Youth In GovernmentLobbying DivisionAn Overview

What is Lobbying?

Walking through this? Not quite.

What is lobbying?

- Lobbying is the act of trying to influence public policy decisions of government official in order to reflect and represent the values and interests of an organization.

- In YIG, lobbying occurs both inside and outside of the chambers. You will be required to speak inside the House and Senate sessions in order to convince delegates to side with a selected organization’s stance on a bill.

- You can also build a network which will help you reach more people to support your organization’s stance.

What is your role?

- A lobbyist tries to influence everything about a bill, from birth to debate.

- Your organization will be your “client”, and you aim to represent its view during the entire Youth in Government process.

- You will need to seek out bills that your client would either support or oppose, and do research in order to support that stance.

Becoming a Lobbyist

- Have one (1) year of legislative experience.- You must choose an organization before Pre-Legislation

(Done on registration forms). A few things to keep in mind:- You must represent the organization’s stance on issues

and bills, not your own.- The organization should focus on a certain topic that is

relevant to Delaware.- The organization should operate on some level in

Delaware.

Example organizations

● Found in your YIG manual on page 67○ AstraZeneca○ Bank of America Corporation○ Delaware Small Business Chamber○ University of Delaware

● Delaware State Education Association● DuPont● Natural Resource Defense Council

Before Training and Elections Conf.

● Be sure to research your organization well and understand their stance on certain issues. For example, if you are supporting the Fraternal Order of Police, you will need to know their stance on specifics such as assault weapons, “Stand Your Ground Laws”, and other things pertaining specifically to their goals for legislation.

● Begin working on the Lobbyist Organization Profile Paper. ● Work with students in your delegation to promote the

generation of bills that are beneficial to your organization.

During Training and Elections Conf.

● Meet face-to-face with other delegates. This is a great opportunity to speak to authors of bills that you support and help them out as well as build relationships with other delegates to help pass legislation that is beneficial to your organization.

● Listen in on committees and find bills that pertain to your organization. This is the defining moment for many bills, and you can help shape them!

● You will have the opportunity to meet up with other lobbyists and discuss and review your Organization Profile Paper with them.

After Training and Elections Conference

● Submit Organization Profile Paper to delawareyig@gmail.com

● Finish your display board. The board will help delegates understand your organization. Boards will be on display at legislative hall.

● Research the bill topics you are planning to support or oppose and begin research for your speeches.

● Look over the bills (which will be posted online at this time) to better understand the legislation you will be dealing with.

During Legislative Weekend● Participate in bill ranking (Lobbyist cannot rank bills).● Set up the display board.● Speak on behalf of the bills you have decided to support/oppose in the

House and Senate.● If your bill passes in one chamber, you must follow it and lobby in the next

chamber.● Lobby to the youth Governor to help your bill get passed should it proceed

to his/her office.● Interact with other delegates in order to help support/oppose bills.● On Friday, there is a mixer where you will host a booth in order to network

with delegates and gain more support for your organization.

Organization Profile Paper- Parts 1 and 2 should be completed before the training and elections

conference (March 7th)- Part 1: Introduction to organization; who it is, what it stands for, what it

does.- Part 2: Importance to Delaware: what the organization does for the

state, its impact on the community.- Part 3 should be done between the Training and Elections Conference and

the Model Legislative and Judicial Conference (April 10th-12th).- Part 3: An outline of legislation that pertains to your organization’s

goals and its stance on it.

Organization Display

● This will be placed on display in Legislative Hall during Legislative weekend

● A lobbyist display should be a visual depiction of the Lobbyist Organization Profile Paper and should help delegates get a quick overview of the organization represented, its stances, and its contribution to Delaware.

● Lobbyists will also have the opportunity to set up their display during the Friday night mixer.

Speaking

Anytime you want to speak, whether in bill sharing, bill ranking, or debate, you must use parliamentary procedure.1. Name2. Delegation3. Representing “______”4. Thank the chairLobbyists cannot make motions, submit amendments, yield time, or question the author.

Tips and tricks● Be polite and sociable! Speak with other delegates on bill topics and don’t

be afraid to speak with them on their bills.● Team up with another lobbyist if you both have organizations that have

similar stances on a bill. Two lobbyists can give two angles on a bill and be more convincing.

● Make business cards to give out to delegates (candy and other incentives don’t hurt either).

● Your speeches should contain as many facts and statistics as possible.● You’re a lobbyist! While everything must be four core and fair, don’t be

afraid to think outside of the box to garner support.○ Offer to poll legislators on bills, speak to the press, etc.

Most importantly...

Have fun!