Government Affairs Committee

Charter: The IHMM Government Affairs Committee [GAC] shall serve as the clearinghouse for establishing positions on technical and policy related issues, messaging and communication for IHMM. The committee will work on behalf of the IHMM Board of Directors, the IHMM Executive Committee, and the general membership for any initiative that:

1. Supports national, state and local programs related to IHMM credentials and issues associated with those credentials.
2. Supports legislation and funding of local, state and federal programs relating to IHMM credentials and issues associated with those credentials.
3. Educates – Proactively addressing the issues and needs of the IHMM credential communities of practice, and providing information on the role of private credentials that benefit society and the environment. Educational outreach shall include: [a.] Membership [b.] Colleges [c.] Collaborative Trade Organizations [d.] Communities and [e.]Through the use of the IHMM Media Kit, develops responses to significant events through media outreach.
4. Develops common messaging for internal communication with members and external communication with collaborative associations, trade organizations, congressional inquiries and outreach, and the public: Why we care about private credentials and the issues of safety, sustainability, responsible hazardous materials handling as well as all of our communities of practice.
5. Advancing IHMM’s use of communication resources to interact with members and a broad range of people including electronic distributions, social media, and print and visual media.
6. Socializing advocacy, public awareness, and technical developments within and outside IHMM through the publication of the IHMM newsletter, electronic communication, workshops and keynote presentations and proceedings from annual conferences. The Committee shall be responsible for assuring the competency of published items including appropriate peer review and shall establish appropriate guidelines and procedures for accomplishing its responsibilities.
7. Developing and evaluating measurements of success for IHMM’s strategic GAC program. The committee is empowered to receive requests for positions on issues within the scope of responsibilities of the Institute, to vet those requests and make determinations on the position[s] IHMM should take on those issues. The committee is empowered to use whatever technology is necessary and appropriate in the furtherance of this mission and to ensure timeliness of responses, within the approved budget, and with the objective of engaging the membership of IHMM in grassroots activities, education efforts and communication in support of its decisions. The committee is empowered to enter into agreements, to be administratively supported by the Executive Director, with other organizations to form coalitions, working groups and other such collaborative entities in the furtherance of this charter, and as approved by the Board of Directors.

Staff Liaison: Eugene A Guilford, Jr.

Committee Documents:

• Operating IHMM Committees
• IHMM Volunteer Service Agreement
• IHMM Government Affairs Collaboration Community
• IHMM Government Affairs Projects Page