LOBBYIST     

Description of Role

• Lobbyists are sometimes called the “THIRD HOUSE”, of the Legislature.
• Their role is to see work for an organization that either support or is opposed to various pieces of legislation.
• They serve a role of educating the members of legislature about the bill they are discussing.
• None of the members of the Committees are able to be an expert on all the issues before them, so the lobbyist serve a purpose as a resource and expert in the area the bill is discussing.
• Our Lobbyist serves an important part of the process by getting the public hearings going, by providing testimony on bills. They testify at the public hearings either for or against bills that have been assigned to them.
• They must select an organization they are working for as they give their testimony.
• They then must take time to talk to various members to convince them to support their side of the bill.
• Lobbyists in our program serve a dual role;
• At the end of the Public Hearings our lobbyist become members of that committee for the work session.
• When the House of Representatives goes into session they are also members of the House.
• This allows them even more influence to work for their desired result on bills.
• One lobbyist will be elected to work on each of the 9 committees.
• The lobbyist will have to be sure that all bills in their committee have at least one lobbyist speaking either for or against it.
• The Lobbyists that are elected at the Training Session will be able to decide if they are for or against each of the bills in their committee.
• They must make sure that there is at least 1 lobbyist speaking on each bill in their committee.
• Lobbyist may testify in front of other committees so long as each bill in their committee has someone to testify for each of the bills. 
• Lobbyist may testify in support of or in opposition to the bill.

Responsibilities

• Research bills that are assigned to you, this should be done prior to arriving in Augusta, to develop a 1-2 minute testimony on each of these bills.
• Develop amendments that will support your position on the bill
• Research what organization you will be representing in your testimony on each of these bills
• Influence other members who will support your opinion on bills and will speak for your side.
• Time will be provided on Friday morning to do last minute research at the State Library.

Attend the Leadership Session:

MUST ATTEND LEADERSHIP SESSION, information about the session will be mailed to you 2-3 weeks prior to the event.

Scripts or additional Information:

Become familiar with “Testifying at a Public Hearing" from this website