Government – CA Work Experience Program

Day 5 – Governor Cooper’s Office

Today we started off the day meeting various policy coordinators in a vert of sectors. One of Governor Cooper’s priorities is education, thus there are a number of the people within the policy department under education. We got to meet a couple of them and I found it extremely interesting to learn about how governance of education works in North Carolina and what this administration has done to improve education given those guidelines. North Carolina has started some really interesting initiatives to reduce high school dropout rates and to promote discussion based learning.

We then met with the policy coordinator in the Public Safety and Justice department. He spoke to us about how this administration is trying to improve the prison system and focus on rehabilitation and correction rather than punishment. He also discussed the increase in school safety initiatives that were put in place after the Parkland shooting.

Lastly, we met with the Director of Policy. She walked us through her job as serving as a oversight to all these various departments under policy and trying to ensure that everyone knows what the state is doing in the various sectors and how they might overlap. She helps the departments coordinate with each other and she is main person that reports back to the Governor.

We then ended the day with a tour of the Executive mansion, which was really cool. They were preparing the house for an event this evening so it was really interesting to see that setting as well.

Today was my last day working with the Governor’s office. I found this to be an incredible experience for me as I was able to see how policies are made on the local level and how they can have an influence on the federal system as well. I am so grateful for this opportunity, it was truly an incredible learning experience.

A poster in the education policy department that represents North Carolina’s outlook on education.

Day 4 – Governor Cooper’s Office

Today I worked in the Governor’s office with the assistant to the policy director. Her name is Ms. Eliza Edwards. She first gave me some information about her background and then discussed the various sectors in the policy department. After that we went sit in on the Senate session as they were voting on the amendments to the new budget proposal.

I later met with Mr. Jeremy Tarr who is the Policy Advisor for Environment, Energy, and Transportation. I was able to hear about his background and some projects he is currently working on. After this I sat in on a lunch meeting that happens once a month for the whole office to catch up on everything each department has done. After that meeting, we

Lunch meeting with members of each department

came back to take a tour of the building and then a tour of the State Capitol.

Day 3

Today, I had an exciting morning followed by a slower afternoon. I attended 1 committee meeting and a senate session. I had a good time and really was interested the committee meeting which discussed the farm bill of 2019.

The bill consisted of expanding the definition of agritourism to include hunting, fishing and shooting sports, and implementing a state hemp program. The committee meeting was like all the other committee meetings except there were the addition of 90 more farmers and concerned citizens. The amount of attendees at the meeting was so large that there had to be an overflow room for extra audience members. I found the meeting enjoyable because it was the first piece of legislature I felt was humanized.

In the past few days, its been committee about documenting logistics, rewriting regulations and setting conditions, not about person stories and impacting legislature to the community. But, with this bill, there was an impassioned public forum of at least 30 speakers. All farmers from different parts of the state discussing how Hemp is a product that must be preserved and how the expansion of the definition of agritourism would extremely reduce the quality of life for wildlife and farm animals.

The speakers were great because all the rhetorical strategies and attention getting devices that I learned in English and in debate were used towards persuading representatives to change or validate their choice of passing or failing a bill. Overall, it was a refreshing and exciting experience. I’m glad that I got to end my time at the NC legislature on a extremely high note.

View From the Roof of the legislative building

Day 2

Today was a bit slower than yesterday, I only had 1 committee meeting to attend in the morning and 1 house session in the afternoon. Overall, these meetings were good and the unanimous ‘aye’s are a testament to the productivity of our general assembly, collaboration of our representatives and the effectiveness of our state government.

Right after my first committeemeeting, I was assigned an errand, and I was sent to collect some mail. Surprisingly, it was in the same secret underground location as the cafeteria.

In other the time, between meetings, I spent my time with Mr. McCormick going over bills that I had questions on. Yesterday, he assigned me homework and asked me to find bills that I just had any questions on. For me, 1 particular bills caught my eye. It was on transparency of meetings and accessibility to recorded video. Inspired by Hollywood, I was wondering if there had been any particular scandals or shady activity that prompted this bill to pass. Interestingly enough, the bill was actually passed in order to ensure that all representatives are well informed. He explained that, in some situations, county members sometimes don’t have the full amount of information needed to voice their opinion to either their representative or party. Thus, the bill was passed so all interests could be accounted for.

Lunch was really great today because there was a food truck fair. I had a Cuban sandwich which was very tasty. For dessert, they had pelican’s snoballs, which was a great refreshing way to cool down a excruciating hot afternoon.

I am particular excited about tomorrow as I will be able to attend a bill that I had seen before working here, the farm bill of 2019.

Day 1

I was incredibly nervous my first day. I have some knowledge of the general assembly but I never quite really researched specifics and did not really know what to expect. Rather than doing busy work like copying files, filing papers or running errands, I spent my time surveying and attending different house and senate committee meetings. I feel incredibly fortunate because I was granted freedom to attend the meetings and topics that I am interested in like education, health and justice and public safety.

Regarding my setting, I got the full tour of the legislature building, cleverly named LB, where the many representatives and lobbyists all spend their time working on what needs to be done. The LB is an incredibly gorgeous building with both indoor water fountains and a rooftop garden. Next to it is the LOB, which is where a some of the meetings are held. The LOB is less attractive, but it sure gets the job done. In the two committee meetings I attended, there was a unanimous ‘aye’ after 3 minutes. Mr. McCormick, my main guide describes that it functions and looks like a desk office.

Lunch was good and filing. The actual cafeteria was hidden away underneath the earth. One has to take the stairs go through the parking lot to a secret area underneath to find the cafeteria. I have to say, the fried chicken was incredibly seasoned and I dined with Mr. McCormick’s friends who were extremely kind and welcoming.

In the afternoon, I attended a house committee discussing the Dental Bill of rights which passed after 1 minute. Then I had a little bit of free time on my hands to explore the area above the building. I perused the rooftop garden and got to see the actual House and Senate chambers. I took some photos and then went back to the office just in time to go to see the senate appropriations on education/higher education. Lastly, I finished off with the senate appropriations on justice and public safety and, just like that, my day was over. I am incredibly excited to come back tomorrow!

Day Eight – Am I a Lobbyist Now?

No. I’m not a lobbyist now. lol. But it was a whole lot of fun learning how lobbyists operate and what I have learned will definitely help me later on in many different facets. After the day started with a hangout in the telephone room the gang headed over to representative Justin Burr’s office for a chat and some help with the car bill they’ve been working on. Then we talked with Senator Ralph Hise on the same issue and afterwards we met with a man from the NC Automotive Dealers Association. Before I left for good Ms. Devivo and Ms. Sams were kind enough to show me the floor of the Senate. Because the Senate was about to be in session I had to have an official invite me in and take my photo. The whole experience was awesome. Then I had a fun talk with Senator Milton Fitch, Jr. A little bit after I exchanged goodbyes with both of my bosses and left for good.

Thank you guys! I promise I’ll be around the legislature to see y’all 🙂

Paco is beyond upset that I’m leaving Devivo and Sams Policy Partners.

Day Seven – Business as Usual

My day began in the call room as Ms. Devivo and I again crammed into a telephone box to make another call to the car clients. However, we only occupied that 34 x 40 in room for around 12 minutes this time. Then Ms. Sams. entered the box with both of us for a quick conversation. I almost felt the need to hold my breath as it seemed like the oxygen levels in the call box were plummeting. A lot of the work that these two have regarding their car client involve changing one sentence in the bill which appears to possibly have a different function than intended. Multiple meetings involving several lobbyists and members of the industry were interspersed into the day. A little before lunch Ms. Devivo walked into a pop-up dermatology clinic at the legislature to have her skin checked for free. While Ms. Devivo was away Ms. Sams told me that often times medical practitioners will offer free services to everyone in the legislature in order to promote their cause. Thankfully, as stated by Ms. Devivo these doctors “found nothing, but looked hard.” After lunch we went to a meeting held by the NC Board of Education in order to check up on charter school issue. Ms. Devivo explained to me that they represent a charter school company with three schools specifically intended for drop-out students. The State must grade every charter school however these schools are subject to an unfair standard given their student population. Thus added provisions needed to be added in order to set a fair standard for these schools. Luckily no board members contested this provision.

We Coordinated Red, White, and Blue for the Veteran’s Celebration at the Legislature

Day Six – Tuesday is the New Monday

Today was a somewhat slow day again for Devivo and Sams Policy Partners. However, it began in opposite fashion as early in the morning we had a short meeting regarding our car-clients from last week. Then we had a short meeting with some more new clients. They were chiropractors who needed some sort of representation within the legislature, but I couldn’t glean any more than this. Afterwards our day consisted of several short meetings with different lobbyists and representatives regarding a car-software bill set to be voted on this week by both houses of the legislature. In between these meetings we killed a lot of time in various hallways, in the building’s cafeteria, and with two very sweet old ladies in the building’s telephone center. Our day ended with a short meeting with Representative William Brawley.

“I don’t have any photos for my blog today”
“OK, just take one here”

I’m posting photos of Paco to appease my bosses

Paco Doesn’t Like It when I talk to his Girlfriends

IMG_6574.TRIM-2by3xig

^Paco does like food but not when his girlfriends are stealing it

Day Five – A Visit to the Department of Transportation

I should invest in finding my driver’s license. Today was the second consecutive day where I did not have but, more importantly, needed some sort of state identification. This recurring motif ended before I had to drive home, thankfully, as Mr. Deans Eatman was courteous enough to allow me entrance into the DOT’s building without ID. However, I learned more than the fact that I had no common sense. Mr. Deans and Ms. Joy Hicks soon taught me all about what the DOT does and how they do what they do. This week’s work largely consisted of passing the ‘DriveNC’ bill to the legislature, which was, as I understood, a bill which would allow the DOT to borrow money in order to allow for more flexibility in scheduling their projects. After a snack break and a lunch break we were able to listen in on a conference call including the office of the Governor many representatives of many of the NC departments. My friends explained to me that every Monday these departments get together to discuss majors issues as well as the Governor’s activity for the week. Neat stuff! Afterwards we took a quick trip to the legislature so that Deans could possibly talk to some representatives and senators about the DriveNC bill. During this trip there were many protestors shouting inside the building but soon all of them were arrested. Even more neat. Tomorrow I’m heading back to Devivo and Sams but today I had an awesome experience. Thanks guys!

Day Four – Questions

My day began with two questions which would end up dominating my work day – 1. How was Kanye West able to yet again release the world’s greatest music? and 2. Who knew that you needed an ID to enter the state archives?

Answers: 1. He’s Kanye, and 2. I didn’t.

Thus my day began by driving to the state archives, realizing that I didn’t have any sort of ID, driving back to my house, grabbing an ID, and then finally driving back to the state archives. At the archives fellow junior-lobbyist Ava and I researched the NC Department of Transportation. We learned all sorts of thrilling facts about the NCDOT. For example, did you know that the annual operating budget of the DOT is around 4.7 billion? Or that the DOT collects most of its money through a fuel tax and was founded in 1915? All of this information should help me with the one-day internship I have at the NCDOT on Monday. Can’t wait!