Page 44 - ShowSight - September 2020
P. 44

                a response from
 THE AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB
When lawmakers or the pub- AKC GR staff are always ready to answer questions and assist
lic misunderstand AKC’s approach to responsible dog ownership, or get our positions
wrong, we do our best to correct them. After all, it could impact our rights and our ability to own dogs. We use the incident as an opportunity to educate and invite people to learn more about us, who we are and what we do. Using the same principle, we’d like to comment on an article in the August issue of Showsight.
Is AKC Missing a Tremendous Opportunity brought up some great points about the immense value of engagement with local and state lawmakers. We appreciate the author’s noting that the AKC website “has a listing” for government relations. It also indicated that the author and many fanciers may not be famil- iar with the scope of resources the AKC Government Relations (GR) Department offers, or the work already being done related to COVID-19. We’d like to share some of that information with you.
The AKC GR Department includes nine professional staff with extensive experience in law, communications, public policy and the intersection of all three. Our mission includes ensuring that laws impacting dog owners are fair, reasonable and non- discriminatory. To accomplish this, we provide a wide variety of resources including: resources for clubs and individuals, direct outreach to lawmakers that is secondary to constituent outreach, and providing training and resources to help dog owners become successful advocates and be valued as part of the community in which they live.
Not including counties or other jurisdictional entities, there are more than 19,000 incorporated cities and towns in the Unit- ed States. Most policymakers are rightly more interested in what their voting constituents have to say than in input from an out- side organization. This is why it is crucial that clubs and individ- uals get directly involved in the issues that impact them. Most public officials want to hear from you, their constituents. They rely on public input to understand the impact of their decisions. AKC GR’s job is to help dog owners succeed with this. With tens of thousands of jurisdictions and AKC events in a typical year, it’s hard for us to know if assistance is needed in a specific place, unless someone reaches out to let us know about it. Once you reach out to us, we’re proud of the assistance we provide so that dog enthusiasts can lead and succeed in their own communities.
you with specific legislative issues. The AKC Legislative Action Center, located at www.akcgr.org, is your first stop for resources. It provides extensive information on the more than 2,300 dog-related bills we track annually; assistance with advocacy; resources for advo- cacy training; comprehensive issue information by topic; position statements and talking points; blogs; legislative alerts; newsletters; seminars; annual updates on the economic impact of AKC shows; resources you can present to lawmakers; educational programs for clubs; model legislation; election-related resources, including candi- date surveys and the AKC Political Action committee; and more.
Throughout the pandemic, the AKC Government Relations team has also been active in COVID-19 policy issues impacting AKC and dog owners. This has evolved from advocacy to ensure that dog own- ers continue to be able to access pet supplies and essential services, and providing information on how AKC can stay open during the pandemic; to liability information related to the holding of events, and advocacy for targeted liability limits related to virus transmission for events in compliance with recognized health and safety guide- lines. The AKC Legislative Action Center’s COVID-19 resources page (www.akcgr.org/covid19) is updated daily with the latest infor- mation on state regulations impacting dog owners, events and busi- nesses. The resources page also includes timely blogs on the latest information and tips on what club members and dog owners can do from home to continue being effective advocates.
AKC GR is also advocating for federal and state laws to limit liability for clubs and events related to COVID-19 transmission when events are held in compliance with CDC and other jurisdic- tional health and safety recommendations. Information about these efforts, the status of various proposals and how clubs/individuals can get involved is available on the COVID-19 Liability key issue page at www.akcgr.org/covidliability.
The author asked, “Is AKC missing a tremendous opportu- nity?” We’ll leave that answer up to you, but we hope this discus- sion will inspire you to familiarize yourself with the AKC Legisla- tive Action Center and the resources we offer. As always, they’re designed to help you with a range of issues, and they even include how to work with public officials when planning an event during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Above all, please stay safe and don’t hesitate to reach out doglaw@ akc.org if you have questions.
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