I’ve been working in the policy and advocacy world since I was 23. As I wrote about here, I hated politics so I became an advocate. I figured there was no better way to change the system, than to work the system.
Through the years I’ve learned from public policy pros and advocacy campaigners, and I’ve made many mistakes along the way.
I’ve played a leading role in the passage of over a dozen major consumer safety or environmental pieces of legislation. And for every bill that has passed, there have been several that were stalled, vetoed, or never introduced. This work simply takes time, and strategic campaigning.
It’s been telling to see how politics have shifted over the years, along with consumer awareness about toxic chemicals in the products they use every day. Below I’ve used five examples of advocacy campaigns I’ve worked on and what I’ve learned. I hope you enjoy.
When you pass legislation, you can have a massive impact
Passing Minnesota’s Renewable Energy Standard in 2005
In 2005, I worked on my first legislative campaign. At the time I didn’t fully understand or appreciate why the public policy process mattered, or why good laws mattered. As a fresh-from-college, eager, and nervous intern, I sat through committee hearings, lobbied and learned. At the end of the Minnesota 2005 legislative session, the Governor signed into law a sweeping Renewable Energy Standard that required 25% of the state’s energy to come from renewable resources by 2025.
It was then that I realized, despite how arduous the political process was, when you pass legislation, you win BIG. So much bigger than what I had spent my first two years out of college doing, which was talking to people one by one about why they need to change their lightbulbs in their homes. Still important of course to educate people about individual choices, as we collectively move markets, but I now believe that this must be paired with a legislative campaign that will mandate the change we want to see.
Consumer’s understanding of toxic chemicals in their everyday products has exploded in the last decade
Passing a ban on toxic flame retardants penta/octa PBDE
PBDE- what? Yeah…try talking to legislators and the public about polybrominated diphenyl ethers (toxic flame retardants) back in 2005-06. This was a time when the majority of people still didn’t know that many plastic materials leached hormone-disrupting chemicals, it was before the China and lead toy scare took place, and general consumer awareness about toxic chemicals in consumer products was limited, at best.
Fast forward to the end of 2018, and while many North American families still don’t know about harmful chemicals in their products, so many more do. This gives me hope and shows me that persistence, time, and strategic campaigning can change culture, markets, companies, and laws.
The Healthy Legacy team successfully passed a ban on two toxic flame retardants in Minnesota that year, despite the topic being a complicated stretch for most to wrap their heads around. Fast forward to 2014, and a group of national leaders worked to pass a smart labeling law in California that is ultimately moving the furniture market away from toxic flame retardants.
Sometimes you have to lose, to ultimately win
Having Governor Pawlenty veto a ban on BPA and phthalates in children’s products
I can’t tell you how devastating it was to spend a year of blood, sweat, and tears on a legislative campaign, to have the bill vetoed within moments of hitting the Governor’s desk. In 2008, a small team of us worked to pass a bi-partisan bill that would have banned phthalates and BPA from children’s products.
Governor Pawlenty from MN, vetoed the legislation. Within 24 hours the local media had caught on (my hunch is that the Governor’s office thought no one would notice) and headlines publicly called out the Governor for vetoing a bi-partisan bill that would have protected children. This media blitz, which may or may not have been pitched by yours truly, set the stage for 2009.
And in 2009, we reintroduced the bill and passed the FIRST law in the country banning the toxic chemical BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups. And we worked on a federal ban on certain high risk phthalates from children’s products. So while the set back was hard to deal with at the time, we ended up having a bigger win the next year.
Major change takes time
Passing reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act
This is the longest, hardest campaign I have ever worked on. It was through helping my mentor and friend Andy Igrejas start Safer Chemicals, Health Families, I learned the federal ropes of the national policy process. This campaign required over 450 organizations and businesses to be aligned (through the coalition) and a good ten years of work.
While the final bill that passed was a mere shell of what we originally wanted, this bill taught me so much, namely that major reforms that really shift the system, takes serious time. We need to all be engaged for the long haul if we want to drastically change our consumer marketplace, laws and increase the safety of our products. You’re with me, right?
Democrats and Republicans still support consumer safety laws
Passing the Safer Salon bill
We are hot off the heels of another major legislative win, the Safer Salon Bill is soon to be signed into law by Governor Brown. For the first time in the history of the United States, salon workers will have access to ingredient information about the products they use every day. Prior to this bill passing, salon workers–mostly women and men of color—were using some of the most toxic personal care products and suffering health impacts as a result.
This bill, in its second year (since these things take time), passed 39-0 in the California Senate, showing that despite our divided nation, Democrats and Republicans still support consumer safety legislation.
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