FSPAC

July 2013 Newsletter

Fraternity & Sorority Political Action Committee newsletter

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Π ΛΜ ΝΞ Ο A the Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee ΖΗΘΙΚ Ρ ΣΤ Υ Φ ΔΕ Α Ψ Ω ΒΓ Χ summer 2013 Influence and Success of FSPAC Continue to Grow s one of the founding members of the FSPAC board of directors and as the FSPAC president, I have seen a significant transformation within the fraternal community of our awareness and acknowledgement of the importance of us being involved in the governmental regulatory and legislative process. Nine years ago we began as a fledgling group of leaders, bound together with common interests and concerns converging upon D.C., to the present time as a more sophisticated and proven organization now one of the top 50 of 902 non-connected federal political action committees. There are many reasons for this success: the wonderful financial support we've received from our donors, the leadership of our board of directors and finance committee members who collectively have helped build the FSPAC, the insight of our team at Patton Boggs, our lobbyist, our Fraternal Government Relation Coalition partners, and the many fraternity and sorority member groups who embrace the importance of our community influencing federal regulation and legislation. Our fundraising goal of $600,000 for the 2013-14 election cycle is indeed an aggressive challenge, especially coming off of our best year ever in the 2011-12 cycle. Our success can be closely tied to the extensive support that we receive from the North-American Interfraternity Conference and National Panhellenic Conference member groups who number 45 strong, with a total of 65 representatives serving in the FSPAC board of directors and the finance committee members ranks. We are convinced that we have a strong message and that the fraternal community continues to see the relevancy and the value of our legislative efforts. The time is right for action on our signature legislation, the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (CHIA): • Comprehensive tax reform has been identified by the 113th Congress as a key issue, and we feel that this legislation is the premier vehicle for CHIA. • CHIA continues to enjoy bipartisan support in Congress. • College enrollment continues to increase and student housing is becoming an even bigger issue with an increased demand and insufficient supply of housing. • Due to our efforts since 2004, we now have many supporters of CHIA who are in leadership positions in both the Senate and the House who will be our advocates on the legislation. The key to a successful and sustaining lobbying effort for any organization is an awareness of donors or members who have relationships with the legislators both on the national and state levels of government. We fondly refer to these relationships as the grassroots. Over the years, we have indeed begun to collect information on these relationships as we were made aware. The KA Order brothers with Representative Robert Pittenger (R-NC/KA Order) at FSPAC's 2013 Dinner. lack of a database of relationships is a serious barrier to our work when we are in need of a quick response to a legislative matter or to lobby for action on issues important to fraternal life. We are pleased to announce a method to help us extract these important relationships. The RAPIndex has been commissioned to populate a database of the many relationships that exist. This tool provides a survey that will reveal connections between donors and members of members of Congress, state legislators, and university administrators. The information compiled will serve many different uses for our fraternal community. If you have received our e-mail, please take the survey! If you haven't, please go to www.fspac.org to access the RAPIndex. The FSPAC is committed to ensuring that we have an influence on issues and opportunities that impact fraternities and sororities. As donors, we know that you want your discretionary dollars to make an impact. Our past hard work has set the stage, and we are confident that we can continue to serve as an advocate for the fraternal community. Thank you for your support! Cindy H. Stellhorn, KAQ President, Fraternity & Sorority Political Action Committee www.fspac.org CHIA Update T he Senate introduced CHIA (S.654) on March 22 with four sponsors: Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA/DG), and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY/SC). House bill H.R. 1449 was introduced with Representative Pete Session (R-TX/PKA) and Representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH/DSQ). We now have seven Senate sponsors and 51 House sponsors. Preserving the Greek experience for future generations of student leaders

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