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Legislative Action Center
Get Involved!
Welcome to ARSA's Legislative Action Center, where we make it easy for you to engage your elected officials and encourage their action on behalf of the aviation maintenance industry.
Your involvement in promoting the industry is critical to its success. On this page you can find five simple ways to become active, informed, and involved with ARSA's efforts to grow the industry's influence in Washington.
• Learn About the Issues and Your Representatives
• Communicate With Congress
• Get Involved in Your Community
• Contribute
To learn about the issues facing the industry, visit our issues page. To learn about current legislation and to contact your representatives visit www.ARSAaction.org.
Learn About the Issues and Your Representatives
ARSA makes it easy for you to stay informed about legislation pending before Congress and its consequences for aviation maintenance. We also make it simple for you to contact your lawmakers and share your opinion on issues important to the industry.
For a view of ARSA's current legislative priorities and the ways in which you can become involved, download our legislative priorities brochure.
Our Legislative Issues Page provides information about ARSA's actions to protect and promote aviation maintenance on Capitol Hill. On this page, you can learn about ARSA's core areas of interests and view the ways the association is currently fighting for you.
Learn about the key players on Capitol Hill and familiarize yourself with your members of Congress by visiting www.opensecrets.org and www.congress.org. These sites will allow you to review the member's background and the industries that support them. You can also use www.ARSAAction.org for information on contacting your legislators.
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Use ARSA's grassroots action site, www.ARSAAction.org, to contact your representatives and urge their support for aviation maintenance and issues important to business. You can also contact us for assistance in reaching out to your lawmakers.
When communicating with Congress, it is helpful to develop a company profile detailing the nature of your business and impact on the local community. Once completed, this profile provides your congressional members a quick and easy snapshot of what your business means to their district.
Write a Letter
Using www.ARSAAction.org, you can find your senator’s and representative’s contact information for their Washington offices and easily send them messages about important issues currently before the Congress. Elected officials pay close attention to the volume of letters they receive and use this information to gauge the opinion of folks "back home." With unions and other groups hostile to the contract maintenance industry bombarding members with letters, it is very important that your representatives hear from you on key issues.
ARSAAction.org makes this easier than ever. Here you will find prewritten letters that you can customize and automatically send. Due to the heavy volume and security concerns, email is the best way to send a message. Sending a message this way can take less than a minute, and is a great way to show your members of Congress that voters are watching their actions.
Play Host
The most effective way to show your elected officials the value your repair station has for the local community is to get them to tour your facility. This lets them see firsthand the value of the product you produce, the people you employee, and the high standards of safety and quality that represent the industry. The personal interaction afforded by these visits allows you to explain the repercussions of governmental micromanagement on your company, while giving elected officials a chance to interact with their constituents.
Setting up a visit from your Representative or Senator requires patience and persistence. Their calendars are busy and subject to constant change, so even after a date is set, it may require rescheduling. From helping to arrange the visit to providing materials to educate lawmakers about the industry and your business, ARSA is here to work with your throughout this entire process.
For assistance in arranging a visit, contact ARSA’s Vice President of Legislative Affairs Daniel Fisher
Or, click here and follow these instructions:
1. Save the pre-written Word document to your computer;
2. To find contact information for your members of Congress, click here;
3. Place the message on your company’s letterhead;
4. Fax or email the letter to the member’s office to the attention of the scheduler; and,
5. Scan a copy and send it to Daniel Fisher so we can follow up.
6. If you have not heard back after a week, place a call to the office, request to speak with the scheduler, and repeat your request.
Visit "the Hill"
If you happen to be in Washington, D.C., scheduling a visit with your elected officials or members of their staff can be a great way to deliver the industry's message and show the value your repair station brings to your community. This allows you to meet face to face with your elected officials and explain how their actions impact your ability to do business. If you are unable to meet directly with your member of Congress, a meeting with a member of their staff can serve the same purpose.
ARSA will assist you in scheduling a meeting with your lawmakers, and will provide you with the information necessary for a successful visit. Before your meeting, be sure to fill out a company profile that you can leave behind detailing your impact in their congressional district or state. For assistance or advice on scheduling a visit, contact ARSA's Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Daniel Fisher
Once a year, ARSA schedules a legislative "fly-in" where ARSA members from across the country pay visit to their congresspersons. This event is associated with ARSA's Annual Repair Station Symposium devoted to issues important to repair stations. If you are heading to the symposium, be sure to complement it with a visit to the members of your congressional delegation.
Get Involved in Your Community
Actively engaging your local community adds an intangible benefit to your business by enhancing your profile among your neighbors. A successful advocacy program involves demonstrating the value your repair station provides to your community as a whole.
Being an active member of the community and local business associations allows you to highlight your value and importance to civil aviation, a proven economic engine and growth incubator. This in turn will help to increase the perceived value of the services offered by your repair station, which in turn highlights your value to the community, enhancing your business' standing.
This also helps to put you on the radar of local lawmakers as they consider the impact that potential legislation could have on the communities they represent.
Vote!
Participation in the democratic process is an important part of active citizenship. Engaging candidates during elections can be a great way to get to know your current/future representatives. Your support of pro-growth candidates during campaigns can help build important lasting relationships. You can engage candidates by inviting them to tour your facility or by attending campaign fundraisers or other events. For more information on voting resources, visit www.ARSAaction.org or www.congress.org/election.
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Contribute
ARSA has separate funds that support our activities and advocacy for the industry.
ARSA PAC
ARSA's Political Action Committee is how ARSA gets involved in hot political campaigns across the country. However, due to campaign finance law, we can only tell you about it if you click here.*
ARSA's Positive Publicity Campaign
The Positive Publicity Campaign (PPC) is a special strategic campaign that ARSA is waging to develop an easy and effective common message for the industry. It also seeks to develop an accurate picture of the industry's overall economic impact and to put that information in front of decision makers. To contribute to our PPC efforts and to learn more, click here.
*Contributions may be used for electioneering activities; as such, contributions to these funds are not tax deductible. Only executives at ARSA member companies who have given solicitation consent are eligible to participate.
