Pub. 8 2017 Issue 2

www.wvbankers.org 8 West Virginia Banker By Loren Allen, WVBA General Counsel/Government Relations Director M ahatma Gandhi once said “Actions express priorities.” Our bank members have long identified having an efficient and effective government relations and leg- islative affairs program as the number one priority of the West Virginia Bankers Association. But more than just identi- fying government relations as a priority, the WVBA has taken action. Beginning in August of 2016, the WVBA brought its government relations en- deavors in house. In accordance with the Association’s strategic plan, and as General Counsel and Director of Government Relations for the WVBA, I have worked to implement the follow- ing four strategies aimed at building an effective and efficient in-house government relations program: First, develop a system to track and measure our association’s government relations activities; second, build, maintain and document relationships between bank- ers and their elected state and federal representatives; third, increase access to and engagement in legislative affairs and government relations; finally, im- plement a schedule that allows for early identification and meaningful discourse of legislative issues, and careful strate- gic planning for legislative action. Just prior to the start of this year’s regular session of the West Virginia Legislature, the WVBA introduced a new grassroots advocacy platform which has already proven to be a useful tool in tracking and measuring our association’s GR activities as well as building’s maintaining and document- ing relationships between bankers and their elected officials. VoterVoice gives users the ability to communicate directly with their state and federal rep- resentatives through email, web form, telephone calls and various social media platforms. Users may reach out to their officials on their own or through one of our carefully targeted, highly focused, issue-based advocacy campaigns. Users can also schedule and document face to face meetings with their elected offi- cials. VoterVoice tracks each individual engagement and provides a central repository for information relating to the date, time, and subject matter of each communication. It also allows us- ers to document personal relationships with legislators and other government officials so that industry advocates can leverage those relationships in the most effective way. Through VoterVoice we can also document and score the voting record of our elected representatives enabling our industry to make more informed decisions about campaign contributions through our political ac- tion committee. The success of a good government relations program is not measured by numbers alone, but metrics are a valuable tool in assessing the effective- ness of the program both in our ability to engage members in advocacy on behalf of our industry and in achieving West Virginia Bankers Association Takes Action on Government Relations Summer 2017 9 West Virginia Banker For over 50 years, LGCR has provided residential and commercial real estate and transactional services for lenders and clients throughout West Virginia. Kevin Moffatt is one of the leaders of LGCR’s real estate team of attorneys and paralegals with over 2 centuries of experience in title and settlement services. Kevin has handled thousands of closings and hundreds of foreclosures in his 22 years of practicing law, and he is licensed in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. LGCR issues title insurance policies for First American, Old Republic and Stewart title insurance companies, and LGCR attorneys are approved by title companies serving lenders throughout West Virginia. Lewis, Glasser, Casey & Rollins PLLC. is a proud Associate Member of the West Virginia Bankers Association. 300 Summers Street Suite 700, Charleston, WV 25301 Phone: 304.345.2000 Website: www.lgcr.com our shared state and federal legisla- tive goals. More than just stating our priorities, the WVBA has set numerical goals for engagement in grassroots advocacy by bank members and by individual bankers. As this article goes to print, for fiscal year 2016-2017, we have documented grassroots engage- ment by a total of 30 different member banks representing a 42% increase from documented activity from the previous year. We have also documented direct grassroots engagement by a total of 108 individual bankers during the same period representing an 80% increase over the data from the previous year. The increase in grassroots activity is reflected in our recent legislative successes both at the state and federal level. The WVBA’s key state legisla- tive initiative, SB 344 relating to the application of payments under the West Virginian Consumer Credit Protection Act, was signed by the Governor in April and will take effect in July. In the United States Congress, the Financial CHOICE Act overcame its first major hurdle and was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee with a full repeal of the much maligned “Durbin Amend- ment” fully intact. Bankers from all over our state have been actively engaged on both of these highly important and successful initiatives through the WVBA Government Relations program and with our new grassroots advocacy tool we have tracked, measured and archived each engagement. This data will be very useful in setting new goals, designing new advocacy campaigns and developing winning legislative strategies in the future. Advocacy campaigns are born of issues and we have taken action to increase access to and engagement in legislative affairs and government relations and to implement a schedule that allows for the early identification, mean- ingful discourse and discussion, and thoughtful planning and preparation for legislative action. Beginning in Au- gust, the Legislative and Government Relations Committee of the WVBA will meet again at least once monthly to identify legislative issues. Early monthly meetings allow committee members ample time to consider the issues and understand the ramifications of each issue to their institution. Early and fre- quent discussions will assist our industry in prioritizing legislative goals and developing an efficient and effective legislative strategy from the drafting process through the effective date of the new law. Bank member participa- tion is vital to this process and all bank members are encouraged to partici- pate. Active engagement by banks of all shapes and sizes ensures greater understanding of the issues and the impacts on all institutions and will help aide in the development of carefully tailored and well-reasoned legislation for our industry. The importance of early engagement, discussion, and planning is clearly reflected in our state legislative success in the 2017 regular session. Our early efforts enabled early discussions with bill sponsors within the legislative leadership, stakeholders and other interested parties and early consideration by legislative committees. Government Relations and legislative affairs requires an active and engaged industry. Actions speak louder than words. Our first year of re-structuring government relations and legislative affairs within the WVBA has been very successful by any measure. There is al- ways more we can do. If you are an ac- tive advocate on behalf of our industry, thank you! If you have not yet engaged, ACT now. 