This year marks one of the years where the Legislature in California has worked through the summer. This means that legislation has constantly changed. Do you know where your organization will stand by September? October? November? Yes, it is a national election year. State politics is indeed impacted by these types of momentous occasions that happen every four years.

California is no exception to this rule. The legislature will work all the way to their mandatory break in December in order to get as much legislation through as possible. Knowing this information, the question your organization needs to be asking itself is where are we on their radar? Is the legislature on our side? Do we need to compromise? If so, where?

J Gould Consulting does not normally give advice and warnings to people considering such questions. We are about to make an exception in this case. Compromising is required in major election years. No one can get everything they want. The key is to remember the goal for your population that you’re serving. Whatever your reason for creating legislation or getting involved in the political process, your organizations need to keep that in mind: your goals, aspirations and core values will make the difference on the impact in legislation that you are doing. Consider the compromises carefully. Consider all parties involved with the equal wight whenever possible. Here at J Gould Consulting we like to promote integrity and moralistic values. We are aware that politics can get complicated and compromising. We strongly urge anyone who reads our articles or searches for our services to choose this option when no other option seems available. We are grassroots lobbyists: the voice of the disability community needs to be heard throughout the country, especially those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. So keep your integrity strong as an organization and choose the clean path. Please feel free to contact us if you need guidance in this area. As always, we’re stronger together.