Planting, Nurturing, and Harvesting – Advocacy as Seasonal Work

As the new year kicked off, The ESOP Association’s State and Regional Chapter Council (SRCC) joined our Public Policy Council (PPC) Executive Committee in Washington, DC for an annual meeting. In addition to the business conducted by the SRCC and PPC executive committees, the more than 70 volunteer leaders went to Capitol Hill with information in hand to lay the groundwork for the Association’s advocacy efforts this year on several key fronts. They planted the seeds the Association is working to nurture and grow in 2024. But the next step needs your help.  

Visits to Capitol Hill are always fun and exciting, and 2024 will be an especially important year for ESOP advocacy. Two major issues from the WORK Act’s passage at the end of 2022 are advancing. First, a major rulemaking is underway at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on the issue of adequate consideration, which the ESOP community has been seeking for almost 50 years. This rule affects every ESOP and potential ESOPs, and a draft rule is expected this spring – perhaps right before our National Conference in May. Second, the DOL has set up the Employee Ownership Initiative (EOI), a new 5-year grant program designed to promote employee ownership, and it needs to be fully funded to make those grants to states. The employee ownership community’s future is tied to these issues in many ways. 

The ESOP Association’s team of volunteers peppered the Hill with information on both issues, as well as the Employee Equity Investment Act (EEIA), an Association priority that helps ESOPs and potential ESOPs gain access to needed capital. The seeds were planted with congressional offices about these critical developments – but how best to take the next step and nurture these efforts?  

The answer: attend National Conference 2024 and participate in advocacy efforts.  

National Conference 2024 is the right place and the right time for employee owners to influence the outcome of these vital issues. It’s an opportunity for our community to join and collectively petition our lawmakers in Washington, DC about our needs. This year there’s a significant discount for National Conference as well if you participate in Association advocacy efforts. 

Never visited Capitol Hill before?  Unsure how to “do” advocacy?  Attend The ESOP Association’s Advocacy Academy the afternoon of Tuesday, May 7th where you’ll learn and prepare to visit Capitol Hill the following day.  Whether it’s your first time or you’ve been an ESOP advocate for years, Advocacy Academy and Advocacy Day are rewarding, and help you practice the skills you need to advocate for ESOPs all year in any format. Plus, a day on Capitol Hill with fellow employee owners is fun too! 

The ESOP Association’s ability to influence the final rule from the DOL and secure funding for the Employee Ownership Initiative are directly dependent on your participation. Following the release of a draft rule on adequate consideration, employee owners need to comment and respond. Similarly, the federal funding process lasts nearly all year, so lawmakers need to hear about the importance of funding for the EOI. 
Our goal with these efforts, to complete the analogy, is harvesting at year’s end both a regulatory and a funding priority that protect and promote employee ownership.  With your help and support, the public policy seeds planted in January and nurtured in May will reap benefits for current ESOPs and employee owners, and potential ESOPs for years to come.