RESPONSE NEEDED: 2020 Legislative Day

TO:  WRPA Membership

FROM: Justin Brown, Longview/Travis Stombaugh, Si View Parks District – 2020 LEG Day Planning Leads

RE: Feb. 6, 2020 “Great Outdoors Day” in Olympia co-sponsored by WRPA and the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition (WWRC)

RESPONSE NEEDED:  Please see information below – if questions, contact us or State Lobbyist Doug Levy ([email protected])

Good Morning, Everyone:

As we have for the last several years, the WRPA will again be co-sponsoring a Legislative Day in Olympia in partnership with the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition (WWRC).  The 2020 “Great Outdoors Day” will be Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 – please mark your calendars so you can be sure to join us!

Our planning work for 2020 Great Outdoors Day has already begun, and we wanted to pass along a few important tips and tools for all of you to use to get registered and make the day a successful one:

  • REGISTRATION:  The WWRC will administer the online registration for the 2020 Great Outdoors Day.  Remember that your registration for the day is free to all WRPA Members, but registering for the evening reception at the Governor’s Mansion involves a fee, since this is one of the WWRC’s key fund-raising events.
  • VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!  We will need volunteers to make the 2020 Great Outdoors Day a successful one!  In particular, volunteers will be needed for two parts of the day in particular:  1) setup, greeters, and materials/folders handouts in connection with first-thing-in-the-morning training at the Olympia Women’s Club; and 2) help setting up and taking down lunch boxes and drink tables in concert with the noon-hour speakers’ event.  Last year Metro Parks Tacoma was particularly generous in providing folks to help – we could use that generosity from any of you with staff willing to take the time!
  • SCHEDULING MEETINGS - & PROTOCOL IF YOUR ORGANIZATION WANTS ITS OWN PRIVATE MEETINGS:  The WWRC typically offers to schedule meetings with legislators during Great Outdoors Days – and that will be the case again in 2020, as the Coalition wants to do the best job it can in accessing key legislators, tracking who meets with whom, and ensuring that it is aware of details and follow-up information that arises during the meetings.  That said, the WWRC also recognizes that some of our parks-and-recreation agencies will want their own private meetings with area legislators, in order to discuss matters (capital budget requests to use one example) that go above and beyond issues such as WWRP and thus require some discretion and small-group dynamics.  If you plan to do private meetings with your legislators, simply let WWRC know so the Coalition can be aware.  Additionally, let the Coalition know when/what time you’ve scheduled meetings, so that the Coalition does not duplicate or conflict with your efforts. The Coalition wants to ensure, too, that if a key capital budget negotiator meets with its Legislative District parks officials, that he/she not be precluded from meeting with a WWRC group as well.
  • PRE-LEG DAY TRAININGS: We are aware that some of you who attend the LEG Day may never have done so before, or perhaps have only done so once or twice.  That is a good thing, as we want fresh faces and voices to reinforce our priorities and concerns!  If the annual Legislative Day is a brand-new or fairly-brand-new event for you, please take advantage of pre-Legislative Day training that the WWRC schedules and that WWRC/WRPA folks conduct together.  These trainings will help you get grounded and oriented for the Great Outdoors Day and better enable you to be successful in your meetings with lawmakers.  WWRC will conduct these trainings by phone and even produce an audio recording of one of them that you can listen to – so stay tuned for these!

As planning continues for the 2020 Great Outdoors Day on Feb. 6, 2020, we’ll have more information and tips to pass along.  In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to e-mail or call either of us (Travis at (425)831-8669 and [email protected]; Justin at (360)442-5408 and [email protected]) with any questions you may have.

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