How Chamber Policies are Developed
The Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce is a “member-driven” organization that is made up of a number of areas. The public policy areas include the Governmental Affairs Division and the Public Affairs, Education, and Cultural Development Division. The Board of Directors develops the Chamber’s Business Plan and adopts the policies necessary to carry out the plan.
As the principal advocate of the local business community, the Chamber’s mission is to lead all public and private interests in the Tucson metropolitan area to develop a climate in which business can create jobs and operate at a profit. To assist the Chamber in furthering its mission, the public policy committees report on and analyze the impact of local issues and state legislation which come to their attention.
Legislative bills and local issues come to the attention of the committees through the committee chairmen, the Group Vice President, and the Assistant Vice President in the Governmental Affairs Division. In addition to those resources, individual members, internal working committees, and elected officials themselves bring bills to the committees’ attention. Within the committees, members who possess the necessary expertise are called upon to evaluate the bills and issues and report to the committee which then develops a recommendation for the Board of Directors.
The two committees — State Government Committee and Local Government, Environment and Transportation Committee — are composed of representatives from member organizations and businesses. Although many are experts in various areas including unemployment, insurance, taxation and budgeting matters, transportation, environmental, solid waste, as well as a variety of other issues, the only requirement to serve on a Chamber committee is interest and membership in the Chamber. The role of committee members is to determine what effect proposed legislation or ordinances will have on the Chamber’s mission and offer various suggestions regarding what the Chamber’s position on a particular piece of legislation should be. The committee debates the relevance and significance of these issues and prepares a written position statement which is then submitted to the Board of Directors of the Chamber. The Board of Directors ultimately decides the position for presentation to the membership, legislators, local officials and the media.
Once the Board of Directors decides the policy position, the Governmental Affairs Division can effectively lobby the City, County and State officials.
