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Back Home Visit Program - A PRIMER

Purpose: Back Home Visits are part of an effort intended to raise the profile of civil engineering among lawmakers, and to provide Society members with the opportunity to develop relationships with their elected officials. It is an opportunity for you to educate your Representative on current issues important to you as a civil engineer, but also to establish yourself as an expert on these issues, someone the legislator and his or her staff can call on should they have questions in the future about issues related to civil engineering.

Format: There are a few advantages to meeting with your legislator in the district. First, the visit can last anywhere from 30-60 minutes (a visit with a legislator in Washington generally won't exceed 10 minutes). This usually allows for a more relaxed atmosphere to discuss your issues.

Preparation: You must request a Back Home Visit from your lawmaker in writing in advance, ideally at least 2 weeks in advance. Fax your request to your lawmaker's office - you may want to call and get the name of the appointment scheduler. Some lawmakers have all their scheduling requests arranged through their Washington, D.C. offices, while others handle district meetings through the district offices. If you prefer, ASCE staff can contact the Congressional office and facilitate the process of making an appointment. In either case, please remember that lawmakers have many demands on their time so you need to be patient and flexible.

We recommend you prepare one or two specific issues to discuss with your Representative - any more than this and you risk losing focus and your message won't be as strong. ASCE Government Relations can help you identify which issues important to civil engineering are currently pending in Congress - check the "Six Clicks" (or less) advocacy website or contact us directly (see information below). We are happy to provide you with briefing materials on these issues.

Your lawmaker will be particularly interested in how these issues will affect people and businesses in his or her Congressional district. Take a little time to identify some points of local interest relative to the issues you intend to discuss. For example, in the case of transportation funding, identify a local highway or transit project that relies on federal funding - i.e. how many jobs could be created/lost? road congestion that will worsen, etc. Maybe there is a nearby public dam in need of repairs that could benefit under the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act.

You can get background information on your legislators through the "Six Clicks" (or less) advocacy website - http://www.asce.org/advocacy.html - simply follow the instructions to log in.

Follow-up: After the meeting, it is a good idea to send a follow-up message thanking the Representative for his or her time. This is the ideal time to restate your positions on the issues discussed, and if appropriate, press for a commitment from the Representative on an issue. In addition, if the Congressman or staff had questions that you could not answer in the meeting, a follow-up message can provide the answers. As with all communications to congress, you should email or fax your message to your Representative. You can use the "Six Clicks" system or find contact information for Congressional offices by visiting http://www.house.gov or by contacting ASCE's government relations department.

It is important to remember that the Back Home Visit is intended to be the starting point for an on-going relationship between you and your elected official. It is up to you to contact him or her on a regular basis to make sure your views on civil engineering issues are being heard. ASCE's government relations staff can provide you with assistance - just let us know.

For more information contact us:

ASCE Government Relations
101 Constitution Avenue, NW
Suite 375 East
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-789-7850
Fax: 202-789-7859
govwash@asce.org
http://www.asce.org/govrel

   
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