Grassroots in High Gear

Agents talked and members of Congress listened—that’s the report that the Big “I” is getting from Capitol Hill. Weeks after independent agents made their Hill visits during the Big “I” Legislative Conference & Convention, Big “I” issues were still at the forefront for lawmakers. When another insurance trade association made its own Capitol Hill office visits in May, members of Congress said they were familiar with issues such as McCarran-Ferguson and TRIA—and they referenced visits from Big “I” members.

More than 1,500 agents descended on Capitol Hill this spring during the 2007 Big “I” Legislative Conference & Convention, and they made a big impact. The event kicked off with the Legislative Conference Breakfast, where speakers Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and House Minority Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) addressed agents on the pressing issues and climate on Capitol Hill. Then it was off to meet with members of Congress and their staffs on the issues important to independent agents, including the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust repeal, insurance regulatory reform, terrorism insurance, flood insurance and other issues. Many hours and conversations later, agents had visited with more than 90% of the Congressional offices.

While agents visiting the Hill en masse certainly made a big impression with lawmakers, the Big “I” grassroots effort can’t stop there. To reinforce our grassroots presence, we need to back up our meetings with year-round Congressional contact. Members of Congress want to hear from their constituents—and we can’t afford to wait until a major vote to start building relationships. Why? Insurance regulatory reform is just one reason. A new optional federal charter bill is expected to hit the Senate soon (if it hasn’t already) and the Big “I” will be calling on members with a grassroots Action Alert. These legislative alerts notify Big “I” members when they need to contact their federal legislators on key issues. The association doesn’t use this tool often—only when it’s critically important that members of Congress hear from their constituents.

It’s now even easier to make the grassroots connection because of updates to the Big “I” grassroots Web site. Here’s how you can get started: Go to www.independentagent.com, log on as a member, click “government affairs” and then click “grassroots.” Once there, take a moment to update your home address information by selecting “Update Your Information.” While we already have your agency’s address, we need your home address to better target members of Congress with the constituents in their district. It only takes a minute, but the Big “I” grassroots database is an invaluable tool as the association’s Capitol Hill staff makes plans to reach out to key members of Congress on specific issues.

Be on the lookout for grassroots Action Alerts in the coming months. When you receive an Action Alert e-mail, it will include a link to the grassroots page, which will provide additional information on the topic and an automatically populated letter to your members of Congress.

Grassroots Action Alerts can have a major impact on important issues—and crop insurance is just one example. Last spring, due to the overwhelming response from independent agents via e-mail, fax, mail and phone calls, the harmful premium reduction plan was taken out of the crop insurance bill.

But the Big “I” can’t rely on our previous grassroots successes—we’re only as good as our most recent grassroots action. Take the time to build your Congressional relationships now; the grassroots Web site can get you started.

Katie Butler (katie.butler@iiaba.net) is IA editor in chief.

Build Relationships Now

The lazy days of summer can be anything but on Capitol Hill— that is, until the August recess. Make plans to visit with your members of Congress when they are out of Washington, D.C. and back in their home districts this summer. Building relationships now is critical so that when important insurance issues come before Congress, the Big “I” has the ears of the members of Congress making decisions.

Take a cue from North Carolina’s independent agents, the gold standard of grassroots. During the last grassroots action alert, agents flooded their representatives and senators with hundreds of letters. And they didn’t stop there. They followed up their correspondences with phone calls to legislators they were close to. It’s that kind of constituent contact that, when coupled with the efforts of the Big “I” federal government affairs team, can really move the needle on issues affecting independent agents.