public Health affiliated with your medical school? How about a School of Nursing? What about local church groups or public advocacy groups?
Finally, delegate tasks among those who are interested. The most important and time-consuming responsibilities are:
- Choosing a topic or piece of legislation and preparing information
- Write a fact sheet
- Collect relevant articles/data
- Publicity! Getting students out there for the lobby day
- Scheduling visits with the legislators
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO HAVE A LOBBY DAY?
There are two factors to consider: what works best for your chapter, and what works best for the Legislature's calendar.
Finding an ideal time for medical students is impossible - in the end, you will have to find a date that works the best for most of the students involved, and go with it. Since you must plan a weekday lobby, Friday afternoons are generally less stressful for medical students.
Take a good idea to look at the legislative calendar to make sure that the legislature will be in session when you want to go. Locate your state government's home page. If you will be lobbying on a specific issue, make some phone calls to pertinent state offices to see if there is an idea time to lobby on that issue.
HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT BILLS I SHOULD LOBBY ON?
This is an excellent question, and this aspect can be the most daunting for someone putting together a lobby day. Luckily, there are a number of resources available to help you out on this subject:
- See what health-policy-related topics have been in the newspaper recently. This can be a problem if you are looking for a topic for a lobby day two months in the future - the information in the newspapers may be about much more immediate items. However, it can give you an idea of what issues are important and who the major players are.
- Contact AMSA's Legislative Affairs Director will be happy to help you work on this, or any other part of your lobby day.
- Call up your representative and ask to speak to his or her health aide. Explain what you are doing, and they will be more than happy to get you pointed in the right direction. Alternatively, you can call up the office of a representative who is not your own. Is there someone in the government who seems to be always working on cool health-related bills? Call up that office and see how you can help out on the next project that the office is working on.
- There are also a number of groups in your state that work on legislative topics who would be glad to help you out. These include:
- Your local Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
- The state chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians
WHAT DO I DO NEXT?
The next step is to confirm which students will be able to attend the lobby day. You should try to get this done two-three weeks before the lobby day so that you have time to set up lobby visits. You will need to know the address for each medical student so that you can find out who his or her legislator is. Most states, on their home page, have a screen that lets you enter a street address and zip code and find out who the representative for that district is.
Call up the legislators that will have a medical student(s) visiting them, and schedule an appointment for that day. If possible, try to meet with the representative, but if this is not possible then ask to meet with their aide who handles health matters. Although you may be disappointed to meet with an aide, in most instances these are the people who actually make things happen, so don't take that visit any less seriously.
You should also work on a fact sheet on the bill(s) you are going to be lobbying on. These should be brief, with bullet points if possible. There are a number of fact sheets on the AMSA web page for examples. If you are working with outside groups on a topic, they may have fact sheets already made up, or may be able to help you put one together.
Your student lobbyists should also be given a basic training in lobbying. AMSA has prepared a short PowerPoint presentation on Effective Lobbying that you can give at a training session. Be sure to also go over the talking points and fact sheets that you've created. The training session should also include an overview of the legislative process.
WHAT SHOULD THE SCHEDULE FOR THE DAY LOOK LIKE?
This may depend on how much time you have. In general, it is good to have sessions before the lobby visits that cover what you will be lobbying on, and some basic lobbying tips. If possible, try to get a room in the state capitol where you will be lobbying. If there is a legislative office that you are working with, they could help you with getting a room, and they may be able to provide someone to talk on the bill.
Your medical school or affiliated hospital may well have a department of government relations and/or public relations. Someone from this office may be able to give a talk to the students with pointers on how to lobby.
Someone from the national AMSA office may be able to help you with these sessions as well.
A sample schedule:
12:30 Tell everybody to assemble at the meeting room.
12:50 Give an Introduction; thank everyone for being there.
1:00 A Speaker should review what you would like to lobby on.
1:30 Tips on how to lobby.
1:45 Practice lobbying.
2:00 Lobby visits start!
4:30 Reconvene at a local establishment to relax and reminisce.
If time allows, you may want to have the speakers come in the morning, and have the entire afternoon for lobby visits.
ONCE THE LOBBY VISITS ARE OVER, AM I DONE?
Not just yet. If possible, have all the participants fill out a feedback survey so you know how each visit went. Was their representative receptive? Will he or she support the bill?
Next, follow up with a thank you letter to each office. Remind them what the visit was about, and any definite actions that they said they would take.
That's it! Your lobby day is over, and it has been a wonderful success! Congratulations!
ANY OTHER THOUGHTS OR IDEAS?
There's no reason to think small. Try to meet with the Governor, or Lt. Governor. Elected officials don't often hear from medical students, so they are usually surprised and excited when students do want to meet with them. It can't hurt to try!
This could also be an occasion to send out a press release describing what you are doing. It's not every day newspapers hear about medical students going down to the state capitol, and they may be interested in the story. Contact AMSA's director of public relations for help with your press release.
Finally, there may be other faculty at your school to involve. Try to see if there is a faculty member who may be able to help you out with the day!
Best of luck and have fun!