How This One-Person Government Affairs Team Provides Value to Members with FiscalNote

Being a one-man government affairs shop is no easy feat when supporting a range of organizations in a wide variety of industries. But that’s the day-to-day for Doug Farquhar, the director of government affairs at the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA). From food safety and body art to drinking water and wastewater, the environmental health policy issues NEHA members care about cover an extensive range.

NEHA helps its more than 6,000 members to build, sustain, and empower an effective environmental health workforce. The association’s members are primarily state, local, federal, tribal, and territorial environmental health departments who rely on NEHA to keep them informed about relevant laws around environmental health, sanitation, and retail safety. Members of NEHA include health authorities, departments of public health, national restaurant chains, and restaurant associations.

Environmental health is often invisible to the public and lawmakers, so NEHA seeks to elevate its members’ work through communication, marketing, and government affairs. To do this, Farquhar relies on FiscalNote. “FiscalNote is a very comprehensive, extremely powerful tool,” he says. “You can hire a lobbying firm for five times what I spend on it, and you probably wouldn’t get the same amount of information.”

Staying on Top of Critical Federal and State Legislation

NEHA advocates for its members with visits and letters to Congress, tracking environmental health legislation across the country, and supporting its members with policy and position statements. Last year the association supported eight Congressional bills, gave 14 policy statements to legislators and state agencies, and met with 38 Congressional offices during their Hill Day to protect and benefit its members.

To manage it all, Farquhar uses FiscalNote as a one-stop shop. “I needed a solution that would provide a wide range of legislative tracking because I need to know what’s going on with Congress and at the state and local levels,” he says. “With so much activity, FiscalNote is able to provide me with the information my members rely on in a way no other platform was able to.”

Farquhar tracks legislation on a wide range of issues pertinent to NEHA members, and relies on a daily email from FiscalNote that amalgamates any relevant bills. He can then alert members about legislation that might impact their businesses and provide updates.

“I also use FiscalNote to track who’s on the Hill,” Farquhar adds. “When I need to reach them, I draft up a letter and easily have all the contact information so I can get it to relevant members quickly and efficiently.” For example, as Congress was considering an overhaul of the CDC after COVID-19, many NEHA members were concerned about potential impacts. Farquhar was able to act quickly and send a single-issue letter to the appropriate members of Congress expressing the association’s position on the issue.

Adding Value to Association Members

One of the major issues Farquhar tracks with FiscalNote is food freedom laws. These laws determine whether people can sell food that has not been regulated by state regulatory bodies — for instance, homemade food sold at your local farmer’s market without licensing, permitting, or inspection requirements. “These are very important laws to our members, so I am very active in tracking them with FiscalNote to identify where food freedom laws are prominent, being discussed, and being enacted,” he says.

This service is necessary for NEHA members who are concerned about food freedom laws that could mean less regulatory oversight, because “they’re not able to regulate food that is being sold, but when there’s a foodborne outbreak they have to address it” since it becomes a public health concern. NEHA members rely on the association to alert them to food freedom laws throughout the country that could eventually reach their state or locality.

Since some NEHA members are state employees, they can’t lobby for a particular issue themselves, but they need to stay ahead of any legislative developments and prepare for its impacts. “Members use the information for their own edification and to make sure they understand what’s going to be happening in their industry,” Farquhar explains.

Another topic that Farquhar tracks is raw milk. “Our members want people to know how dangerous raw milk is, and when that’s an issue being discussed at the state or local level we can put together a letter stating our position or opposition to a bill,” he says. In some cases, NEHA members travel to the state’s capitals to testify in person.

“The members are the ones who keep us accountable for informing them about important bills,” Farquhar says. “It’s important for them to know what’s happening across the country so they have a good sense of issues that might impact them.”

NEHA’s members rely on the association to keep them informed of what to prepare for, how to reach out to lawmakers, and how to respond to the issues that may be coming down the pike — “so they’re not constantly in surprise mode,” Farquhar says. Then, he can act as a go-between for members to convey their stance to legislators.

In fact, 67 percent of respondents to a NEHA member survey noted they want updates on national and state policy that impacts environmental health. “But none of this happens unless we have to tool to track it all,” Farquhar adds. “Members are relying on me. They’ve said this service is not a nice-to-have or a luxury, it’s essential for them to operate.”

Your One-Stop Shop for Legislation and Policy Tracking

If you’re like NEHA, a new policy could affect your organization or its members at any time. You need all the data in one place. With a small team (or if you alone are the team), it can be a monumental task to navigate public policy, regulation, and political obstacles.

Whether you manage issues at the U.S. state or local level or around the world, FiscalNote’s government affairs software has the bills, regulations, and elected officials that you need. Automated legislative tracking tools can multiply your efforts, allowing you to monitor more topics throughout a larger geographical area, so you can spend more of your time responding to issues. FiscalNote empowers small teams to take action on time-sensitive opportunities and make their voice heard when armed with the best tools and most effective strategies.