EERI's Public Policy and Advocacy Committee is holding an invitational workshop for committee members on Tuesday December 15, 2015 in Oakland, California.
The workshop goal is to reach agreement among Public Policy and Advocacy Committee members on a set of policy concepts for which EERI should advocate, and to document these concepts in a series of policy position statements.
This activity is a key step in the larger goal of the committee to develop and maintain a Public Policy Agenda for EERI. In future years, it is anticipated that the committee will refine and add to the endorsed policy concepts, seeking annual approval from the Board.
The output of the workshop will be a series of Policy Position Statements that describe policies that EERI supports in succinct, non-technical terms. Prior to the proposed workshop, committee members would draft a series of additional policy concepts. At the workshop, participants will debate and vet the draft policy position statements and reach agreement on the policy concepts that carry the support of committee members. Following the workshop, the policy positions would be polished into short, graphically pleasing write-ups suitable for sharing with lawmakers and other public officials. These write-ups would be presented to EERI’s Board for approval. The approved policies will form the basis of a Public Policy Agenda for EERI.
EERI could use the policy position statements to advocate for policy change in a variety of ways, potentially including the following:
(1) After a damaging earthquake (in US or around world), approach media and lawmakers with a succinct statement calling for specific policy changes:
- Policies should be specific (focused on a specific governmental body, asking for a specific action: e.g., the Congress should amend the Stafford Act to do x, y, and z)
- Policies should be relevant to issues observed in recent earthquake (e.g., the Napa earthquake caused a lot of chimney damage, which is a good time to advocate for chimney mitigation)
- Calls for policy change could appear on fact sheets, and could be a brief mention in media appearances, or could be the focus of specific outreach to relevant lawmakers
(2) Ongoing advocacy to lawmakers, building long term relationship
- EERI could introduce itself to lawmakers with a short presentation of our policy agenda
- When board members, staff, or Public Policy and Advocacy Committee members visit lawmakers, this would provide meaningful content for their discussions
(3) Help EERI to determine positions on pending legislation
- Established policy positions would be reviewed when deciding whether to support, oppose, or be neutral on pending policies related to earthquakes
(4) Post on EERI's website
- Inform EERI’s members and others of organization’s policy priorities
A regular review process to add to and verify the continued relevance of the statements will be incorporated into the committee’s ongoing charge. This will allow the statements to be refined or modified as the political environment changes and evolves over time.