As the voice of business in Jefferson City or Washington, D.C., the Chamber serves as a lead advocate for both the business community and the larger Springfield area.  Because a strong and thriving business community is directly related to the success of a region, the needs of business must be heard at all legislative levels.  By building effective, working relationships with members of the legislature, the Chamber is able to give our members direct access to lawmakers through their Chamber membership.

The legislative agendas are the basis from which the Chamber advocates on your behalf.  To learn more about our legislative priorities, take a look at our 2010 state and federal legislative agendas.  During the legislative session, we work with lawmakers to advocate for the passage of key Chamber priorities such as economic development, transportation funding and health care reform, among others. 

Committees

The Chamber's Governmental Relations Committee is one of the largest Chamber committees, and it serves to monitor the activities of state and federal government, to share information with Chamber members, to assist the Board of Directors in establishing public policy positions and to advocate those positions.  The Governmental Relations Committee is actively involved in the legislative process at the state and federal level, holding frequent meetings to hear from lawmakers, to educate Chamber members about complex legislative issues and to review the Chamber’s legislative priorities.  Brent Singleton, Heim, Young & Associates, Inc. serves as the 2010 committee chair, and Ryan DeBoef, Hush Blackwell Sanders, LLP serves as vice-chair.
 
The Emerging Issues Subcommittee serves as a subcommittee of the Governmental Relations Committee and provides a forum for Chamber members to share information on critical statewide or federal issues affecting their businesses that are in need of legislative action.  Through the Emerging Issues Subcommittee, the Chamber works to engage the membership in the legislative process in order to proactively advocate for issues that directly affect our members.

As a Chamber member, your voice is important to us.  This is your opportunity to become engaged in the Chamber's legislative agenda setting process.   If you have something you would like to see addressed, please contact Sandy Howard.  Your input will ensure that the Chamber is aware of those issues on the horizon that should be considered as we prepare our Legislative Agenda for the coming year.

Partnerships

Along with our own legislative priorities, The Chamber is part of several partnerships that come together to advocate for priorities as a larger, unified voice.  For more information on the Missouri Chamber Federation, the Missouri Major Metro Coalition, the Springfield/Branson Regional Salute to Legislators Coalition and the Springfield Metro Partnership, click here.