Get involved with industry issues – you can make a difference

You are focused on your business; sometimes just keeping it afloat, or focused on making it better, or focused on growth. You have your nose to the grindstone and sometimes it is hard to pull away and focus on bigger-picture issues that impact your business such as legislation and regulations. But those big-picture issues are important.

NALP copyAt the national level, staff members of the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) track and try to positively steer issues that impact our industry, and we work with lobbyists to impact legislation. But we truly can’t do it alone. National, state and local representatives listen to their constituents and especially to business owners. You are more important to them.

Every year, at the end of July, we go as an industry to Capitol Hill and talk with legislators about our issues. We encourage everyone in the industry to join with us. But, if you can’t come in person, make your voice heard by using our legislative center to e-mail your representatives about issues that are important to you, visit them in your home district or use the fastest and easiest way: Call out to them directly on social media.

A poll of House and Senate offices by the Congressional Management Foundation found that “three quarters of senior staff said that between one and 30 comments on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter were enough to grab their attention on an issue. Thirty-five percent said that fewer than 10 comments were enough.”

All congressional representatives have Twitter handles and their staff members check them. We at NALP had a very successful campaign this past spring with a #SaveH2B campaign, after the Department of Labor made detrimental changes to that program. With nearly 12,000 posts and 1.5 million impressions, we got the attention of lawmakers.

You can visit the advocacy section of our website for the latest news and hot-button issues and you will find us tweeting about them using #landscapeadvocacy or #NALPadvocates. And later this month, we hope to see you in Washington.

This column from the National Association of Landscape Professionals appears monthly at TotalLandscapeCare.com.

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