Category: Nash B – Lobbyist

 

Today was the last day 🙁 this work experience flewwwww by.

In the morning we met with Representative Blackwell (pictured above). He was funny and super clever.

In the afternoon I handed out legislative agendas for two of Ms. Perkinson’s clients to every legislator in the legislative building – this was pretty much the only grunt work of the entire experience so I was more than happy to help out, and it’s kind of what I expected.

The highlight of today was meeting with Senator Batch, the senator for my district. She was so friendly and down-to-earth, and informed me about the Senate Page Program which hopefully I will able to do. I also enjoyed talking with her assistant Matt Hardison who was very knowledgeable and gave me great advice.

It’s so bittersweet that my work experience has ended, it was such a great experience and I will dearly miss the legislative adventures with Ms. Perkinson, Ms. Beaulieu, and Zack.

I watched a House education meeting on the topic of school safety, which was especially pertinent because of the recent tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary. They discussed how to better safeguard children in schools, identifying bullying as a main cause of the decline in mental health of students. As the speaker put it, “When I was in school the bullying stopped when you got home. But now, in the cyber world bullying can continue 24/7.”

In the afternoon the Senate had the first full floor meeting, as pictured above. This was something I had been looking forward to for the past 2 weeks, so it was a pleasure to see the senators debate on the floor. This meeting was controversial, so I made a surprise appearance on local tv:

It was quite controversial because of the parents’ bill of rights, a bill that was labeled by protesters as a ‘don’t say gay bill’ which led to some protests and chants in the hearing. This bill will likely be confirmed in the House, but will probably be vetoed by Governor Cooper. Despite the legislators knowing this, they will still always try to pass the bills that they think will please their constituents.

In the morning, I met up with Ms. Perkinson and we went around the LB and LOB dropping off invitations for a breakfast for one of Ms. Perkinson’s clients.

When we circled back to the legislative building I was surprised to see… Kai! It turns out that he was able to come to the legislative building today with Stan from the NC symphony. We watched a hearing on a parents’ rights bill. This hearing became quite controversial because it was labeled by some as a ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

Kai and I were lucky enough to have lunch together with the wonderful trio of Ms. Perkinson, Stan, and Carl.

After lunch we rushed over to a meeting with Representative Saines, and then I observed a judiciary committee.

 

Today Ms. Perkinson left to go out of town, so instead of going to the legislative building I worked from home. I did some research on potential bills and prepped for the coming week. I am looking forward to resuming our work on Tuesday.

In the morning, I attended a hearing on improving telehealth, and improving academic transparency. After this hearing, I rushed over to the administration building to meet Ms. Perkinson and her clients. They had a meeting with the Governor’s Senior Education Advisor, Geoff Coltrane (picture with him above). I was able to sit in on the meeting and observe.

After lunch, Ms. Perkinson and Ms. Beaulieu had a meeting so I met up with Ms. Beaulieu’s intern Zack, a graduate student at UNC law school. Since they both represent the NC Music Educators Association, we needed to schedule appointments with legislators for June 7th, the day that the organization would be coming in for an advocacy day. Thus, we went all over the legislative buildings introducing ourselves and scheduling appointments. Luckily we seemed to be pretty successful.

Ms. Perkinson represents the North Carolina Occupational Therapy Association, and today was their advocacy day, so 6 occupational therapists came to the legislative building to advocate for their wishes. I met Ms. Karan, an occupational therapist, and we had a meeting with Sen. Woodard.

We then watched a health committee meeting on the topic of telehealth. This hearing was crucial because the bill could then be gutted and amended. This bill was somewhat controversial because it also included other things like the Save act, which would allow Advanced practice registered nurses more freedom to become solo practitioners. Thus some groups like the medical society opposed some parts of the bill. Significantly, the bill would continue telehealth’s success at a state level.

Later, I went to the library in the Legislative Office Building (LOB) and browsed the selection of past bills, historical books of NC, and other documents.

 

Immediately as I arrived at the NC legislature building I could see that things were a lot busier than yesterday. A woman came up to me and asked if I was a senate page or a house page, so I might’ve disappointed her in telling her that I was doing a work experience. Everyone was very friendly.

I shadowed Ms. Perkinson as she went around the legislative office building, connecting with representatives and their staffers to make appointments. A memorable quote that she told me was that “more things will get done walking across the legislative bridge than a full scheduled meeting”, which essentially means you should never miss an opportunity to bump into someone and form a connection with them, because you never know what you may get done! Among many other Senators and their staffers, notably I was able to meet Sen. Chuck Edwards, who recently won his election against Madison Cawthorn.

I was also able to see my first committee hearing, a judiciary hearing to consider the nomination of the secretary for the department of public safety.
In the afternoon I met Ms. Beaulieu, another lobbyist and close friend of Ms. Perkinson. I was able to learn a lot about the legislative process and more specific details of how she works with her clients. I finished off the day observing a committee hearing about oyster production in Eastern Carolina!

 

Today was my first day of the work experience with Ms. Perkinson, a lawyer/lobbyist. I met her in front of the NC legislative building, and she took me on a tour of the building, showing me where the house and senate convene, and even taking me onto the roof (pictured above).

In odd numbered years, the NC legislature does long sessions, and in even numbered years, like 2022, they do short sessions. At this time of the year the senators and house representatives mainly arrive Monday night, and convene Tuesday-Thursday. Thus, there was no session today and I listened in as Ms. Perkinson met with her clients virtually. It was super interesting to me how she balances all of her clients wishes and collaborates with others to get things done in an often sluggish legislature process. It was great meeting Ms. Perkinson today and I am super excited to see a legislature session in person tomorrow!