LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON DESCRIPTION (SMHCA BYLAWS)

Informs and enlists the support of the Board and membership regarding key legislation and political activity related to mental health counseling. The committee will act as a liaison between SMHCA, FMHCA, and its lobbyists in the identification and action on laws, programs and practices affecting the practice of mental health counseling.

DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES NOT SPECIFIED IN SMHCA BYLAWS

MONTHLY LEGISLATIVE REPORTS

The Chair of the Legislative Committee generally provides a brief overview of key legislative issues during the announcements in the middle of monthly training events.  Additionally, the Chair posts a legislative update each month on the legislative page of SMHCA's website.  The updated is divided between national, state, and local legislative issues affecting mental health counselors. In some scenarios, the chair recommends to the SMHCA board that a "call to action" be sent out to members to support a key piece of legislation, at which time the call to action may be promoted through social media, the member forum, or a group email to all members.

LIAISON WORK

In order to prepare a legislative update and keep members appraised of activities and calls to action, the Chair must stay updated on local, state, and federal legislative issues pertinent to the counseling profession.  It is recommended that the SMHCA Legislative Committee Chairperson consider the following strategies:

1. Familiarize yourself with the state and federal legislative processes.  Otherwise, the Chair will be unable to describe to members exactly what is happening with bills of interest, where they are in the process, and what happens next. 
2. Join the Florida Mental Health Counselors Association's (FMHCA) Government Relations Committee (GRC) and attend monthly GRC meetings.  This ensures that the Chair remains updated on state legislative issues and maintains appropriate communication with the state chapter, including FMHCA's GRC Chair and lobbyist.  
3. Join or communicate with Florida Counseling Association's (FCA) Public Policy and Legislation Committee.
4. Participate in FMHCA's annual "Legislative Days" event, in which a delegation of FMHCA members visits Tallahassee to lobby for bills.   
5. Join AMHCA's Public Policy and Legislative Committee.
6. Carefully review federal legislative updates from American Mental Health Counselors Association, American Counseling Association, National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), and other national counseling organizations.  Get on the email distribution lists for these organizations.  
7. Attend 491 Board meetings and/or read the minutes after each meeting and identify changes in laws or rules that affect members.
8. Introduce yourself to the contacts at the bottom of this page.
9. Create a free BillTrack50 account and use it to identify bills in state and federal legislatures.
10. When a state bill is introduced that could affect members, sign up for the state's "bill track" service, which will result in receiving email updates anytime there is action on a bill.  To do this, find the website for any bill (one way to do this is to visit https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bills/2022, adjust your search parameters such as the years of the bill, whether it is in the house or senate, etc.) and click on the sunshine icon under "track bill" as depicted in the graphics below.

CURRENT CONTACTS AND RESOURCES (UPDATED 10/30/22)

FMHCA GRC Chair: Aaron Norton, (727) 403-6208, anorton@flmhca.org

FMHCA Lobbyist: Corinne Mixon, Rutledge & Associates, (850) 766-5795 cell, (850) 681-6788 office, corinne@rutledge-ecenia.com

FCA PPLC Chair: Karla Sapp, umattercounseling@gmail.com

Florida AAMFT TEAM Leader (coordinates between AAMFT and Florida AAMFT's lobbyist): Lauren Baxley, lbaxley@usf.edu, 813.974.7713

AMHCA Advocacy Page: https://www.amhca.org/advocacy/takeaction

ACA Government Affairs Page: https://www.counseling.org/government-affairs

Use this page to identify state and national legislators for any individual based on home or work address: https://www.flsenate.gov/senators/find