The Government Affairs program is more than a simple lobbying operation that represents the Rocky Mountain Chapter's interest when threats arise. Instead, the Government Affairs Department teaches and guides ABC members in direct political involvement, so members can protect and advance their interests on their own for the long-term. Direct involvement of contractors in federal, state, and especially local politics is the most effective way to preserve open competition and free enterprise in Colorado.
ABC works through its Legislative Committee in the identification of issues and the establishment of policy on subjects that will affect our members. This committee is utilized to review legislation and meets to evaluate legislative initiatives to be considered by the Colorado General Assembly during its four-month session, take positions on these proposals, and communicates the position of the industry to the appropriate legislators or regulatory agencies.
The members of ABC are kept informed through a variety of publications and alerts. Legislative Action Alerts are sent to members on critical issues requesting action in a short period of time. In addition, legislative updates are printed monthly in the chapter's newsletter, the Merit Builder, highlighting legislative issues. The legislative update is broad based and covers not only legislative proposals, but also regulatory and administrative actions, which impact the industry.
ABC holds a number of events throughout the year that enable the members to interact with their elected officials. These are done through several different forums, including special legislative receptions, annual Legislative Dinner, and the monthly membership meetings. These events provide an excellent opportunity for ABC members to meet face-to-face with their representatives and to have meaningful dialogue on the issues of concern to the overall organization and each individual business. Chapter members also participate in ABC's National Legislative Conference held annually in Washington, DC. This is an excellent opportunity to interact with your congressional members and visit our nation's capitol.
You don't have the time to track all of the action of the local, state, and national legislatures and regulatory agencies. ABC does work on your behalf to fight anti-business forces in Congress and the Colorado Legislature who seek to pass legislation that would be detrimental to the merit shop philosophy. We will be pro-active when the political landscape allows. Full-time lobbyists are operating on the state and national levels.
This is a fund established to support legal and political efforts and any other cause that relates to defending free enterprise and open competition. This was created in order to be able to fund efforts without raising dues to support these efforts.
The Free Enterprise Alliance (FEA) Toolbox Talk Program is a fun, easy, non-partisan and "legally-approved" plan for reaching out to all ABC members, whether or not they have been active in the past, and most importantly, to their employees. The yearlong objective of the Free Enterprise Alliance is to help ABC members educate their employees about the merit industry, issues affecting the merit industry, and the role they play as a merit employee.