Tips for Winning Legislative Support

Use national attention to your advantage

The regional sector partnership approach has gained national attention over recent years, evidenced by U.S. Congressional legislation, sector emphasis in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and by the success of the National Governors Association Sector Strategies project that created this toolkit. Use this to leverage in-state support of the model. Your state doesn’t want to be left behind.

Pay attention to the needs of key industries

If there are key industries in your state that are interested in pursuing sector strategies, the industry leaders of those key industry sectors can be powerful advocates before the legislature.

Legislators may fear that you are picking winners

Be cautious if you identify target sectors/clusters for your state. In some states, this may be viewed by legislators and others as “picking winners.” Although some states have targeted certain sectors that have a major influence statewide (Oklahoma for instance has focused on Health Care and Aerospace), most states delegate the choices of the regional industry targets to the regions.

Utilize major state level sector reports to leverage resources and legislative support

Oklahoma used several key sector reports in Health Care and Aerospace as tools to provide evidence of legislative needs. As a result, the Oklahoma legislature supported a $5 M health care capacity building effort and Health Care Resource Office; as well as incentives for aerospace engineers.