Taking It to the Next Level: Elevating Our NASBP Advocacy

Much of advocacy rests in providing education to and building awareness of those who are in legislative, policy, or legal positions to impact the surety industry. In my meetings with various public officials, legislators, and construction industry representatives I am constantly reminded in their comments that the merits of surety bonds are not always apparent to them. I am sure you share similar experiences, and I would venture to say that all who make their living in the surety industry know that educating about the merits of surety bonding is a constant need, particularly for policy and decision-makers. Even if we are successful in educating a particular official on surety bonding, that official’s reassignment or retirement will produce a fresh need, and the cycle of education must commence again. For that reason, our role as product advocates will never be fulfilled.

Part of our challenge in being effective advocates is uncovering who needs to be educated and how to gain access to them so a productive dialogue and exchange of information can commence. At the federal level, NASBP has an important tool, its political action committee, known as SuretyPAC, which has grown steadily in its importance to the success of NASBP achieving its federal legislative goals. SuretyPAC enables NASBP government relations staff to receive “face time” with members of Congress at re-election fundraisers. Such contributions are counted on by members of Congress, who spend an amazing portion of their time having to fundraise to meet the realities of federal re-election campaigns. Like it or not, when experiencing difficulty scheduling a meeting with a particular Congressional office to educate them on the merits, or demerits, of an issue or bill, a SuretyPAC contribution provides such access at a fundraising event and can work wonders for our ability to be visible and to educate on our viewpoints. You likely have heard me say as much at a NASBP meeting or event, but the point cannot be overemphasized (so it is highly likely that you will hear me opine again on this in the future). To facilitate a better understanding of SuretyPAC, its purpose, and its operation, Larry LeClair and Shannon Crawford have created a first-ever NASBP SuretyPAC website. The site will be available to anyone who has supplied NASBP with prior written authorization for PAC solicitations (advanced prior approval is required by law). Members now can furnish such authorizations online with our electronic Prior Approval Form available on this site. The web site contains much information on SuretyPAC, including:

• A list of the current SuretyPAC officers,
• A list of SuretyPAC contributions to federal candidates for past elections cycles and the current election cycle,
• The SuretyPAC Bylaws and Contribution Criteria Documents,
• Recent PAC Fundraising events attended by NASBP,
• A direct link to NASBP’s Grassroots Center, and
• A ticker on the latest Political News.

This new web site will enhance NASBP’s ability to inform you of the work of the SuretyPAC in promoting and protecting our interests.

Many of our government relations efforts, however, take place at state and local levels. NASBP always has relied on the strength of our grassroots network to advocate for surety. Truly, our greatest resource is our members and their collective action. To enhance our effectiveness in this area, government relations staff have been working to reinvigorate the NASBP network of volunteer members who have agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of NASBP at the local level. Again, Larry LeClair and Shannon Crawford have worked diligently to reach out to NASBP producers across jurisdictions to recruit them to the grassroots network. To assist these volunteers with their important watchdog and activist roles, Larry and Shannon have put together a grassroots advocacy toolkit containing information to address roles, responsibilities, and expectations along with resource materials. All of this structure will be put in place so the network will be poised to address the inevitable challenges, and opportunities, we will face as an industry during the upcoming 2014 state legislative season.

As an industry, we continue to be faced with new challenges arising in different contexts and from different directions. Liberalization of public procurement systems, shrinking federal, state and local procurement workforces, paucity of financing for projects, application, and misapplication, of technology (think, e.g., electronic reverse auctions) are but a few of the forces that can exert pressure on or impact negatively the requirements for or the administration of bonding requirements or the welfare of bond principals. “Things are not so simple,” as they say. The future portends no shortages of such challenges. Our new General Counsel, Martha Perkins, provides the NASBP community with even more experience and capability to meet the emerging challenges head-on, and I am pleased to report that her contributions already are impactful.

I will not detail everything that we currently are doing to elevate our advocacy at NASBP, but I assure you that we have much more being planned and under development. Thank you for your commitment to NASBP, and please know that NASBP is committed to you!