What is Legislative Advocacy?

Legislative advocacy refers to efforts to influence the introduction, enactment, or modification of legislation. This can include lobbying, ballot initiatives, legislative networks and campaigns, and explanations of legislative processes. Legislative advocacy can also encompass instruction on how to conduct campaigns, educating legislators, communications strategies to implement lobbying campaigns, rules regarding lobbying, building legislative networks, and tracking legislation and committee votes.

What’s Involved?
Since most new laws originate in the legislature, legislative advocacy can be an extremely powerful tool for shaping policy. The most common means of legislative advocacy is direct lobbying, which entails contacting a legislator and sharing your views on an issue, and asking him or her to vote a specific way on a bill.
This can be done with something as easy as a phone call or letter, or by a formal meeting with the legislator or their staff. Another common activity is grassroots lobbying, which is encouraging others to contact their legislator about an issue. SHRM is a prime example of this type as it often encourages members to take action. A more complicated means of legislative advocacy is the ballot initiative, which puts a proposed law on an election ballot and allows voters to directly approve or reject it.
There is a more subtle form of advocacy, however, that involves providing information and educating legislators. Legislators must vote on a tremendously diverse number of bills, and cannot be an expert on every issue, so they often look to nonprofits and other groups for research and knowledge on issues.
SHRM members have a unique opportunity to influence and educate in this area. As HR professionals, we are not only advocates for our employers, but for our employees as well. Our unique perspective can often provide a truly “objective” viewpoint to legislators on key issues. But to make a difference and influence, our voices need to be heard!