An Engineer’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy Course No: B02-002 Credit: 2 PDH J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A., Fellow ASCE, Fellow AEI Continuing Education and Development, Inc. 9 Greyridge Farm Court Stony Point, NY 10980 P: (877) 322-5800 F: (877) 322-4774 [email protected]
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An Engineer’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy Course No: B02-002
Credit: 2 PDH
J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A., Fellow ASCE, Fellow AEI
Continuing Education and Development, Inc. 9 Greyridge Farm Court Stony Point, NY 10980 P: (877) 322-5800 F: (877) 322-4774 [email protected]
J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A. Paul Guyer is a registered civil engineer, mechanical engineer, fire protection engineer, and architect with over 35 years experience in the design of buildings and related infrastructure. For an additional 9 years he was a senior-level advisor to the California Legislature. He is a graduate of Stanford University and has held numerous national, state and local positions with the American Society of Civil Engineers and National Society of Professional Engineers.
An Engineer’s Guide to Influencing Public Policy
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This course is adapted from the Unified Facilities Criteria of the United States government, which is in the public domain, has unlimited distribution and is not copyrighted.
Each bill that is passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor is assigned a
chapter number by the Secretary of State. These chaptered bills are statutes, and ordinarily
become part of the State Codes. The State Codes are a comprehensive collection of laws
grouped by subject matter. The State Constitution sets forth the fundamental laws by which the
State is governed. All amendments to the State Constitution come about as a result of
constitutional amendments approved by the voters at a statewide election.
The Federal Legislative Process
This discussion is focused on a bill originating in the House of Representatives. If a bill
originates in the Senate the process is similar.
Beginning of a Bill
An idea for a bill may come from anybody, however only Members of Congress can
introduce a bill in Congress. Bills can be introduced at any time the House is in session. There
are four basic types of legislation: bills; joint resolutions; concurrent resolutions; and simple
resolutions. A bill's type must be determined. A private bill affects a specific person or
organization rather than the population at large. A public bill is one that affects the general public.
Proposal of a Bill
After the idea for a bill is developed and the text of the bill is written, a Member of
Congress must officially introduce the bill in Congress by becoming the bill's sponsor. Representatives usually sponsor bills that are important to them and their constituents. Representatives who sponsor bills will try to gain support for them, in hopes that they will become
laws. Two or more sponsors for the same bill are called co-sponsors.
Introduction of a Bill
Bills can be introduced whenever the House is in session. In the House, bills are officially
introduced by placing them in a special box known as the hopper, which is located at the rostrum,
or Speaker's platform. In the Senate, a bill is introduced by placing it on the presiding officer's
desk or by formally introducing it on the Senate Floor. In the House, a bill clerk assigns the bill a
number. House bills begin with "H.R." Resolutions begin with "H. Res.," "H. Con. Res.," or "H. J.
Res," depending what type they are. Senate bills begin with "S." The first reading of a bill means
the bill's title is read on the House Floor. The bill is then referred to a committee for markup.
Committee Action
The bill is referred to the appropriate committee. The 19 House standing committees and
16 Senate committees each have jurisdiction over different areas of public policy, such as
chose not to vote. If a majority of the House votes to pass the bill, the bill is then referred to the
Senate to undergo a similar process of approval.
The Bill is Referred to the Senate
When a bill passes in the House, it must also pass in the Senate in order to become a
law. The two houses of Congress make up the bicameral legislature, part of a system of checks
and balances that ensures that laws are created democratically. Once the bill and its
amendments has been officially passed by the House and certified by the Clerk, it is said to be
"engrossed." In the Senate, the bill again may be sent to a committee for study or markup.
Members may choose to ignore the bill and continue to work on their own legislation. Members
may vote to pass or not to pass the bill. If the bill passes with different language, it must be sent
for review to a conference committee, which is a committee made up of members from both the
House and the Senate. Differences must be agreed upon before the bill is sent to the President
for signature. At this point the bill is "enrolled."
The Bill is sent to the President
When a bill passes in the House and Senate and is sent to the President for a signature,
it is said to be enrolled. The President can take one of several possible actions: The president
may take no action. If Congress is in session, the bill automatically becomes law after ten days. A pocket veto occurs when the president takes no action and Congress has adjourned its
session. In this case, the bill dies and does not become a law. The president may decide that the
bill is unwise or unnecessary and veto the bill. The president may sign the bill, and the bill
becomes law.
The Bill Becomes a Law
If the President signs the bill, or takes no action while Congress is in session, then the bill
becomes a law. If Congress overrides a presidential veto, the bill becomes a law. New public and
private laws are prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) of the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
The Bill is Vetoed
If the President decides a bill is unwise or unnecessary, the President does not sign the
bill, but issues an official statement of objections to the bill called a veto. The President can veto
a bill indirectly by withholding approval of the bill until Congress has adjourned sine die. This
informal way of preventing a bill from becoming a law is called a pocket veto. When the President
issues a veto, the bill returns to its House of origin. Objections to the veto are read and debated
on the House Floor. If there are enough objections in the House to the presidential veto, a vote is
taken to override, or overrule, the veto. If the House does not vote on a veto override, the bill is
It sounds elementary, but do not waste valuable resources on lost causes. Keep in mind
there are two reasons an issue or position is a lost cause. First, the members of your engineering
organization are not interested in it because they see no potential for personal benefit to come
from it and therefore will not support the effort financially; and, second, there will be opposition to
your position by interest groups with far more power (read, money) than you have. Therefore….
FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS ON A LIMITED NUMBER OF SPECIFIC ISSUES THAT (A) WILL POTENTIALLY DELIVER REAL “MONEY IN THE POCKET” TO YOUR ORGANIZATION’S MEMBERS AND (B) WILL NOT FACE INSURMOUNTABLE
OPPOSITION FROM INTEREST GROUPS WITH MORE POWER AND MONEY THAN YOU HAVE.
Establish Alliances
Engineers must establish alliances with other organizations active in the public policy
arena having common objectives in order to pursue those interests. This is because engineering
is not a sufficiently profitable enterprise for engineers that they can afford to go-it-alone. Money is
Power.
Form Single-Issue Entities to Pursue Objectives
This may be difficult for conventional engineering organizations to accept, but they need
to sublimate their organizational image to the pursuit of efficacy in the public policy arena. Public
policy makers (the people who have the power to move the policy in which you are interested) do
not want to hear about conflicts among interest groups (who, may I say, are their source of
campaign funds). They want to hear that all of the interest groups want to go in the same
direction (that is, “vote for the bill” or “vote against the bill”). Toward the objective of making it
easy for public policy makers to “vote” the way you want them to vote….form “single-issue
entities”, i.e. “Americans for SB 349.” Americans for SB 349 ideally receives support from as
many interest groups, including your engineering organization, as possible. Its component
organizations are not “in the spotlight”, but the issue is. That makes it easy for public policy
makers to focus on the issue. All other things being equal, if a public policy maker sees all
interest groups pushing in the same direction, he or she will almost always go in that direction.
This is because it will (a) make no enemies and (b) it will make friends that will support his
objective of advancing his political career. Yes, your engineering organization’s logo will not be
emblazoned on the news releases when SB 349 is passed, but ….it will have been passed.
As one of the most notorious legislators in California once put it so eloquently “Money is
the mother’s milk of politics.” Let’s take a moment to look at how much is being spent at the
federal and state levels to influence public policy. For example, this table…..
U.S. Chamber of Commerce $52.7 million General Electric 23.7 “ Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers 22.7 “ American Medical Association 22.1 “ American Hospital Association 19.7 “ AARP 19.5 “ AT&T 17.1 “ Exxon Mobil 16.9 “
shows the amount of money the top spenders expended on lobbying activities in 2007 at the
federal level. The total amount reported as expended in 2007 on lobbying activities at the federal
level by all entities was $2.8 billion (yes, that is a “b” as in billion).
How about lobbying at the state level (in 2005)? Well here is the picture in California
which is, of course, a large state….
California Teachers Association $9.5 million AT&T and its affiliates 4.1 “ Western States Petroleum Association 3.1 “ California Chamber of Commerce 2.6 “ California State Council of Service Employees 2.0 “ Edison International and subsidiaries 1.9 “ BHP Billiton LNG International 1.8 “ California School Employees Association 1.6 “
Overall in California about $250 million is spent each year on lobbying in the Capital.
If one accepts the premise that money and power are miscible quantities in the public
policy arena….and I hope that you do….how effective can a conventional engineering
organization be faced with this level of “firepower?” Let’s look at how the major national
engineering societies are doing in investing in public policy advocacy. The most active society at
the federal level is the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) which spends about $2.8
million a year on “government and public affairs” in Washington, D.C…..how much goes to
“government” and how much goes to “public” affairs is unclear. All that having been said, this
seems logical, considering how much civil engineering work is federally funded. The National
DO NOT WASTE TIME AND MONEY CURRYING THE FAVOR OF POLICY STAFF (“LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANTS” , “COMMITTEE CONSULTANTS”, ETC.). THEY CAN NEVER PROVIDE YOU ANY MEANINGFUL SUPPORT IN PURSUING YOUR PUBLIC POLICY OBJECTIVE. THEY CAN ONLY AFFECT YOU BY THROWING ROAD BLOCKS IN YOUR WAY IF YOU ANNOY THEM. SO BE POLITE, BUT DO NOT OVER-EMPHASIZE THEIR IMPORTANCE.
Committee Hearings
Decisions Are Never Made in Public
Let me be perfectly clear….
PUBLIC POLICY DECISIONS ARE NOT MADE IN PUBLIC (I.E. IN “COMMITTEE HEARINGS”). THEY ARE ALWAYS MADE IN PRIVATE, AND THERE ARE NEVER ANY
FINGERPRINTS LEFT BEHIND TO REVEAL WHO DID WHAT.
Do not think that by showing up for a committee hearing that you are going to influence action on
your policy issue. The direction of the policy issue in which you are interested is going to be
determined outside of the hearing room. There is an old saying in California: There are two
things you should never watch being made: Sausage and laws in the California Legislature.
But You Still Have to Keep Up the Pretense
That having been said, as a public policy advocate you still need to “put on a good show.”
You need to go through the motions and play along with the illusion that the making of public
policy is done with transparency in public hearings. If you do not, you will make enemies among
the public policy makers you are trying to influence….and that is not healthy for your cause.
Putting On a Good Show So here are some tips on how to put on a good show. This discussion is focused on
public forums such a committee hearings, but the concepts suggested here are equally valid in
small group or one-on-one encounters with public policy makers.
Oddly enough, there is something I have found to be reasonably effective in some
situations when undertaking to influence public policy makers. This is….”Handouts.”
A Handout is one or more pieces of paper which contain synopses of your arguments
using simplified text and graphics (the more graphics, the better). These can be very useful; they
are not determinative in the argument of an issue but they can tip-the-scales-in-your-favor. There
are two reasons handouts are useful: First, in a Committee Hearing a Member will rarely be
listening to what you are saying for more than a few minutes at best but it has been my
observation that they often will spend time ruminating over an attractive, simplistic handout while
you are talking. Or they may take it away from the hearing and look at it back in their office. Or if
they see something that might assist in furthering their political objectives (getting re-elected),
they may give the handout to a legislative aide with directions to “incorporate this into a speech”
or “put out a news release on this.” Handouts can be helpful in one-on-one meetings for the
same reasons.
ATTRACTIVE, EASY TO UNDERSTAND, HANDOUTS CAN BE HELPFUL WHEN MAKING PRESENTATIONS IN COMMITTEE HEARINGS AND ONE-ON-ONE PRESENTATIONS. THEY WILL NOT WIN YOUR CASE, BUT THEY MAY BE
SOMEWHAT HELPFUL IN GETTING YOUR AUDIENCE TO PAY ATTENTION..
What I have had to say about Engineers’ prospects for influencing public policy may have
sounded a little pessimistic….and that has been intentional. That is not, however, to say that
engineers and engineering societies and organizations should abandon hope of having their
voices heard. On the contrary I would want to encourage engineers to address public policy
issues….but to do so with a realistic perspective. These are the things I believe engineers should
keep in mind when endeavoring to influence public policy at the local, state and national levels….
Good luck!
Understand the difference between linear and non-linear thinkers. You are a linear thinker. Public policy makers are non-linear thinkers.
Public policy makers are motivated almost exclusively by their
political objective, which is either to get re-elected/re-appointed or to get elected/appointed to a higher office.
The two most important words in the public policy arena are “money” and “power.”
It is essentially impossible to influence public policy in a meaningful way without having a lot of money to spend.
Spend your money only on those public policy makers (legislators, etc.) who have the political power to achieve your objective. Spending it on others is a waste of money.
Public policy staff can make life difficult for you, but they cannot in the final analysis achieve your public policy goal. Be polite, but do not waste a lot of time and money on them.
Public policy is never made in public. Decisions are always made outside of public venues such as committee hearings.
When attempting to convince a public policy maker use emotional not logical arguments.