APMA News - September/October 2017 - 28

CPA State Component Self-Assessment
Survey Results: Advocacy Infrastructure
The APMA Center for Professional Advocacy (CPA) provided an overview of the 2016 State Component Self-Assessment Survey results in
the July/August 2017 edition of APMA News, available at www.apma.org/APMANews. This article provides a closer look at the survey
results in the first category, state components' advocacy infrastructure. You can see the full 2016 results at www.apma.org/CPA.

When considering the depth of a state component's advocacy infrastructure, the CPA asked whether the state component did any or all of the following:
1. retained the services of a lobbyist and/or attorney
2. had a legislative committee to oversee advocacy efforts
and actively set a legislative agenda for the upcoming year
3. budgeted specifically for any legislative advocacy efforts
The purpose of the questions in this category was to determine whether a state component has the necessary internal support in place to run a state advocacy campaign. Results
from the 2014 and 2016 surveys were compared to see how
state components have adjusted and refocused their resources
and efforts in the past two years. A total of six points were available in this category.
The overall number of states allocating resources toward
advocacy development and infrastructure in 2016 increased
from 2014, with more than half of the 41 responding states
scoring higher than the average score of approximately three.
Twenty-two states scored at least three and a half points out
of six. Fifty-four percent of reporting state components now include a line item dedicated to legislative advocacy efforts in their budgets, up slightly
from 50 percent in 2014. More states are using a

legislative committee comprised of members as well, up to 64
percent in 2016 versus slightly less than 60 percent in 2014.
One area of concern is the number of states using a lobbyist
(on staff, through a retainer, or on an as-needed basis) to directly advocate and guide their advocacy programs, which
has declined markedly from 85 percent in 2014 to just 67
percent in 2016.
APMA appreciates the difficulty of creating and maintaining the structural supports that become the foundation of
state components' advocacy initiatives. APMA recognizes
that internal structure varies among state components, depending on membership size and fi nancial resources. State
components are encouraged to consider adopting some form
of the tools described above if they do not have them in
place already.
Having these resources in place ensures a higher likelihood of success for legislative advocacy efforts. It's also what
drives the success of membership engagement, the next survey category, which will be examined in the November/
December edition of APMA News.
Questions or comments? The CPA is always
available to provide guidance or assist with state
advocacy efforts. Contact the CPA at advocacy@
apma.org.
n

THE OVERALL NUMBER OF STATES
ALLOCATING RESOURCES TOWARD ADVOCACY
DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE
in 2016 increased from 2014, with more than half
of the 41 responding states scoring higher than
the average score of approximately three.

28 APMA News September/October 2017

http://www.apma.org/APMANews http://www.apma.org/CPA

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - September/October 2017