Integrated Strategies for Legislative Advocacy 2012 NJDC Summit Puerto Rico

1. Integrated Strategies for Legislative Advocacy 2012 NJDC Summit Puerto Rico

2. Agenda • Getting started • General overview of legislative strategies • Opportunistic posture • Offensive posture • Defensive posture • Group work – case studies • Recap and summary of group work

3. Getting Started….Questions to ask and answer • Are there legal constraints on the organization’s ability to lobby? • 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4)status • Legal Services Corporation (LSC) restrictions • How can we fund advocacy work? • Conflicts of interest

4. Overview of Legislative Strategies • Identifying the issues • Doing your homework (research) • Assessing the political landscape • Detecting landmines • Developing a strategic plan • Building alliances • Working the press • Evaluating your efforts

9. Opportunity Knocks – Foster Parents Bill of Rights Scenario: Right before the start of the legislative session, you are asked to provide support for a new legislative initiative. What do you say? • Conduct cost/benefit analysis • Does the issue fit within your mission?

10. …cont’d • Why is your organization being approached for this endeavor? • How much work and resources will it take (time, money, personnel, hidden costs)? Double this estimate. • Who else might be able to take advantage of this opportunity and be successful? (it’s not all about you) • What will happen if you say yes? No?

11. The Best Defense Is A Good Offense - Child Endangerment • Issue: In 2001 Georgia was the only state in the nation without a child endangerment statute or comparable child abuse felony statute. Advocates wanted to amend the felony cruelty to children statute to include criminally negligent behavior, specifically willful, wanton or reckless disregard for the safety of a child

12. …cont’d • Fact pattern: Parent unintentionally leaves child unattended in hot car all day and the child dies

13. Offensive Legislative AgendaLet’s go through our steps • Doing your homework (research) • Assessing the political landscape • Detecting landmines • Developing a strategic plan • Building alliances • Working the press • Evaluating your efforts

14. Doing Your HomeworkChild Endangerment Legislation • What is the need? • Recommendations for best practice • Records of child deaths (Office of Child Fatality Review) • 50 state survey • What does good legislation look like?

15. Assessing The Political LandscapeChild Endangerment Legislation • 2001 Democrats controlled House, Senate and Governor’s Mansion – bill introduced • 2002 Democrats controlled House and Republicans controlled Governor’s Mansion and Senate • 2003 Same as 2002 • 2004 Republicans controlled all three branches – bill passed

16. Detecting LandminesChild Endangerment Legislation • Gun lobby – NRA • Criminal defense bar • Victims of Domestic Violence Coalition • Corporal punishment advocates • Religious groups opposed to certain medical treatments

17. Strategic PlanChild Endangerment Legislation • Four year legislative effort • Candidate survey - fall 2001 election • Meeting with legislators • Testifying at committees • Coordinated efforts with advocacy partners • Creation of legislative materials (research, draft legislation, fact sheets)

18. Building AlliancesChild Endangerment Legislation • 2002 Creation of new coalition United Against Child Abuse • District attorneys • Law enforcement • State agencies • Challenges of working collaboratively

19. Working The PressChild Endangerment Legislation • Fall 2001 Georgia Bar Journal Article • Op-ed pieces • Contact with editorial board • Relationship with reporters covering legislature and child welfare agency

20. Evaluating Your EffortsChild Endangerment Legislation • Four year process • Did we meet our goals? • Was the final legislation ‘worth’ the investment of time, resources, relationships, etc.? • What new alliances exist for future work? • What bridges were broken? • What would we change if we had to do it again?

21. DE-FENSE, DE-FENSE, DEE-FENSESex Offender Legislation • Issue: Proposed legislation would significantly increase penalties against sexual offenders. The sweeping legislation impacted juvenile offenders and criminalized some mutual sexual activity between consenting teenagers because it enhanced penalties in part based on the age of the victim.

22. …cont’d • Fact pattern: 13, 14, or 15-year-old child engaged in consensual oral sex with a 13-y.o. could be prosecuted for aggravated sodomy, tried as an adult, and would face a minimum 25 year sentence.

23. Doing Your HomeworkSex Offender Legislation • Approaches in other states • Interdisciplinary research regarding best practices (psychology, psychiatry, social work, criminology, law) • Consulted with national experts (legal, treatment providers, criminal justice) • Distilling and sharing our research with policy makers, advocates, and the general public

24. Assessing The Political LandscapeSex Offender Legislation • Bill was a product of a study committee convened by the House Majority Leader, a former president of the Georgia Christian Coalition • Bill was part of the Republican Party platform

25. …cont’d • Election year • Sex offenders are not popular with voters • Juvenile delinquents do not have a large grass roots constituency or a large advocacy network

26. Detecting LandminesSex Offender Legislation • Majority Leader’s bill • No one wanted to publicly oppose the bill • District Attorneys split • Victim lobby (rape crisis, victims advocates)

27. Developing a Strategic PlanSex Offender Legislation What was the goal? • Protect mutual sexual activity from prosecution. • Reduce / retain current sentences for juveniles tried and convicted as adults • Secure exclusive juvenile court jurisdiction for juvenile sex offenders

28. Developing a Strategic PlanSex Offender Legislation • Get the word out / talk to anyone who will listen • Meet with sponsor, committee chairs, leaders • Engage the media • Meet with every member of House committee.

29. …cont’d Count votes Find grass roots support Repeat on Senate side Involving Governor’s office Assign tasks and share the work

30. Building AlliancesSex Offender Legislation • Key allies: criminal defense lawyers, Georgia Child Advocacy Network, faith community, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, progressive lobby

31. …cont’d • Many of our traditional partners remained silent about the legislation, if they would not actively oppose it (i.e., child welfare lobby) • Think creatively about partners • Delegate and divide tasks with trusted partners

32. Working The PressSex Offender Legislation • Shared concerns about impact on juvenile population directly with Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter covering the story, putting our spin on it • Shared written materials with reporters • Promptly returned phone calls • Helped with legal analysis • Wrote articles for newsletters • Provided background material • Identified sources

33. Evaluating Your EffortsSex Offender Legislation • We had great success, but not as much as we would have liked. • We succeeded in getting protections in to protect most mutual sexual activity from felony prosecution as an adult

34. …cont’d • We did not succeed in reducing sentences for juveniles tried and convicted as adults. • We were not successful in securing exclusive juvenile court jurisdiction for juvenile sex offenders

35. Case Studies – Instructions for Groups • Break into groups • Read the case packet • Develop a legislative strategy • Report back to full group on process of strategy development and exploration of issues

36. What Have We Learned? Recap & Summary Group reports from Electronic Recordation of Interrogations exercise

37. Questions? Karen Worthington Karen Worthington Consulting karen@karenworthington.com 404-200-6315 (Hawaii Standard Time) John J. Wilson NJDC Board Member Johnwilson@iir.com 301-461-5312