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LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	07/22/2019
Subject: Performance Measures and Priorities for County Legislative Advocacy Contractors
Submitted For:	LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	2019-18
Referral Name:	Performance Measures
Presenter:	L. DeLaney	Contact:	L. DeLaney, 925-335-1097

Information

Referral History:

At its June 11, 2019 meeting, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Legislation Committee the matter of contractor performance measures and priorities for its contracted state and federal legislative advocates. Comments from Board Members indicated that the Federal and State Legislative Platforms needed a greater degree of prioritization of advocacy priorities in order for contractor performance to be better measured and managed.

Referral Update:

On July 12, 2019, staff to the Legislation Committee convened a discussion with key staff working on legislative and/or policy related matters in the departments of Health Services, Employment and Human Services, and Conservation and Development to gather input on the County's legislative priorities, Platform development process and advocacy performance measures.

Staff recommends that "best practices" in Platform development be explored prior to the development of the 2020 Platforms. The Platforms of the urban counties of California could serve as comparisons. Staff also recommended that Platforms be redesigned so that the alignment to the County's mission, vision and values is clear and the priorities are clearly articulated.

With regard to assistance from the federal and state advocates, staff requested additional support in terns of:

1. More frequent "live" interactions with the advocates to ensure information sharing and relationship building (e.g., monthly or quarterly conference calls; at least one in-person visit annually);
2. Early identification of grant funding opportunities and connection with funding agency staff;
3. "Bridge building" with trade association staff and congressional/state delegation staff and members;
4. Having assigned staff with policy expertise;
5. Greater synthesis/analysis of information provided (e.g., "Not just sending a link to a page, but context to the matter and its implications to Contra Costa County.");
6. Strategic planning for policy advocacy;
7. Development of "collateral" pieces that communicate policy/program advocacy.

Staff will also be present at the July 22, 2019 meeting for additional input. Attachment A includes information about the federal and state legislative advocacy contracts (from a February 12, 2018 staff report to the Legislation Committee), the draft Service Plan for the state legislative advocates, and the existing Service Plan for the federal legislative advocates.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

Provide direction to staff on performance measures to be included in contracts with the County's federal and state legislative advocates.

Attachments
Attachment A