LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS

AAF Pensacola and 4th District’s Government Relations is focused on protecting members and the industry from proposed regulations or other developments that could have a negative effect, ensuring a positive environment for the advertising industry in Florida. This requires on-going vigilance and attention to relationships with elected officials and their staffs, even when there’s not an active “issue.”

Florida’s current economic crunch means that legislators need to find additional funding sources for state programs. Which means we need to stay alert. Recently, we helped prevent efforts to levy sales tax on advertising and related services and other proposed regulations that could have negatively impacted the advertising industry in our state.

We do more than oppose, however.  When appropriate, we encourage industry self-regulation as a way to preempt government intervention. And we promote proposed bills that could further the growth of our industry and enhance its benefit to the businesses we serve.

AAF and the 4th District employ professional lobbyists to do this crucial work–monitoring advertising-related legislation and putting our members face-to-face with influential lawmakers. Though these few individuals have been tasked with representing the interests of the federation they cannot make the impact that our individual collective membership can.

Grassroots efforts involving our members are a crucial part of our efforts to protect and promote advertising at every level. Therefore we encourage ongoing legislative affairs awareness within each club as this is vital to our ability to respond quickly and effectively when legislative issues arise.