South Carolina Association of
County Office Employees
County Office Employees
| Legislative Report Legislative Chairman MIKE MAYFIELD |
| Legislative Committee Report 09-20-07 Mike Mayfield and Loren Nelson The legislative committee has been in high gear since the National Convention. First on our agenda was to organize a senate fly in to visit with all members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The purpose of the fly in was to continue to push for FSA being the administrative agency for all conservation programs. Also, it was decided to have the fall legislative organizational meeting in conjunction with the fly in to get all of our new members up to speed as the senate side of the farm bill begins to really heat up. The current members of the legislative committee are: Paula Reed NWA, Kevin Beekman MWA, Chad Scruggs SEA, Terry Stehr NEA and Kevin Dale SWA along with co chairs Loren Nelson and Mike Mayfield. About 30 members of NASCOE arrived in Washington DC to complete Senate visits in all offices except Senators Salazar, McConnell, and Lugar. Visits with these senate ag committee members were completed while they were at home on recess. Bob Redding held a briefing with all attendees. Bob defined the legislative message that needed to be delivered and updated everyone on the current status of the farm bill. The main message continues to be that FSA should be the administrating agency for conservation. Bob stressed that this was ultra important in positioning our agency and association not only for this farm bill but, in the future. Generally all of the money is flowing toward conservation and away from traditional commodity programs. The CSP definitions could be liberalized to make it easy for traditional crop farmers to reap the majority of the funds. Bob informed the group that the senate was supportive of our position but, a person to introduce language was needed or at least inclusion of our position in the report language. Bob rallied the troops to close the deal on conservation. In addition, Bob wanted all of us to mention that FSA should be the administrating agency of any permanent disaster program that was developed. Finally he stressed that he felt that the closure moratorium language in the house bill would stay in any conference bill and not to accept that from the senate instead of conservation administration. Everyone hit the hill on Wednesday morning. Almost all reports were supportive. Bob will be following up on visits to secure mark up language or at least report language. Prior to the senate visits the legislative committee held the organizational meeting. During this meeting the members were oriented to what would be expected of the committee by Bonnie Heinzman and Myron Stroup. The committee was informed that the Cap Wiz contract had been renewed for 3 years and that Bob Redding’s contract had been renewed for 5 years. A lengthy discussion was held about appropriate means of communication. The group agreed that home email addresses and cell phones would have to become the primary modes of communication. The committee felt that conference calls were very important to keep everyone informed and should be held at least quarterly and more often as needed. Bob Redding met with the legislative committee. Bob discussed with the group detailed interactions surrounding the farm bill. Bob discussed with the committee his expectations for the group. Bob spent considerable time talking with the committee concerning legislative strategy and what was important for the future. PAC was described as a critical tool for future legislative groundwork. He stressed that it must continue to grow and suggested that PAC be used for more event sponsorship to help congressional members raise money. Bob discussed the importance of Cap Wiz and how the number of letters received by an office dictated how that issue was handled in that particular office. He described electronic delivery of letters as the preferred method of information delivery. Basically, since 9/11 it is the only effective means of communicating timely. Bob stressed that three areas were critical to NASCOE’s message: Grassroots, Money and Education. One suggestion that Bob made to the committee was to establish a page specifically for congressional staffers to use for copying and pasting our documents for use in reports within their office. Also Bob suggested, making the page attractive and fun to visit. The committee then proceeded to discuss goals for the committee and areas of priority. The group discussed a coordinator for RASCOE and NAFEC to get them to forward our position papers. Also, the committee felt that a Cap Wiz backup would be very important. Trice Smith was suggested as a possible back up to Tammy. One suggestion discussed to increase Cap Wiz was to send a sign up sheet with everyone’ s annual dues letter. The committee went on to discuss PAC growth, committee budget, congressional web page, Cap Wiz participation, and PT upgrades. In addition, the committee reviewed recommendations that came from the national convention which included: NASCOE’s Conservation Message in new Farm Bill was to continue. Pursue Risk Management Oversight and Administration. Continue to push for additional staffing Be Proactive on Reorganizational issues. Continue to help and support the NAFEC organization and stop the erosion of County Committee Authority. The committee brainstormed and came up with a list of thirteen possible legislative ideas once the farm bill process was complete. The committee narrowed this list down to four top priorities to focus on after the farm bill. These were: Separate budget line item for salary and expenses, credit for FERS sick leave, increase steps per grade from 10 to 11 and secure IT funds to fix computer problems. The remainder of the list included: Extend Healthcare for children up to age 25 Increase Insurance Premium contributions on Federal Health Insurance Windfall Elimination Whistleblower Protection Leave donation of sick and Annual Leave of CO to GS TSP Regulatory changes GS/CO supervisor interchangeable Re-establish COC leasing authority Staffing After completing a rigorous schedule Monday and Tuesday the committee established the following goals to pursue during the 07/08 legislative year. Goals for 2007-2008: Continue to have conference calls with Legislative Committee when needed and work with Consultant Bob Redding. Make sure everyone gets home email addresses from all Officers, Committee Chairs, Area Execs, and Area Chairs as well as Area Execs and Area Chairs get home emails from State designees. Continue recruiting membership on CAPWIZ and PAC. CAPWIZ is crucial to get our message across to membership in a timely manner. PAC is still crucial to the point of helping carry our message and competing against those that do. Continue to have Area Execs carry the message when attending State and Area conventions and be a spokesman for NASCOE. Continue to have Area Legislative and Area Execs carry the message to membership about the importance of getting signed up and use CAPWIZ to fully inform our membership and membership being able to get the most and best results from. Get Conservation language in Farm Bill. Coordinate information and emails to NAFEC membership after NAFEC updates their email data base. Get NAFEC and RASCOE included for CAPWIZ by getting Name, address, phone number, and email of their members and include in our CAPWIZ Alert actions. Keep Web page updated with Position Papers, etc., for membership and Congressional staffers to use to keep current with issues and be able to cut and paste if needed. It was recommended that we be specific on pages wanting updated when sending to our webmaster Diane Holowaty. Assigned Duties for the 2007-2008 Legislative Year: CAPWIZ – Tammy Eibey Benefits – Terry Stehr PAC – Chad Scruggs Coalition Partners – Kevin Dale Farm Bill – Loren Nelson Reorganization (If needed) – Kevin Beekman Web Page Updates – Mike Mayfield NASCOE Now Articles – Kevin Beekman NAFEC/RASCOE Coordinator – Paula Reed Kevin Dale will draft a Legislative Handbook Policy and get to the Legislative Committee and Executive Committee before the November Executive Board meeting. Legislative Committee recommendations to the National Executive Board for approval: The Legislative Committee requests permission to hold at least quarterly conference calls and others as needed with a cost not to exceed $800 without additional board approval. The Legislative Committee requests approval to use up to $8000 of NASCOE funds for PAC promotion and travel. (e.g. internet lines at national, area and state rallies; travel for attendees at these various functions sometimes including RASCOE; participation in PAC sponsored events) To improve communication efficiency The Legislative committee is requesting that the line of communication is National Legislative Co- Chairs communicate to Area Legislative Chairs with a CC copy to the Area Execs and officers, the Area Legislative chair will then contact (email or elephone) their State Legislative Chairs with a CC to the State President. Follow-up response will come back the same way from the state Legislative chair to the Area Legislative chair with a CC to the state President. The Area Legislative chair to both the Co-National Legislative chairs and a CC to the Area Exec. This way there is always the one party in charge up and back in the communication process. Many times without this we have two parties requesting the same information and confusing everyone. Respectfully Submitted, Loren Nelson and Mike Mayfield |