ILSHRM CIC-SHRM Legislative Conference

So having attended Capitol Hill day several times in Washington DC, I thought that our ILSHRM efforts for this year were a bust. We had more people than ever go to the Illinois Statehouse and the count was 24.  But then I thought about that for a moment and thought things need to be proportional.    The last time I went to Capitol Hill there were 400+ members who went - impressive! We sent 24 to our statehouse.   Wait though let’s do the math.  On the last trip to Capitol Hill 400 of the 280,000 members attended or 0.0014 % the membership.   Now looking at our Illinois delegation, 24 of the 12,300 members attended or 0.0019% of our state membership; BAM #ILSHMR wins!

While I have not attended all of the Legislative Conferences, I have made a number of them. I still enjoy being around a bunch of like minded #HR pros, it just gets me stoked.  Yesterday’s version was no different.    We heard from Jonathan Segal, who is an accomplished – often quoted labor lawyer. He shared his brand of HR Law which often brought levity to the whole matter.

This was followed up by ILSHRM Lobbyist Jay Dee Shadduck.  Jay brought us three state agency directors, a state senator and one state representative. These folks all had interesting prospective on what was going on in state government and why we should care, and /or feel good about it.  Some of them did a better job articulating this point than others. I will leave the final decision as to who was who, to the others that attended.

After lunch we heard from Kelly Hastings, a member of the SHRM Legislative Affairs team.  And while Kelly touched on a number of subjects that had already been kicked around, she provided some hard facts and legislative insight that could only come from a true insider.   We thank Kelly for an early out in DC and a late night back in.  (The new rules on exempt employees will be here very soon!)

Then it was off to the Illinois Statehouse.  While the Senate was not in session when we arrived, they were doing committee hearings, the House was in session.  The consensus was it is easy to see why we don’t have a budget.  What we saw from our brief visit there was organized confusion at best.  There was no real debate going on and only a vote or two took place.  There were a lot of people in the Capitol but I am not sure what they were all doing.  Although from my vantage point I so no one talking or worrying about a budget.  Hmm, I guess government just works different that private sector business.

Tomorrow is Day two of the conference; we will see what that holds for us.  See you there!

-          

     Dave Ryan – ISC SHRM Director Elect

ILSHRM Chapter by Chapter

This year we at Illinois SHRM would like to showcase each of our chapters.  That is to say talk with them and write a blog post about the group and what they are doing. Our local chapters are at the heart of SHRM so we want to let you know about your fellow SHRM members around the state.

Our first effort at this is with the Central Illinois Chapter of SHRM, also know as CIC-SHRM #223. So to find out more about the chapter I went right to the top to Chapter President Mary Curl.  Like so many of the volunteers at the local level Mary has served here local board for a long time.  She is heading into her 9th year on the board and is in the first of her two year presidency.

Mary is very proud of her 107 member chapter.  As part of SHRM's Shape Program The CIC-SHRM chapter was recognized as a Platinum Chapter for 2012.  Mary is pleased with the work of her board  for attaining this award.  Her chapter is the only one in Illinois to receive the top award from SHRM National.

Mary says one of the hardest things to do as a chapter is to retain current members, while recruiting new ones.  Membership is at the core of the chapter's on-going activities. Mary says, she has had so many people tell her that their employer will pay for a local SHRM membership, or for a National SHRM membership - but not both.  Mary says this is often an obstacle when it comes to recruiting members. Mary says she has been lucky thought, the chapter has always had top quality volunteers as the membership chairperson, which has help keep membership levels around 100 members.

Despite the challenges of recruiting members, Mary said that chapter meetings usually have 80 + members in attendance at it's bi-monthly meetings.  The chapter has lunch meetings, and meets on the campus of the University of Illinois at the Springfield Campus.  Mary says the members continue to enjoy the content that is provided and find the presentation relevant to their work and timely as to what the current HR hot buttons are.

After 9 years on the board you might think that Mary could be growing weary of her volunteerism.  But she explains that away by saying that her employer is most supportive of her volunteer work. In fact,, as part of a membership organization herself, Mary has become the go to person for her association when it comes to HR issues.

Mary looks for the Springfield chapter to continue to grow steadily and put forth new efforts. Mary says they have established a mentoring program and continue to support a local program called Dress for Success.

Asked what she gets our of her volunteer efforts, Mary says that she love the networking and getting to meet new people, people that she would not have met had she not be an active volunteer SHRM Leader.


-Dave Ryan Director of  Social Media ISC SHRM

Legislative Conference # 3

The Illinois SHRM Group attending ILSHRM Lobby Day 3-27-12

Have you ever attended The First Annual ... fill in the blank here.  I always wonder will there be a 3rd, 4th or 14th for that matter, annual event of the same name - or will it die a quick ugly death because those who started out were not committed enough to the cause to make the event continue.    Well it would appear that some committed folks at Illinois SHRM (Donna Rogers and Tammy Ireland primarily with an honorable mention to John Jorgensen)  have kept the Annual State Legislative Conference alive and moving forward.

Today I attended our third annual event in Springfield. While it did not have the number of attendees that the SHRM National Legislative Event does, we did have 30 people who were in attendance and committed to the cause of having SHRM have a larger legislative presence at the state level.  We started off our day by hearing from a triumvirate of lawyers from the Springfield Firm of Brown Hay & Stephens.  Thanks to Roland Cross, Stephanie Radliff and Kelly Greco for their informative presentations. We then heard from our own hired gun lobbyist Terry Stezco.  Terry spoke to the group and explained the need for and the how to develop a relationship with our legislative representatives.  Terry is going to lobby on our behalf as the needs present themselves, and he is also going to help us position our organization to better advocate for our causes.

David Lusk and Donna Rogers mugging for the camera.

And speaking of advocacy, after lunch we heard from the SHRM A-Team,  with "A" standing for Advocacy. The program is continuing to grow. David Lusk (pictured right) from SHRM National earned his lunch and provided the group with some great reasons to become more involved with the advocacy efforts.  David spoke for about 45 immediately prior to sending the gang off to the Illinois State House.

A group of about 20 walked several block down to the Illinois Capitol with a plan to at least meet and greet their elected representative. What we found out when we arrived was that the Capitol was a busy place.  This week was deadline for bills out of their house of origin.  Some of us met our representatives and senators, while other just took in the process. It is a beginning. We have a long ways to go, but we are on our way.

Thanks to all who attended.

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC SHRM

Upcoming Illinois Legislative Conference

Last week I attended the annual SHRM Employment Law & Legislative Conference in DC and visited our states two Senators office and my local congressman's office to discuss health care reform and workplace flexibility in support of SHRMs position. Before the conference started, I also had the opportunity to hear best practices among 48 of our 50 State Legislative Directors who were in the room.  It is absolutely amazing to me what some of the other states are doing from a legislative standpoint (state lobbyist, govt. affairs, state & federal directors, etc.). By comparison, they don't have half as many enacted employment related regulations on the books that Illinois does. We are only beat by California and they were not in the room so I am not sure what they are doing. What are we doing, right now. Well to be honest, NOTHING. However, I personally would like to change that and absolutely need your support.

It is my goal to fund legislative efforts at the state level with the annual Legislative Conference going forward. As we have been preparing for the event (April 12-13) we have discovered almost triple digit bills waiting to be pushed through. Some of them are good for HR and business and some are not. IL State Legislators need to hear from us with regard to those that are not, so they will be less likely to vote them into law.

Illinois is one of 10 states this year that SHRM Government Affairs plans to work with to bring about advocacy in all 19 of our districts. Michael Laymen, SHRM, Govt. Affairs is coming in for our Legislative Conference to not only provide us with a federal update but to train us on how to make those connections and advocate for what we think is right as it affects our everyday life. I hope you will consider joining us in this initial effort. It is of utmost importance that your local legislators hear from you, know you, call on you when they have a question about something that will ultimately affect your job.

Please support the HR Legislative efforts in Illinois by first attending this conference  and second by telling other members and HR professionals about it! We can work together to make a difference in Illinois! As an incentive, the state council will reimburse mileage for one (1) carload of attendees from each chapter. Carpool to save gas, network, and strategize about how you will make a difference. Are you with me?

-Donna Rogers State Director ISC SHRM

Upcoming Legislative Conference 4/12 & 4/13

The 2 nd Annual ISC-SHRM Legislative Conference will be held in conjunction with the 12th Annual Legislative Conference hosted by CIC-SHRM on April 12th and 13th in Springfield at the Lincoln Land Capitol Training Center. It will be a full two day event with seven extremely experienced professionals presenting on very timely HR issues and updates. National SHRM Governmental Affairs staff, Mike Layman will be presenting a Federal Policy Update, while others will present on topics from Union Organizing to Healthcare Reform. A reception will be held Tuesday evening at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and a visit to the Illinois Statehouse is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon to meet with representatives regarding hot HR legal issues. More information including registration information will be available on the Illinois State Council website very soon. For now please save the date.

- Tami Ireland, MA, PHR, Government Affairs CLA Director for the ISC-SHRM