Lobby Days are Here Again…. By Ginny Hatfield, AAUW California Public Policy Committee Member
Save the Dates …. March 21 and March 22, are the AAUW CA scheduled Lobby Days, so mark your calendars and be sure to sign up to participate when our Lobby Day registration arrives in your January mailbox.
Advocating for our top three priority bills is fundamental to achieving our legislative priorities by addressing economic security for all women, providing equal access to public education and insuring social and racial justice for all members of society. We need all members on board and will be counting on you to reach out to our elected officials in the CA Legislature.
Our Public Policy Committee will make it easy for you to do so. This year, instead of a full week, Lobby Day will consist of two days and will occur while the Legislature is in session, not on break. Hopefully, this will provide more opportunity to actually speak with a member in lieu of a staffer. Our plans are to make it hybrid – virtual and in-person. Those branches in and around Sacramento would have the option of in-person meetings at the Capitol with the remaining branches meeting virtually or in-person with staffers in the district. So, a bit more flexibility this year as the committee feels it’s beneficial to establish relationships with our elected leaders’ local staff.
Our AAUW legislative advocate will be scheduling meetings with the member offices willing to participate, and once you return your Lobby Day survey, the committee will begin to assemble branch participants and match them with Assembly and Senate districts in order to assign teams. We will provide you with material on the bills we are supporting and have scheduled a mandatory training webinar for March 20, so you’ll have the information at your fingertips. If you have participated in Lobby Day in the past, we would love to hear from you on what worked and what didn’t. Please send your comments to publicpolicy@aauw-ca.org.
Lobby Day is our chance to make a concerted impact on the priorities and values we, as AAUW members, hold dear. It brings out the “advocates” in all us for improving the economic and educational lives of women and girls. And goodness knows, we need that commitment now more than ever. So, mark those calendars and join us on Lobby Day/s.