Running a business in Texas means dealing with more than customers, competitors, employees, suppliers, and day-to-day operations. Decisions made by state government influences how companies operate, from regulations and licensing requirements to legislation that affects every industry, trade, and profession. Said another way: You may not be looking for government, but government is gonna find you.
For some businesses, monitoring these developments using internal staff may be enough. For others, government decisions can become important enough that external professional representation should be engaged.
Under Texas law, lobbying generally involves direct communication with members of the state's legislative or executive branches for the purpose of influencing legislation or administrative action. Businesses facing significant government-related issues benefit from working with an experienced and proven Texas lobbyist who understands the Texas government operating environment.
So, when should your company consider professional lobbying services? Here are seven signs.
One of the clearest signs is discovering that a bill under consideration would have a material impact on your company.
Proposed legislation can affect operating requirements, costs, licensing, taxes, compliance obligations, enforcement triggers, industry practices, or the ability to offer certain products and services. Every Texas legislative session features numerous "Vendor Bills" that are designed to leverage the law to force-slam demand for a specific company's good or service. Let's just say that legislation often originates from very fertile imaginations.
When the potential consequences are significant, simply waiting to see whether the bill becomes law may not be the best approach. In the face of a legislative threat, neutral is not a bad gear choice.
The Texas legislative process includes opportunities for bills to be evaluated, considered during committee hearings, amended, and voted upon. A qualified lobbyist can help a company track that process, describe opportunities and threats, and advocate on behalf of client interests to relevant policymakers.
Some industries inherently interact with state government more frequently than others.
If your industry is experiencing increased regulatory attention, new compliance requirements, an enhanced enforcement scheme, licensing changes, or proposals that could alter how companies operate, government relations engagement should be a tactical part of your business strategy.
A professional Texas lobbyist can help monitor developments and provide information about legislative and administrative activity affecting your industry.
An external lobbyist is useful for companies that do not have an internal government affairs department but still need to stay informed about both intended and ripe government actions that could affect business operations.
Texas Legislature Online provides businesses and members of the public with tools for researching bills, tracking legislative activity, reviewing committee meetings, and receiving certain legislative alerts.
But knowing that a bill exists is only the initial step, strongly indicating the need for engagement and advocacy.
Businesses also must determine the public policy goals of the bill, whether a committee substitute bill or germane amendments will improve the potential consequences, which committees and legislators are involved, and when to meaningfully advocate.
For business owners and executives already running a busy organization, following the procedural legislative steps and evolving language in a bill is absolutely difficult. Indeed, opportunity cost is an under appreciated element of economics.
If important legislative developments are regularly being discovered late in the process or not at all, that is a critical bright-line sign that a professional government relations program should be engaged.
Lawmakers and executive branch officials focus on public policy matters covering a wide spectrum of industries and professions. Public officials do not know every operational or technical detail of every business and industry sector.
This framework is a fertile ground for reliable, trusted, and professional lobbyists to inject valuable industry expertise during policy deliberations.
A business may have information that helps policymakers learn how proposals would impact constituents, workers, customers, costs, competition, business investment, and everyday operations.
A qualified and successful Texas lobbyist can help a company organize this information and clearly deliver communications messaging.
Effective lobbying services are not merely a box-check of asking government officials to support or oppose legislation or administrative action. Quality lobbying services in Texas involve selecting from a deep and broad skill set of proven research, access, and advocacy. Useful and reliable real-world information helps government officials make decisions that promote the Texas Miracle and protect constituents.
Proposed legislation and proposed administrative action are not the exclusive public policy focus. Because free enterprise and the market economy are dynamic, problems and barriers can stem from existing law, regulations, or administrative action.
Mandates or requirements may have been created before newer technology existed. Maybe an existing statute or administrative rule creates operational difficulties or barriers to market entry.
Companies encountering these situations may decide to pursue a legislative or administrative change. This is why AT&T successfully changed Texas law to allow efficient entry into the video market using fiber lines rather than old copper wires. Under that legislation, only one filing at the Texas Public Utility Commission is required rather than navigating the bureaucratic and costly government maze in every single city, town, village, and hamlet. Winners: consumers, job producers, lower prices, better technology, improved service, and new market participants. Losers: legacy copper wire cable companies and local government bureaucrats.
A professional and qualified Texas lobbyist can help businesses navigate the government process, access relevant decision-makers, inform stakeholders, and advocate in favor of a particular change in public policy.
While expansion creates opportunities, that new horizon can also expose a company to unfamiliar regulatory and legislative issues.
A business entering Texas or expanding into a new industry may encounter state agencies, licensing requirements, regulations, or pending legislation that was not entirely anticipated.
Anticipating these exposures before making major investments is valuable.
Government relations should not replace legal, financial, or regulatory advice. Instead, a government relations program complements those functions by helping company leadership better understand the government and legislative environment relating to an expansion.
Many very sophisticated corporations involve the Chief Financial Officer as the centerpiece and key decision-maker on strategic government relations goals and objectives.
The importance of professional representation often becomes clearer when the potential consequences of a government decision are compared with the significance of the issue to the company's financial bottom line.
Could a proposed public policy change substantially increase operating costs? Could a government action restrict an important product or service? Could a regulatory change affect expansion plans? Could legislation reshape competition within your industry? Serious questions need serious consideration.
When the potential financial or operational impact is significant and substantial, businesses must have a structured approach to government relations.
One of the biggest mistakes business stakeholders make: Thinking about government relations only after a major threat became obviously apparent.
Legislation procedurally moves through multiple stages: off radar development, introduction, committee consideration and votes, private meetings, amendments, and Floor deliberation and votes. Businesses that monitor issues earlier have more time to understand what is happening and determine whether participation in the policy discussion makes sense.
Lobbyist registrations and lobbying activities are regulated in Texas. Typically, time is of the essence to both secure a lobbyist's engagement and meet the regulatory requirements.
There mere presence of government does not mean that every company should hire a professional lobbyist.
However, engaging a proven Texas lobbyist is necessary if proposed legislation or administrative action could significantly affect your operations or strategic business plans. Likewise, professional lobbyist advocacy is an imperative if your industry is facing regulatory change, your company needs to communicate a complex issue to policymakers, or an existing public policy is creating substantial business challenges.
Texas lobbyist Steve Koebele works with a variety of businesses, associations, and organizations seeking to understand the Texas legislative and executive branch environments, and communicate client interests to policymakers.
The core approach is straightforward: understand the issue, research and assess, develop winning tactics as part of a tailored government relations strategy, and make sure decision-makers timely receive accurate information about how government actions affect your business.