16 WESTERN PALLET
State Advocacy and Public Affairs: WPA Master Learning Group
Political advocacy is crucial for businesses because government policies and regulations can have a significant impact on their operations and bottom line. Businesses operate in a complex and ever-changing regulatory environment, and it is essential to engage with policymakers to shape the laws and regulations that affect their operations.
In the latest WPA Master Learning Group, experts Mike Hachtman, CEO of 48forty Solutions, and Jason Ortega, NWPCA’s VP of Public Affairs led the discussion, hosted once again by Glenn Meeks of Woodview Media.
Participants offered insights on why getting involved in advocacy is a good idea for wood pallet and packaging companies, how state and federal advocacy differ, and steps for getting started in the process and other tips. This session also saw the first use of realtime polling of participants in one of the WPA online sessions.
To start with a definition, Wikipedia describes advocacy as including “...activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using facts, their relationships, the media, and messaging to educate government officials and the public.”
Why is state advocacy important?
Ortega commented that while NWPCA monitors issues at the federal level, many individual states may set in place more restrictive labor regulations, higher minimum wages or rules for employee care for when it is too hot or too cold.
“It's important for you to, to monitor what's happening in your state,” Ortega stressed. He suggested one simple way to do start doing that is by signing up to your legislative member’s newsletter. “That'll give you a heads up of the legislative pieces that they're working on.”
Issues can vary from state to state. Hachtman pointed out the challenges on the West Coast. “California has a unique minimum wage that keeps going up every year,” he said. California also has biometric rules that have to be met before a company can use a hand scanner or a fingerprint scanner for time and attendance reporting.
Advocacy can be crucial for addressing
a particular issue, or for a long term goal
of building relationships with
lawmakers and helping them to
understand the importance of your