Understanding the decision-making process

Who makes the decisions?

In advocacy, it is fundamental to understand who makes the decisions when it comes to getting an idea enacted or an issue resolved. Identifying the correct place for your advocacy efforts and knowing how the process works can help you set your goals, determine the appropriate advocacy channels (e.g., media coverage) and level of involvement (e.g., mobilizing supporters for your cause).

Achieving advocacy success requires that your advocacy message is directed toward both the decision-makers and the influencers.

Decision makers

The decision-makers are people with formal power or authority to take the desired policy or programmatic action. They determine the laws, rules and regulations. Some examples of decision-makers include:

Influencers

People or groups that can persuade the decision-makers and impact the choices made by the decision-makers. Some examples of influencers include:

Community members
Local champions or organizations
Coalitions/alliances (e.g., Florida Oral Health Alliance)
Advocacy groups (e.g., Oral Health Parent Advisory Committee)
Foundations/Associations

The legislative process is a way by which policies are approved.

Legislative and policy making bodies of government exist at the local, state, and federal level. Some issues or causes transcend these different levels of government. It is important to understand where your topic/issue of advocacy falls and who can help you get the most from your advocacy efforts.

If what you are advocating for must go through the state legislative levels (house and senate), typically supporting or enacting a bill, the following steps are a must:

Research the appropriate legislative calendar. This calendar will tell you when sessions begin for introducing, reviewing, debating, and voting on different policies.
Get to know the legislative teams including the scheduler and the legislative aides who will be the primary eyes and ears to the policymaker. This is especially important in the case of supporting a bill or enacting a bill.
Research the committees that the legislators sit on to narrow down and focus your advocacy efforts (e.g., appropriations committee). This will allow you to effectively appeal to the legislators that have the primary authority and decide if a bill makes it to the floor of a house and senate.

State House & Senate

Florida’s state house is composed of 120 members appointed for 2-years at a time. Meanwhile, Florida’s senate is composed of 40 seats with a term limit of 4-years.

These legislative bodies are responsible for passing bills or laws in the state of Florida. Once they pass in house and senate they have to be signed into law by the governor of the state.

TIP

The decision-makers such a Medicaid agencies, state dental boards, and city councils follow different processes.

You should be aware of the processes these organizations have if your topic or issue requires actions by these groups.

Keep in mind that legislators put policies into laws, but sometimes policies enacted through legislation are implemented only after administrative and regulatory agencies adopt the appropriate protocols and define how these new policies will be put in place.

Timing is Key

Timing is key as legislative calendars vary from year to year as to when they begin their legislative season with some being dependent on whether the year is even or odd-numbered. In the state of Florida, the Florida legislature meets in session every year for sixty consecutive days. For odd-numbered-years in Florida, a regular session of the legislature convenes on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, while for even-numbered-years it begins on the second Tuesday after the first Monday in January. For instance, in 2022 (an even numbered year) the legislative season began in January and ended 60 days later in March. Keeping the legislative calendar in mind, the introduction of a bill should be as early as possible to increase the chances of the bill being considered by committees and legislators.

The regular legislative session can be extended. This is known as a special session, a period when the legislative body convenes outside of the normal legislative session. The rules of how the Legislature maybe convened, including the special session, are outlined in Article II, Section 3, of the Florida Constitution. Special sessions can be convened either by the Governor, or by a joint proclamation issued by the Senate President and the House Speaker.