Guest Paula Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I'm curious how many state chapters have lobbyists hired to work for them to get OTP passed? In Wisconsin we have an excellent lobbyist and his team who are helping us get OTP passed. We have 2 steps left to go: Floor vote in the Senate (expected to happen sometime in March) and then on to Governor for signing. Keeping fingers crossed the Senate doesn't fail us. Our WI story: When I became President we had a lobbyist who was also the lobbyist for several specialty medical associations in the state. I always thought that was weird as it seemed a conflict of interest to me. His line was always "now is not the right time to go to the legislature". By 6 months in I essentially fired him as we decided to put out requests for proposals for a new lobbyist. It caused waves with the old guard state PA leaders, but , oh well, change needed to happen. We hired a lobbyist firm and got 3 lobbyists and bit the bullet and pay them a handsome yearly fee to WORK FOR US. We have not regretted the decision and the lobbyist said "Now is the time, it's always the time to be active in the capital to educate and get the ball rolling". He worked, and worked and worked for us and has earned his salary, along with his 2 other colleagues who helped along the way. I'm pretty sure they all wore out a pair of shoes every year. We've had them for 4 years now. So if your state organization has a lobbyist who is in any way connected with the state medical society or specialty physician groups FIRE them and get the ball rolling. You can do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 21, 2020 Administrator Share Posted February 21, 2020 Washington state used to have a shared lobbyist. We have a new one this session, and a bill that's passed one house so far... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MediMike Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Oh did we change our lobbyist?! I thought it was the same gal we've been sharing with WSMA. Interesting that we're seeing progress now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSPAC Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 8 hours ago, Paula said: I'm curious how many state chapters have lobbyists hired to work for them to get OTP passed? In Wisconsin we have an excellent lobbyist and his team who are helping us get OTP passed. We have 2 steps left to go: Floor vote in the Senate (expected to happen sometime in March) and then on to Governor for signing. Keeping fingers crossed the Senate doesn't fail us. Our WI story: When I became President we had a lobbyist who was also the lobbyist for several specialty medical associations in the state. I always thought that was weird as it seemed a conflict of interest to me. His line was always "now is not the right time to go to the legislature". By 6 months in I essentially fired him as we decided to put out requests for proposals for a new lobbyist. It caused waves with the old guard state PA leaders, but , oh well, change needed to happen. We hired a lobbyist firm and got 3 lobbyists and bit the bullet and pay them a handsome yearly fee to WORK FOR US. We have not regretted the decision and the lobbyist said "Now is the time, it's always the time to be active in the capital to educate and get the ball rolling". He worked, and worked and worked for us and has earned his salary, along with his 2 other colleagues who helped along the way. I'm pretty sure they all wore out a pair of shoes every year. We've had them for 4 years now. So if your state organization has a lobbyist who is in any way connected with the state medical society or specialty physician groups FIRE them and get the ball rolling. I hope you shared this on the Huddle. PREACH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I better cut and paste this to the Huddle. It might cause controversy, ha, ha , ha . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelseff Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 I better cut and paste this to the Huddle. It might cause controversy, ha, ha , ha .Let's hope it does to get those PAs talking! [emoji16] Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted February 22, 2020 Share Posted February 22, 2020 For some reason I couldn't cut and paste my post but I just posted a new OTP Lobbyist stream on the Huddle. It was edited for a little blandness...…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 23, 2020 Administrator Share Posted February 23, 2020 2 hours ago, Paula said: For some reason I couldn't cut and paste my post but I just posted a new OTP Lobbyist stream on the Huddle. It was edited for a little blandness...…. By you or by the Huddle mods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 hour ago, rev ronin said: By you or by the Huddle mods? Oh, by me.. I figured the snowflakes on there couldn't handle it. LOL!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 (edited) For many years Texas had a shared lobbyist and executive director with the Texas Medical Association...the very group who most actively worked against us. Mind boggling. Things have changed in the last couple of years as a result of a rather significant scandal involving those 2 people. Paula I appreciate your posts here and in the Huddle about your state's work. I often marvel at how many people yell about getting things done with no idea how much time and effort it takes. I can't imagine how any state society board, all of whom are part time volunteers, get anything done without a lobbyist. Edited February 24, 2020 by sas5814 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.