FSPAC

Political Action Committee future generations of student leaders 5 GREEKS IN CONGRESS As we begin the countdown to the 2020 election, we know of 151 Greeks in the 116th Congress (52% R, 48% D). Several have announced their retirements, and each week we learn of new House and Senate candidates who are alumni of our fraternity and sorority community. Most recently, Kelly Loeffler (R-GA/AΓΔ) was appointed to the Georgia Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA/ΣAE). If you know of a candidate who is Greek, please let us know so we can make contact. CURRENT POLITICAL CLIMATE UNCERTAIN The political climate in Washington, D.C. is fraught with uncertainty. The Senate is expected to be in play in the 2020 elections, and many seats will be contested in the House. This provides us with the imperative to build upon current relationships while establishing new ones. Your support of the FSPAC allows us to leverage our collective networks to advance the FSPAC's work to protect and defend the fraternity and sorority experience, no matter which party controls each chamber of Congress. As the largest PAC focused solely on higher education issues, we have been able to make your voices heard in our nation's capital. CANDIDATE CONTRIBUTION COMMITTEE OFFERS EXPERTISE The Candidate Contribution Committee is composed of 18 board members with varied backgrounds including Capitol Hill lobbying and advocacy experience, corporate executive credentials, and leadership in Greek organizations. The committee assesses all members of Congress and known Greek candidates. Looking at their current and historical support of our legislative priorities, their relevant committee assignments and leadership positions, and their willingness and ability to advance the Greek experience helps us determine those we recommend for campaign contributions. During 2020, we are focused particularly on members of the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee. This quarter is a critical time in the campaign cycle, and your contributions to the FSPAC enable us to have discussions in Washington, D.C. and in districts across the country promoting the need for legislative solutions to our first amendment challenges, anti-hazing efforts and college affordability platforms. These meetings with members and candidates are critical to our success. Andrea Bechtel, ΧΩ FSPAC VP Political Affairs Political Affairs Committee Update Federal Legislation Successes We saw success for our efforts when, in October 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee passed the College Affordability Act (CAA) (H.R. 4674), a massive higher education reauthorization bill. The CAA includes strong protections for students joining single-sex organizations and represents the most important action taken in Congress on this issue since Title IX passed in the 1970s. The CAA also includes the first federal effort to provide parents and students with specific information about student organizations involved in hazing activities. The freedom of association and anti-hazing provisions have been years in the making thanks to the community-wide efforts of the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition (FGRC), composed of the National Panhellenic Conference, the North American Interfraternity Conference, the Fraternity and Sorority Action Fund (FSAF) and the FSPAC. It was a huge win for the Greek community to have our major legislative priorities included in this bill: • Collegiate Freedom of Association Act. The CAA contains language similar to the Collegiate Freedom of Association Act (CFAA) (H.R. 3128), which Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ/ΣΧ) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced. These freedom of association provisions would prohibit institutions of higher education from taking adverse action against a student solely because the student is a member of a single-sex organization. • REACH Act. The CAA includes the exact text of the REACH Act (H.R. 662) that Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH/ΔΣΘ) introduced. It would require schools to include the number of hazing incidents that occurred on their campus each year as part of the institution's Annual Security Report under the Clery Act. This would allow for better tracking of hazing incidents at particular schools to determine what programs might make a difference in reducing hazing. It also would require institutions to provide students with an educational program on hazing, including information on hazing awareness, hazing prevention and the host institution's policies on hazing. • END ALL Hazing Act. The CAA incorporates language similar to the END ALL Hazing Act (H.R. 3267), which Reps. Fudge and Glenn Thompson (R-PA) introduced. This bill would require institutions to list student organizations found to have violated the institution's code of conduct related to hazing. Schools will have to include this information as part of their Annual Security Report as well as on a webpage accessible for parents and students to make informed decisions about which organizations are safe to join. The Fraternal Government Relations Coalition is now working to: 1. Build support for the three stand-alone bills it supports—the CFAA, the END ALL Hazing Act and the REACH Act—by persuading more senators and representatives to become co-sponsors of those bills; 2. Encourage the House to pass the CAA since it includes pertinent parts of all three FGRC stand-alone bills; and 3. Encourage the Senate committee with jurisdiction over higher education issues to include all three bills in the Senate higher education legislative package. We will also be asking member organizations to participate in a day of advocacy/ grassroots campaign in 2020, aimed at building more co-sponsors for these three stand-alone bills and encouraging the Senate to include those bills in its higher education package. LegisLative update College Affordability Act Passes House, Protects Students Joining Single-Sex Organizations

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