(Music)
We are gonna go ahead and get started.
Today we're going to be discussing your
Role and Advocacy with the South Dakota
4-H Legislature Program. Our agenda for
tonight, We'll do welcome and
introductions, we'll do a benchmark
check-in, and then we'll take a look at
advocacy and and how that is defined and
what it looks like in South Dakota
and the roles you can play in advocacy.
Then we have some guest speakers that
are joining us tonight that will talk
about their roles, how they play a part
in advocacy, and allow for you to ask
questions You may have of them and then
we'll specifically look at how advocacy
is going to play a part in the
Legislature program. And then at the end
as always we'll have time for questions
and answers. So as you know the South
Dakota 4-H Legislature Program is made
up of a committee of four individuals.
You have myself Amber Erickson, I am the
SDSU Extension 4-H Field Operations
Coordinator based in the State 4-H
Office. We have Caroline Hansen, she is a
4-H Youth Program Advisor in Davison and
Hanson counties. We have Jenae Hansen who
is our Volunteer Development Field
Specialist based out of the Aberdeen
Regional Center and we have Hilary
Risner who is the Regional 4-H Youth
Program Advisor based out of the Rapid
City Regional Center.  Just to kind of
reflect on where we're at in the in the
process. So since our last webinar you
participated in the campaigning process
whether you as a candidate running for
office, was getting out here your
campaign materials, explaining your
passions, your interests, and why you want
to run for for office.
And then if you are a constituent it was
gathering all the information of the
different candidates within your county
that we're running for office and
deciding who you wanted to vote for. Then
we concluded our voting process and
results will be announced on Wednesday
July 1st. So be watching for that
announcement. And then kind of next steps for for moving forward we're going to on
July 13th, have another webinar on the
orientation for elected officials and
then begin the bill writing process. What
that looks like from a Legislative
perspective as well as a constituent
perspective and how you can play a role
in that process through this program. So
my first question to you and if you want
to type in the chat. What comes to mind
when I say the word advocacy? What does
this mean to you? What are maybe some
examples? If you want to just enter your
thoughts into the chat.
And if you do not have the chat feature,
feel free to unmute yourself and you can
speak up too.
So we have someone who said promoting or advocating for an important cause.
Most definitely. Other thoughts? Tessa
what maybe comes to mind when I say the
word advocacy? Anyone else wanna chime in?
If not we can certainly move on.
So advocacy, when we look at it in terms
of the governmental process, we often
refer to it as lobbying and it's broadly
defined as the attempt to persuade
another person to accept one's position.
And this can be in the in the
Legislature, it could be discussing your
viewpoint with a school board, it could
be discussing your viewpoint with a
commission in our council. Any of those
different levels are certainly
opportunities for you to lobby on. This
includes efforts to influence lawmakers
by other legislators, constituents, or
organized groups. So when we think about
lobbyists and the role of lobbyists,
there's really two main categories of
lobbyists. Snd and that is the individual
beliefs and organization lobbyists. So
you can be a citizen lobbyist,
lobbying on behalf of your own
viewpoints and opinions or you can be a
volunteer or employed lobbyist for an
organization or company. There's kind of
two different approaches to lobbying.
There's grassroots lobbying as well as
direct lobbying. So when I saw the word
grassroots lobbying, that is really
lobbying that aims to influence
policymakers indirectly by shaping
public opinion. So it's talking with
other constituents on your viewpoints
and getting your your thoughts and your
views communicated across the public.
Where direct lobbying is where it
involves attempting to influence the
policy-making process directly by
engaging with those policy makers
directly. Individuals and entities
involved in direct lobbying must
register with before engaging and
lobbying activities. So it's going in and
filling out the necessary forms to be
recognized as a lobbyist. And so you may
wonder how to go about lobbying? And I
have a quick video that does a nice
little introduction on explaining the
role of the lobbyists and how to go
about sharing your.
(Music)
Congrats on taking a
very first step to building power by
showing up. It's so good to meet you. Now what makes a strong grassroots lobbyist is
speaking from the heart on issues you
care about. You need to come prepared. Do
the plan? That's okay I do. And the next
time you come, you can use these tips to
becoming a strong and effective
grassroots lobbyist when meeting with
elected officials. You ready? Let's go. So
whether you're in Annapolis or back home
in a meeting with your school board
member or county official, you need to be
prepared.
Definitely more prepared than you are
now. First thing you got to do is
schedule an appointment for your lobby
visit. Lucky for you I took care of that
a few weeks ago by calling the
legislative office and asking for a
scheduled appointment. Now you can get
lucky if you drop in but if you really
want some quality time with your elected
official, you should call one to two
weeks in advance. Homework time!  You
should do some research on the elected
official you're going to be meeting with.
Things like personal interests, social
affiliations, and some professional
background. These facts will come in
handy when you're making your ask and
building a relationship. Hey! Pay
attention. We need to make a meeting
gameplan. You shouldn't be the only one
talking in that meeting Chatty Cathy, you
need to have a schedule and everyone
needs to have a role. Every lobby visit
needs a meeting leader, someone to run
the meeting and keep everyone on
schedule. The storyteller is the human
face of the issue.
You need someone to make that ask of the
elected official, to support a specific
action or legislation. The note-taker
records what is said. You never know
maybe the elected official will share
some important intelligence with you. And
finally he's just nice to look at.
(Music)
(Knocking)Finally did you get lost? Come on in, have a seat.
You might not have a lot of time with
the elected official, so it's critical
that your thoughts are organized. Get
there early.
Two-minute introductions. Have everyone
introduce themselves, where they work, and
where they're, from especially if they're
constituents. Have your meeting leader
give a two-minute overview about the
issue. Bust out that personal story for a
few minutes. Talk about how the issue has
affected your school and your life.
Materials!  Have your meeting leader pass
them out. Newspaper clippings, fact
sheets, petitions, everything you can
collect about the issue. The most
important thing about the meeting is the
ask. Give your pitch person enough time
to be assertive and ask the elected
official for her support on the issue or
legislative bill number. If she doesn't
commit or gives a vague answer, get to the
bottom of it. See if there's anything you
can do to get her support. Finally have a
meeting leader summarized the whole
meeting, get the next steps, and thank her
for her time.
(Music)
Remember when you're in your appointment,
don't let the elected official run the
meeting or stray off-topic. You're there
for a purpose you got to make sure you
have enough time to make your ask.
Maintain a polite and respectful
demeanor at all times. There are no permanent
friends and no permanent enemies in this
business. The door has to remain open at
all times for future issues. Cream?
(Music)
Follow-up is key. Clarify in the meeting
who's gonna follow up and when. And if
there's any other information that the
elected official might need and share
all of this with the association staff
and leaders so they can help you with
the follow-up.
Don't forget the thank you. If you really
want to be a good grassroots lobbyist, a
handwritten note is the way to go. It's
all about making a lasting impression.
You got it? Great. Looks like you took
some awesome notes. Now go build some
power for your students and your profession.
So now that we've given a
brief introduction to what the role of
the lobbyist plays and kind of gone
through that process. I invite our first
guest speaker David Benson. He serves as
a Government Relations Director for the
South Dakota American Cancer Society
Cancer Action Network. Thank you David
for joining us and talking about your
roles in government relations and what
that looks like.
Good afternoon, thanks for having me. We also have Sandra Waltman
with the South Education
Association, is she gonna go after me or
can we tag-team a little bit? I have a
slide show for her to go after but you
can certainly tag-team if you would like.
Well
Sandra's the pro, she's the expert
in many ways, having been a lobbyist much
longer than me but I'll get started. As a
bit of an introduction
David Benson with South Dakota American
Cancer Society Cancer Action Network,
were the nonpartisan advocacy affiliates
of the American Cancer Society. So I'm
sure you're familiar with American
Cancer Society. We're just the advocacy
affiliates that works on a variety of
policy issues that can help in the fight
against cancer. Certainly there's so much
that elected officials can do as it
relates to
the fight. And that work can take place
the local, state,, and federal levels. And
so as in my role as Government Relations
Director I also serve as the state
lobbyist here in South Dakota and also
just recently in Nebraska. So I'm going
to be covering two states and managing
the various priorities that come up when
it comes to, whether it's tobacco control,
working on policies that can, for example,
increase the purchasing age of tobacco
products. Ways to affect the use by
individuals on e-cigarettes and vaping
products. To finding funding for cancer
screening programs, that are so important to
have early detection, which can help save
lives. And so like I said before that
work can not just take place in state
Legislature level but also in Congress.
And ensuring that we have funds that go
towards the ongoing research that's
taking place in many ways. When you think
about the American Cancer Society, you might think
a lot about the fundraisers we do and
those funds go towards research. But the
reality is our federal government
actually spends more as number-one payer
when it comes to investing in research.
And so it's important that we have that
voice at all levels. Our volunteers, our
members, individuals that have been
affected by cancer.
We often say you're just one degree away
from from cancer. So whether that's
yourself or a family member, friend, or
neighbor. We all have a cancer story
unfortunately. And so bringing that voice
to our elected officials is crucial in
that fight against cancer, to ensure that
we're doing everything we can. And
certainly when it comes to advocacy, when
it comes to lobbying, that's the work we
do. So I can quickly turn it over to
Sandra if that works. I can take it. Um my
name is Sandra Walton, I am the
Government Relations
Communications Director for the South
Dakota Education Association. We're an
organization that represents labor,
public school teacher,s and public school
employees across the state of South
Dakota. We have approximately a hundred
and fifty-nine locals and we are also
affiliated with the National Education
Association. Much like David, I do the
advocacy work for the organization. Our
main priorities are ensuring that public
schools in South Dakota and across the
country are well funded and that public
educators have the tools and resources
necessary in order to deliver quality
public education for South Dakota. Our
organization, are all of our priorities,
the things that we discuss with
legislators, either state level or
national level, are all based on the
membership priorities. And every year, our
members through a process called the
representative assembly develop a
legislative agenda. Ironically this week,
I would probably I would have been in
Atlanta at the National Education
Association's Representative Assembly
developing the legislative agenda for
the nation. However because of COVID 19, I
am I'm with you today. Part of what I do
or a lot of the work I do, is having you
know those conversations and meetings
with legislators. But my priority is
working with my members, giving them the
tools, resources, training, for them to be
the advocates. Elected officials would
much rather hear from their constituents
than somebody who is a registered
lobbyist.
So my interaction with the legislature
is mainly during the legislative session.
I do meet with them throughout the year
but my goal in and most importantly is
to ensure that my members across the
state are developing relationships with
legislators and talking about our
priorities. Thank You Sandra and David. If
you guys have any questions, feel free to
put them in the chat.
But to kick it off, I would start off
with it what do you find as the most
rewarding part of serving in the roles
that you do? And what is the most
difficult? Well I can start off. I I find
incredibly rewarding to bring the
stories and experiences of so many South
Dakotans, that are unfortunately dealing
with barriers or challenges in their
life. And the work that we're doing, is
hopefully gonna save lives. It's going to
improve individuals lives. It's going to
make it easier for individuals to
possibly access or afford health care
coverage. To have access to getting a
screening. So it's a stage one diagnosis
versus Stage four. And once a while,
you'll end up with success and
you know in bringing those voices, bring
those stories, and bring a volunteer to
Pierre. Bring those experiences to
Washington DC to talk to members of our
Congress. And to know the impact that you
could have of just being there and
having this job, is is probably the best
part the job. On the flip side, when you
run into those roadblocks or you're just
not breaking through. You might think
with representing the Cancer Society
that folks would just be like, what can I
do? How can I be helpful? That's not
always the case. And we could do a whole
other zoom conversation about what
that's all about. But when you're just
not breaking through. When you you may
think it's it's a very simple ask and it
just shows the the work that needs to
take place and that's okay.
That's what the processes therefore and that's what's so important about the the
grassroots organizing, the grassroots
lobbying. And to figure out what tactics
are gonna be be useful. And that's sort
of why wait why we as an organization
utilize a thing called Direct Action
Organizing, where we're trying to make
very clear what our goal is and and
figuring out the tactics that that need
to take place, depending on the target.
And the target is usually an elected
official and just figure out what type
of mechanism needs to be used to provide
some sort of influence on that that
target. And so, you know,when we run into
to those challenges, it's usually
indication we just have to go back to
the plan and figure out what we could do
differently next time. I'll take I think
one of the most rewarding things for for
me as a lobbyist is helping my members
find their voice, find their confidence.
So that they are willing to start to
build those relationships. And I think
your video pointed out there are no
permanent friends and there are no
permanent enemies. And helping them come
to that understanding that you know
sometimes you're gonna be able to work
with a legislator or school board member.
We do work with them on how they lobby
their school boards as well. And they
might be on your side, in the next issue
they're not gonna be on their side and
so it's really rewarding for me to watch
groups of my members find their voice
and then eventually you know be able to
do their own lobbying. And have the
confidence to do it themselves. Because
when we are able to engage them in that
way we are we find that we're more
successful. So for me you know you have a
lot of legislative wins and that's great
but for this role if I can help my
members be better lobbyists themselves,
find the confidence to use their voice,
to make that change,
that's very rewarding. You know I think,
like David said, you know public
education.
What legislature or what policymakers
not going for public education but
sometimes you know,
those frustrating times are when there's
not a clear answer or you have to come
to a compromise. And sometimes politics
gets in the way of best policy. That can
be frustrating but again it's for us to
kind of work through those frustrating
times of when the legislators are not
listening to me, the lobbyists. It's
crucial that we have a way to
communicate and engage our members and
we use something called Action Network.
And so it's a matter of its
communicating to two audiences. We have
the legislators that were talking to and
then we're talking to our members to get
them to activate and engage. And there
are some issues, you know, where they're
important issues but they're just there
they're not top of mind and so it's kind
of that push-pull. Like making it a
priority for them when you know they're
they're dealing in with school and
students. So that that can be a little
frustrating but it's just it's a kind of
a, you know, it's it's it's the good and
bad. But I'm missing anything David. I'm
shocked to hear that they don't listen
to you Sandra. No no. Thank you guys. The
next question I have for you is what
advice would you give to someone, so you
talked about finding their voice, so what
advice would you give to our
participants who are wanting to take
that step to start sharing their voice?
It's a great question. You know one thing
that was mentioned in the video was was
do your homework. You not only need to
know the the the aspects of what you're
advocating for, but what your opponents
are also be saying. One of the really
lessons I had in the first session. Was I
was not prepared. I was I was
unfortunately meeting with the Senate
Majority Leader and I was
very green and and I understood the very
basics of what we are we were wanting to
do. But there were some really important
questions that he was asking me that I
just wasn't ready for. Now fortunately
here in South Dakota,
it's a citizen legislature, and and so
they're they're not experts. And they're
they're willing to give you some grace
and allow you to come back with that
information. But at the same time, you
want to be a credible source. You want to be
someone that they are coming to time and
time again when they're when they're
having those difficult questions. When
they're wanting valuable information, and
that's a huge element of the role of a
lobbyist, is to be that source of
information and not violating that
trust. And so it's it's not only knowing
what your you're wanting, but also
they're gonna be hearing a different
side. There's going to be probably
lobbyists or grassroots communication
taking place that's possibly opposing
what you're you're supporting. And so
what are they saying and and being
prepared for how to counter that. I think
there's the one thing that I tell our
members who are sort of new to the world
of lobbying, is first of all don't feel
you have to be an expert on every single
policy. You know. what if I don't know the
answers are their questions? Then just be
honest and say I don't know that but I
can get that for you. But the best advice
I have is, go in with your personal
narrative. Take some time to reflect on
why the issue is important to you. Do you
have a story? For my members, it's very
easy. A lot of times they'll have the
story of the students that they
interacted with or the family they
interacted with. That can really drive
home why funding is important or why
this program is important. It's not
necessarily about you know the facts, and
the figures, and the dollars and the cents,
it's about having that that personal
story.
That especially if it's somebody who's
living in a legislators district that
this is something happening to people in
your community. And then I fill in the
facts and the figures and all of the
data in the rest. But really
understanding and having that personal
narrative about why you care about the
issue. It it's a lot more engaging for
that person and a legislator to talk
about something like that as opposed to
you know the nuts and bolts of something
which is what David and I often do as
the the association lobbyist is. You know
we fill in those those gaps or we give
them that information. But in terms of
membership or association members, it's
it's being able to tell a story. Amber if
I could double down and what Sandra said  is just a great answer
and you pointed out it's about that
local aspect. Again if if the story or
experience has a tie to that legislators
community or district, that's just golden.
Hey thank you. So I kind of piggyback off
of what David said, I actually have a
question for you guys.
Oh no, I'm worried. Are you worried? So I
know the word lobbyists kind of
sometimes leaves a bitter taste in
people's mouths but being in South Dakota
and having that true citizen legislature.
Can you tell us why it's so important
that the lobbyists kind of be there and
be that source of information for our
legislature, that you know could
potentially have a complete turnaround
every two years in election years. Why is
it so important that those lobbyists are
there advocating and providing that
information. Sandra let you go first and
then I'm going to follow up and talk
about all the bad lobbyists. I will talk
about why that's important. Um as you
said Carly there we are says citizen
legislature. And for the most part the
legislators do not have a staff. The most
of them, unless
they're in leadership, share an intern
between sometimes three or four
different legislators. And interns are
generally college students and I think
you know we average what five to seven
hundred bills a legislative session. And
things are moving very quickly and the
legislators can't be an expert on
everything. So the role, we as lobbyists
play, is we provide the information, the
data, the background, where the go-to
people if they've got questions about
the funding formula for education or for
teacher certification. They're gonna seek
us out because they don't necessarily
have a staff person that they can devote
time to do the research. And to find the
answers to the questions they have. And
so they often come to us as the
lobbyists, the people who work in the
various industries, to get some of their
technical questions answered. To get
perspectives on how the policy that
they're they're voting on or they're
debating is going to affect the industry?
How it's going to affect education? How
it's going to affect healthcare, cancer
research, whatnot? In the case of David,
we're really kind of the the the experts
and we're the resource, information
resource that they they just don't have
the staff to access, nor the time. So it's
it's a very fast-moving process and they
don't have a lot of time to do a lot of
research. So a good lobbyist is going to
make themselves available and I have
legislators who often do not agree with
me on many things but they do seek me
out to ask me some like technical
questions because they know I'm gonna
know the answer. But I mean that's really
one of the important roles that we as a
lobbyist in a citizen legislature play.
Now David can tell you the
not. I was gonna put myself on mute and
thence named them all. But I mean the
reality is, is that it's it's certainly a
mixed bag. And there there's what Sandra
indicated about the importance of that
institutional knowledge. Whether it's
about the issues, the process, is
invaluable when you've got term limits.
But at the end of the day, it's so
crucial
that we we have transparency, that we
have a media that's following the really
boring stuff. It's great that we have
public broadcasting that you can stream
and listen to committee hearings and
floor sessions and press conferences. I
you know lobbyists that can run amok or
feel that, well no one's paying
attention, and I can say whatever I want
in testimony. It's important that we
have a citizenry that's engaged and in
following the process. And to ensure that,
again certainly some things do occur
that doesn't get much attention good and
bad. And you know we added e-cigarettes the the state smoke-free law, it wasn't
getting a lot of attention during the
process until the very end and then
people were asking why didn't I hear about this. So yeah I think there's certainly a
benefit obviously to to having that
expertise of lobbyists but also
important that people are following the
process that are not there in Pierre. David
had mentioned something about the role
of lobbyists and the turnover. As you
know we have term limits and so you
don't have a lot of continuity in
committee chairs. Leadership is changing
pretty much every two to four years,
you're you're having a new crop of
leaders and they've just literally
figured out the process, if they've
completely figured out the process. And
so lobbyists often become the
institutional knowledge of, okay they
passed this bill you know 10-12 years
ago and and this was the the rationale
for it. And so when they're bringing a
bill now there's people in the building
per se that can explain the history of
certain issues. And that's a double-edged
sword because that can give lobbyists a
lot of power, that they may or may not
deserve. But when you have constant
changing of your leadership, because of
term limits, sometimes we're the
knowledge of last resort. Alright thank
you for that. I'm going to make it a
quick announcement that we have a few
more minutes left before in each
transition. So if you have any
last-minute questions, be sure to ask
them. But the next question I have that
came in, is what stage of the process do
you start advocating? Well for a bill or?
I'm assuming so. Okay Sandra you want to start? Well it depends. Sometimes we start
advocating before the bill is even
written. If there is a policy change or
legislation we want we want to bring, we
will begin by creating a draft and then
talking with legislators that we believe
would be interested in carrying the bill.
And that usually starts, you know,
depending on the bill, depending on the
complexity, you know. Summer, Fall we'll
start talking with legislators to see if
there's any interest. And so we're very
much involved in the process before the
the bill is even drafted. Sometimes the
legislature will have an idea and they
will reach out to us before session.
During session it's, you know,  when
oftentimes we might not know, especially
bills we're going to oppose or coming. So
it's during the legislative session. So
it just kind of depends on the bill, the
policy, and whether we're trying to pass
something or oppose something. It really
varies, you know, we've had issues that we
we knew is going to be a multi-year
effort. That we may not be bringing a
bill that session but we're building
capacity whether it's education for
volunteers and
and slowly talking to legislators or the
Governor's office.  I mean the Governor's
office certainly has to be part of this
conversation because all roads lead to
the Governor's desk. And then in other
cases, we were planning on working on an
issue and a legislature that we didn't
have a relationship with and didn't have
a chance to talk to. We find out is
planning on bringing a bill and we
quickly jump on it's either because it's
problematic in terms of language or it's
something that, with a few changes, can be
something we can support and help
through the process. So there's there's
various ways here in South Dakota to
bring something in. And and I mentioned
before, you know, we certainly work at the
at the federal level and that's that can
oftentimes take many years to get a bill
through Congress. Its very rare to introduce a bill and have it
passed in one year it usually is a
multi-year process to make, I would say
three years, to make small change and
even longer to make significant change.
But sometimes that's done incrementally.
But yeah but even the three-year
timeline as Sandra and I talked about is
with term limits. In some cases you're
looking at at two years before the next
election where you you're not dealing
with the same body of legislators. Takes
patience. Yes
The next question I have is how did you
get interested or want to pursue this
work, this type of work? Well you know I
don't know that public policy
backgrounds. I had no lobbying experience
really. Not much interaction with with
the legislature. I never paged. I never
interned. I did in internship and in
Washington DC.
So you know, when this job was available
five and a half years ago, I had been
working in electoral politics and been
working for a US senator and what I
really liked about it is at least with
this rule, at the American Cancer Society
Cancer Action Network, it use it utilizes
a number of my interests and strengths.
You know we do some fundraising, we do
media relations, we volunteer, organizing,
in addition to to the lobbying work. And
so I'll be honest lobbying is not my
favorite part of this job all the time.
I enjoy being part of the process. I
enjoy having a front-row seat to the
process. But I often times describe the
legislative session as a rollercoaster
of emotions. And you have to ride the
highs just like the lows. And so so yeah
so for me,  it was less of probably about
the lobbying aspect, than just the
overall scope of at least this job. I
would say I was born into it.
My father was in the legislature for 14
years and so I've sort of always been
around the process per se. Like Dave,
I had worked in electoral politics. I had
worked in a constituency service office
and in state government and when the
Communications and GR job. I graduated
with the communications degree from
college and so I was looking for
communications job. So this role kind of
allowed me to use my degree and allowed
me to use some of the things I had
learned growing up. And it's it's they
often say it gets into your blood. It's
one of those things were, but as David
said, it's it's the roller coaster. You go
through a lot of highs and lows. It's
it's very fast-moving. One day you're
winning and the next day you're not
winning. So it's a two and a half month roller coaster. At some point in time
legislators, lobbyists say I can't
do this anymore.
But then as as time gets away, you know
May, June, you're like okay and you're
kind of excited for session to begin the
next year because the beginning of
session, you know, just the possibility.
There's a lot of possibility. So yeah
it's, it's not, I would not say most
people say I want to be a lobbyist. You
kind of find your way there through the
work that you're doing advocacy work
that you're doing for an association. You
know, you've been around the process. I
was a page, I was an intern, I was a
Senate secretary, so I I've been around
the process and so I just had the
opportunity to use some of those things
to lobby. So you guys mentioned
experiences like paging and serving as
secretary. What would you encourage young people to pursue those types of
activities and roles to gain experience.
Oh absolutely.
I think one of the the best things about
participating in our legislature, whether
you're a lobbyist or you're gonna be a
page or an intern, is that you get to
learn so many things about so many
different topics. And I think for like a
high school junior, senior, who's trying
to figure out what they want to do when
they go to post-secondary school or
somebody who's in college who hasn't
quite figured out you know what interest
or industry or what might interest them.
Serving in a South Dakota legislature as
either a page or an intern, it exposes
you to so many different industries and
you learn so much. And you might actually
you know it might be that you're
interested in political science or
policy work but you might you know find
yourself working with a legislator or
following a debate on a particular issue
that impacts a specific industry, whether
it be education or a business issue. That
might make you, you know, want to go into
that. So it's it's a very educational experience. I would I would
encourage, even if you're not interested
in politics or political science per se,
to to intern, to page. It looks great on
a resume. But I think the experience you
get and the the different things that
you are exposed to and that you will
gain knowledge from. Great well, I thank
you both for your time and taking this
opportunity to share your guys's roles
and we really appreciate you. Thank you.
Thanks. It was a pleasure. So now as we take a look at how advocacy will play a part in the
South Dakota 4-H legislature program, as
we think about our two different roles.
So those that are selected, when we
announced on Wednesday, who will be our
legislature. We have those roles and
advocacy and then we also have the
constituents role in advocacy. And both
are a vital part to the process. So as a
legislator, you need to be
accessible to hear constituent
viewpoints, be understanding, even if they
don't support your own viewpoint.
Remember that you represent the people
of your communities and counties and
it's your representing not just your own
opinion. And so it's taking that feedback,
those different viewpoints that you're
receiving, and doing your best to
represent the whole. And and trying to
find the consensus of the group. You need
to remain professional. So in all of your
communications, making sure that you're
polite and courteous timely and again
being accessible to hear those
for a few points from your constituents.
And then utilizing that feedback to help
you either make the bills that you're
writing better or share those viewpoints
on other bills that have been written by
your fellow legislators, to make sure
that again the voice you represent is
being heard. On the flip side, we have the
constituents role. So as I talked about
earlier, the lobbyists sometimes need to
to register. We won't have that process
and our South Dakota 4-H Legislature
program. So don't think that you're
missing the boat on filling out a form
or something like that. But when you are
having conversations with your elected
official, you need to remain professional
in your communications. So when it goes
to like in the video, it stated setting
up a meeting, and so on and so forth.
Given the circumstances that we're in, 
we're going to encourage you to schedule either
phone calls or virtual meetings. And if
you're elected official has shared their
contact information, feel free to reach
out to them. But if they have not because
it isn't necessarily a requirement you
can work with your County 4-H
professional to relay your questions or
assist in that process of setting up a
meeting. So we encourage you that with
whatever viewpoints, of whether it's a
bill you think should be written, a bill
that's being written, because all those
bills will be posted in our Box folders.
So you can have access to them once the
the drafts have been written. And you can
review them and at that time um express
your opinions. But if you think there is
a bill that should be written on a
particular topic, feel free to reach out
to them prior to that process as well.
And then just know without your your
input to your elected official does not
know if they're properly representing
their constituents. So it is so important
for you to share your voice and and give
your feedback to your representatives. So
with that, we have about ten minutes left
is there any questions about the process,
next steps, anything in general? We do
have an announcement so if you were a
candidate who ran for representative, you
and you haven't sent your photo to
Hillary please do so as soon as possible.
We would like to include those photos in
our announcement. Any other questions?
If not, as you are going through the
process if questions come up as always
please feel free to reach out to any of
the committee members. You can find our
contact information in the South Dakota
4-H Legislature Program Guidebook
under the the Program Committee Page. We would be happy to assist you in any way
possible. I will make another
announcement. Specifically to those
elected representatives that will be
announced on Wednesday.
Moving forward, the remaining webinars
are mandatory. If you cannot make them in
person, you do have to watch the
recording and complete a short little
worksheet that goes along with each
webinar. So please get those on your
calendar and try to engage in person as
attending those webinars here on out as
an elected official is required. Other
than that, I will see you on the 13th.
Please note whether you're a legislator
or a constituent, we invite you to join
in as we will approach that process from
both perspectives.
And the webinar details in the Guidebook
are on pages 27 and 28 for your
reference.
With that thank you for joining us and I
hope you have a great rest of your
evening.
(Music)
you
