Guided by voices

I’m excited to share with you some news I received recently regarding Legislative Day on the Hill.

If you’re not familiar with Legislative Day on the Hill (July 21-23), it’s the annual Washington fly-in made by PLANET members, leaders representing the green industry. For years PLANET members have used this day to build awareness and relationships with members of Congress about issues that impact the landscape and lawn care industry.

In short, the Legislative Day on the Hill initiative is all about professional strength through collective advocacy.

Since a core mission of the ASCA is focused on generating positive legislative reform for the snow management industry, there was no question as to whether the ASCA should be involved. For the last two years, we’ve been diligent in our work to influence legislative change and we’ve made significant progress in raising our industry voice and awareness at the federal level. While an ongoing effort, the ASCA’s leadership knew the more voices we could muster the more readily we’ll be heard by our elected officials.

It was for this reason that the ASCA partnered with PLANET for its Legislative Day on the Hill. This strategic alliance allows us to deliver a more powerful message to those who can enact the changes that need to be made for our industry.

Okay, so why I am so excited?

I learned recently that the Snow and Ice Management Association (SIMA) has followed the ASCA’s lead and now plans to also take part in this great event. The professional snow and ice management industry needs everyone’s voices to be heard. We have paved the way to gain success, and I thank SIMA and its leaders for recognizing the importance of our ASCA legislative initiative.

We already have a strong group of folks attending, we can never have too many voices taking part in Legislative Day on the Hill.

If you want to take part in enacting positive legislative change for our industry, contact me directly.

Only together will we succeed.

The author is executive director of the Accredited Snow Contractors Association (ASCA).

 
What you need to know about Legislative Day

At this time, we’re finalizing the schedule for Legislative Day, but here are the important items you need to know. Those who are attending will work directly with me to set meetings with your representatives in Washington.

July 22, there will be a briefing where we will present you talking points to deliver to your representatives.

I will attend as many of these meetings as humanly possible. In some cases, we will make sure to partner people with others who have done this before.

We will gather for breakfast on Tuesday, July 23, and then go together to Capitol Hill to deliver our message.

There is no registration fee for this event, however, there are costs associated with it.

I am thankful our friends and industry partners at Meyer Products are sponsoring ASCA’s portion of the event, allowing us to cover those expenses. However, for budgetary reasons, travel expenses cannot be covered by ASCA, and are your responsibility if you plan to attend and take part.

To register for Legislative Day, please contact me directly, at 330-523-5368 or kgilbride@ascaonline.org.