Understanding the role of federal regulatory advocacy in your members’ industries and enhancing engagement efforts with federal agencies can significantly advance your strategic government relations objectives over the long term. While Congress enacted only 344 laws between 2019 and 2020, agencies completed 5,838 rulemakings during that same time, making agencies approximately 17 times more active than Congress. Since each regulation carries the force of law, the regulatory arena arguably affects professions and businesses more than any other.
After a law is enacted, it is typically implemented by developing regulations that outline what impacted communities must do to comply with the law. Regulatory advocacy targets the development of regulations through a process known as rulemaking, which provides opportunities for the public to submit written comments. While any individual member can comment on a rulemaking notice, there is power in numbers, so your role as an association representing a large community of constituents can often hold more weight than the comment of any one individual.
Why It Matters
Your association should care about regulatory advocacy and rulemaking because the federal government is required to read and respond to all feedback it receives. That means your association can submit a written comment detailing why you support or oppose a proposed policy, offer recommendations to revise the proposal or recommend a new proposal altogether that better matches the needs of your constituents. The federal agency must review and respond to your comment in writing in the final rule it later issues.
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