Action Sheet, May 2017

Monthly Meeting, Saturday, May 13, 2017

at 10:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Two Join Options

  1. To connect by video conference, go to zoom.us, select “Join A Meeting” and enter 2017201717 for the meeting ID, OR use this URL:
  2. To connect by phone: For either phone option, you’ll enter 2017201717 as the meeting ID. 1-646-558-8656 or toll-free1-877-369-0926.

Note: To improve video quality, close open applications (and browser windows). If your Internet connection is poor, you can connect by phone. If you have problems connecting, please contact Zoom’s 24/7 support at888.799.9666.

CONFERENCE CALL GUEST:

Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, American Public Health Association

The burning of fossil fuels takes a tremendous toll on public health, not only from the impact of climate change, but also from the pollution that leads to heart and respiratory problems. To learn more about this, we’re joined this month byDr. Natasha DeJarnett,policy analyst in the American Public Health Association’s Center for Public Health Policy. Her specialty areas within the Policy Center include climate change and environmental exposures.Dr. DeJarnett received her PhD in Public Health from the University of Louisville in 2013.As a postdoc at the University, she was awarded a fellowship by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to investigate cardiovascular risks of air pollution exposures.

Download Dr. DeJarnett’s presentation: cclusa.org/maymeeting

Actions

  1. Make plans for June 9th congressional call-in.
  2. Make plans for DC lobby day meetings.
  3. Review laser talks in preparation for Hill visits.

ACTION

Make plans for June 9 congressional call-in

Imagine that the first thing that the lobby team for your member of Congress hears from staff when their meeting starts is: “We got so many calls in support of carbon fee and dividend on Friday!” Wouldn’t that be helpful!

That’s why we are asking you to organize your group and your friends/family to call Congress on Friday June 9th and ask their representative and senators to support carbon fee and dividend. If they don’t get through on Friday they can try leaving a message over the weekend and try again on Monday.

This year we’d like to take the call-in day to new levels. We will send a text action alert (sign up here) to everyone signed up to receive them, and an email to every one of our supporters early on 6/9. But it’s your personal outreach that will make the most difference. Set a group goal and a personal goal: how many calls will your member of Congress get?

To make it easy and to track the number of calls we’re generating, we encourage using the online action tool on CCL’s website that is specifically set up for the June 9th call-in. But you may find it helpful to also request that your members/friends let you know when they have called.

At your meeting:

  1. Set a group goal and a personal goal for how many calls you’ll generate.
  2. Ask everyone present to take out their calendar and put in when they will call Congress on June 9th, taking into account the time zone difference in Washington D.C. Go to the “Call Congress” pageon CCL’s website for the script, phone numbers and to log your call.
  3. Ask everyone present to write down other people they will ask to do the same thing, and who they will personally remind on June 8th. Ask callers to tell you personally when they’ve called.
  4. Set up a system for people to report how many calls were made. It could be via Facebook or a shared spreadsheet or a central email address. This will help you measure your progress.
  5. Assign someone to send an email to your group roster on June 8thth asking them to call the next day. You might also send an advance notice to your group right away, and then remind them on the 8th.
  6. Consider invitingother local groups to promote the Call-in day also.

Additional resources:

  • On Facebook: We’ve created an event page that you can share with friends. Sign up for the event and start inviting now!
  • On CCL Community: We have a resources page on Communitywhere you’ll find the suggested script for phone calls, a graphic to share with others, and a suggested email to enroll other organizations to participate in the call-in.

ACTION

Make plans for DC lobby day meetings

What does your group think should happen in the lobby meetings with your members of Congress? Draft your thoughts and send them to the liaison for that member of Congress. Contact yourregional coordinatorif you aren’t sure who the liaison is. Don’t forget your Senators! Deadline:May 20th.

The liaisons will consolidate all the input they get into a meeting plan which will be given to the lobby teams to use in the June 13th lobby day meetings in DC. The liaisons have to submit the plan by May 26th, so get your plans to them as soon as possible. Please see the Lobby Meeting Plan template (following pages) for the questions that liaisons are asked to address for the DC lobby teams, and send them your ideas.

Resources for meeting planningfrom the Lobbying Toolkit on CCL Community:

  • Sample Meeting Outline for Initial Meeting– A sample outline for meeting with a member of Congress for the first time.
  • Sample Meeting Outline (After Initial Meeting)– Adjust as necessary depending on the situation.
  • 2017June Supporting Asks— Ideas for what to ask your MoC in your meeting. This is a draft to get you started thinking and will be finalized in June.*
  • June ActionLogic - How to follow up or respond to certain situations in your lobby meeting.*
  • Congressional Bios–Profiles of MoCs that provide background information useful in meeting planning.Senate or House Bios.

* Draft documents that will be updated in June.

Lobby Meeting Plan for [Member of Congress, District]

Submitter Name and Email:

Has this MoC co-sponsored the Republican Climate Resolution?

  • Yes
  • No, we did not ask or they were not ready to sign on yet.
  • No, we asked and they said no.
  • Not applicable (e.g. Democratic MoC; this is a Senator, not a Rep.)

Has this MOC joined the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus?

  • Yes
  • No, we did not ask or they were not ready to sign on yet.
  • No, we asked and they said no.
  • Waiting/wants to join
  • Not applicable (e.g. Democratic MoC; this is a Senator, not a Rep.)

What is the Primary Goal for this meeting? Examples could include:

  • Understand MoC's views on climate change and/or impacts
  • Learn about MoC's concerns with our policy/climate policy in general
  • Build relationships with office staffers/MoC
  • Work on building a partnership with your MoC's office
  • Respond to a previously raised issue
  • Get help reaching across the aisle
  • Share details of REMI report
  • Share details of the Household Impact study
  • Talk about recent endorsements
  • Highlight a local impact or recent poll
  • Ask Republicans to sign the Republican Climate Resolution
  • Ask MOC to join the Climate Solutions Caucus
  • Inform them of growing Republican support on climate
  • Ask Democrats to support revenue neutrality

Suggested appreciation(s) of the MOC or staffer.

What is our supporting ask? (Aside from introducing/sponsoring carbon fee and dividend.) See Supporting Asks for some ideas. Feel free to formulate your own, based on your knowledge of the office.

What have CCL groups been doing in the district lately that would be of interest to the MoC?

What challenging things might come up that we should be ready to respond to?

What questions could be asked during the meeting to learn more about the MoC/staffer's viewpoints?

What do we need to do or bring to get ready for this meeting and who will/should do that?

What materials (if any) do you intend to leave behind or send ahead of time? (e.g. part of the congressional district reports or polling data we send monthly to Liaisons and Group Leaders)

Other goals, things to say, questions to ask, or things to know for this meeting.

Preparation Questions

What local effects of climate change might you share with the MoC? Stories of specific people are good.

What are the MoC's recent positions on climate/energy, jobs/economy and national debt?

What are the major employers or industries in the district?

LASER TALKS

Review talks for June lobby meetings

As volunteers prepare for our lobby day in Washington, we offer aselection of laser talks that will be most useful in meetings with members of Congress and staff. Download the talks and review them to see which ones you may need to practice. Even if you are not coming to Washington, familiarizing yourself with these talks will help when you attend district meetings, write letters to the editor or conduct outreach in your community.

The purpose of the talks is not necessarily to deliver a monologue on a particular topic, but to become comfortable enough with the information the talks contain so that you can share that information in the give and take of conversations with decision makers.