The Legislative Committee was formed to serve the Association by facilitating and assisting members' communication with Congress. The Legislative Committee's framework is constructed to facilitate a grassroots communication network throughout the nation. It is this system's job to contact members of Congress concerning issues that the IAWP Legislative Committee determines to be of vital interest and importance to the membership. More importantly, its purpose is to provide information and continuity to the legislative efforts of all IAWP members, thus ensuring that the combined endeavors achieve the best possible results for the association and the system.

It is extremely important that each IAWP chapter have members who are knowledgeable about federal legislative activities, especially regarding communications between IAWP members and congressional members. Whenever the Legislative Steering Committee deems that specific action is necessary or appropriate, it releases an official request for action through an Action Memo. These include specific informational guidelines regarding the particular request.

When legislation breaks quickly or unexpectedly and immediate action is needed before an Action Memo can be prepared and released, the steering committee activates the legislative action network via telephone, fax and/or e-mail. The network operates through the steering committee members, who each are assigned several district representatives to contact. District representatives, in turn, contact chapter presidents and chapter legislative chairs, who then notify the chapter's legislative network to take appropriate action.

More information can be found at the following websites:

www.scstatehouse.net: South Carolina Legislature Online

www.loc.gov/law/guide/us-sc.html: Law Library of Congress (SC section)

South Carolina's Legislative Chair for 2007-2008 is Jimmy Jones. He can be reached at jjones@sces.org.

NOTE: Please remember that IAWP is not a lobbyist organization. Its legislative function and activities are based on education, information sharing, networking, outreach and coalition building, The association's tax status - 501 C (6) non-profit, educational association - allows IAWP to devote approximately five percent of its overall budget toward legislative-awareness activities.