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What do Lobbyists do?

Lobbyists are sometimes considered the "third house" of the legislature. The Lobbyist plays two roles in the Legislature. First, they select bills that they feel passionate about and work to see them passed, or in some cases, defeated. The other important role Lobbyists play is that of educating Legislators. No one person can possibly be an expert on every topic they need to vote on, so your job is to be able to tell Legislators what they need to know about your bills and why they should vote for or against your bill. You are the expert in your area!

Each Lobbyist will be trained in how to understand bills, committee procedures, pubic speaking, and how to write and pass an initiative. Each Lobbyist will receive a copy of their bills, with a research packet attached, which will be debated in committee. Lobbyists will also form Political Action Committees (PACs) with other Lobbyists to brainstorm on initiative proposals.

Every delegate will get at least two bills to Lobby, one for and one against. The idea is to try and push your bills through the process, from Committee all the way up to its signing by the Youth Governor. While you do speak in Committee about your bills, you do not normally speak on the floor of either of the Houses.

After all the Committees have finished and the Legislators are in session, you will be in your PAC groups to write Initiatives. The topic is completely up to your PAC. Once the Initiative is properly researched and written out, you will need to get signatures. If you get enough signatures, your Initiative will be on the Sunday night ballot when everyone votes for the next Youth Governor. Your job at that point will be to educate the voters as to why they should pass your Initiative. The results will be announced by the end of the conference.

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