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ADVOCACY
The advocacy efforts of the Chamber continue to grow as the Chamber team evolves to serve members and the business community through business advocacy on the local, state, and federal level. This occurs through business advocacy,
“When developing the Chamber’s 2023 legislative agenda, the Chamber team received broad feedback from small businesses, mid-range employers, large employers, the City of Rochester, Olmsted County, the Chamber’s committees, and the Chamber Board on their legislative priorities and issues that they are facing,” Krull says. View page 17 to read the newly unveiled 2023 legislative agenda. Over the last few years, the Chamber has worked to convene discussions with employers , higher education, city, county, local and state government, including legislators, through various forums. “We have welcomed the opportunity to bring employers together to discuss workforce, legislative priorities, and other topics and challenges that they’re encountering and a discussion of potential solutions,” Parsons says. “Ensuring ongoing communication in the business community is important for the Chamber. Continuing the discussion of employer challenges, solutions, projects, and more with members and partners in the year ahead is important and a vital step to encouraging collaboration and an understanding of the issues impacting area employers.” Advocacy is a key pillar of the Chamber, to assist with these efforts the Local & Government Affairs Committee (LGAC) was developed in early 2021. Members of LGAC heard from the city on the local option sales tax and had the opportunity to ask questions about the policy. Through these discussions, the group emphasized ensuring that Rochester is at the table when it comes to receiving sales tax funding, but remaining flexible to vet the projects that can be a result of the local option sales tax passing. “The Chamber had an opportunity to vet the local option sales tax through the LGAC who made their recommendation which was then presented to the board for final approval. The work of the LGAC to identify and review the issues that are impacting businesses is critical to our advocacy efforts,” Parsons says.
education, sharing resources & information, encouraging dialogue between elected representatives and business, as well as serving as a convener of industry and community. Introduced in Spring 2021, the Local Government Connect is a member event with the goal of bringing together Rochester’s local government including schools, parks, the city and the county, to provide the opportunity for them to highlight their respective progress, priorities, and the challenges that they’re encountering. The Local Government Connect is a forum to provide information from these community partners to the business community. In 2022, the Chamber unveiled its legislative agenda , which aimed to bring attention to the key priorities of Rochester area businesses. The 2022 legislative session was complex, but through the work and support of the Chamber, partner organizations, and business community, the replenishment of Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Trust fund with state and federal funds successfully passed the legislature and was signed into law. “This legislative success helped avoid passing the cost of replenishing the fund onto the business community which was still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Krull says. Other topics included in the 2022 legislative agenda included support for expansion of telecommunications infrastructure, sustaining Medicaid expansion, reducing uncompetitive taxes, and reforming occupational licensing practices in the state.
| Advantage Magazine 10
February 2023
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