With its recent partnership with Stateside Associates, IFA is now positioned to move its state lobbying efforts to the next level.  

Franchising World November 2011  

By: Wayne Weikel   

The biggest challenge in developing an effective legislative advocacy plan at the state level is not engaging elected officials or even honing a winning strategy; the single biggest challenge is managing information. With 99 state legislatures (Only Nebraska has a single legislative body within its governmental system, unlike all other states, which   have both a House and Senate), containing well over 1,000 subject-specific policy committees and subcommittees, the acquisition and evaluation of information is like oxygen to a successful legislative program. 

With the rise of the Internet over the past 15 years, the method by which legislative information is collected has been dramatically changed. All states now provide bill text online and most provide some form of bill history to show where a bill presently sits in the legislative process. Recognizing a clear need, a number of companies have developed online repositories of legislative information, to which they grant access for a fee. Over the past decade, the International Franchise Association has used such services to help track state legislation on topics important to our membership. 

Database Limitations 

Unfortunately, these online databases have many limitations. Whereas they are keyword based, they often flag legislation on totally unrelated topics–a search on the word “franchise,” for example, produces hundreds of bills relating to “franchise taxes” for every one that relates to “franchising.”   Similarly, if a bill relates to franchising, but does not happen to contain one of the key search terms, it goes unnoticed–very common in short pieces of legislation. 

Another problem can occur if a bill is amended late in the legislative process and the bill is not rechecked by the system for all the selected search terms. Such problems have become accepted limitations of these online data clearinghouses. 

Premier Legislative Tracking 

With its recent partnership with Stateside Associates, IFA is now positioned to move its state lobbying efforts beyond these limitations. Stateside Associates are the country’s premiere legislative tracking consultants. Unlike its competitors, they do not simply resell keyword or phrase searchable tracking services. They are a state government affairs consulting firm whose sole focus is providing clients with accurate legislative information. With an experienced team of former state legislative staffers from all across the country tracking actions in state capitols, Stateside Associates will be able to provide IFA with first-hand quantitative and qualitative data needed to effectively evaluate potential threats and take necessary actions. 

In addition to providing better information to the staff of IFA’s Government Relations and Public Policy team, Stateside Associates’ system will also allow IFA to now offer a great new service to members. Any member interested in tracking legislation at the state level can be granted free access to a customized, password-secured Web page, designed to display all IFA legislative priorities. These priorities will include bill sponsors, comprehensive bill summaries emphasizing provisions most relevant to the IFA, current bill status, informed assessments of chance of passage, hyperlinks to full bill text and amendments, and a color-coded map of the United States     for a quick reference of IFA matters. Members will be able join a distribution list to receive updates on all IFA-related issues. Those interested can also receive a weekly report covering any legislative action on IFA priority topics. 

Presently, Stateside Associates provides its expertise to many successful corporate government affairs teams. IFA is pleased to be able to partner with an industry leader and extend such valuable services to its members. 

For more information on the Stateside Associates legislative tracking system or any of the International Franchise Association’s activities in the states, contact IFA Director of State Government Relations and Public Policy.