Engaging in state-level legislative and budgetary processes is a crucial method for independent restaurant owners and advocates to shape their industry at a high level.

Action: Meet with your state legislator or their staff to understand:

• Session dates and bill filing deadlines

• Committee structure and key players

• The budget process

  • What issues does it impact that you care about? What is the power of the Governor in the budget, e.g., do they have line-item veto?

• Calendars for session and committees schedule

Tip: If you belong to your local Chamber of Commerce or Restaurant Association, they often have policy staff who can help you through this process. If you are having trouble meeting or building a relationship with your elected representative, they may also be able to help you set up meetings with them.

Sign Up: Join press release lists, newsletters, and social media of:

• The governor

• Your state senator and state representative

• Relevant legislative committees and their chairs/ranking members

  • If you are actively tracking a piece of legislation, make sure you sign up for hearing notices

• If you are engaging in the budget process, what committee(s) it will move through and what committees will have final say, e.g., Finance

• Most states have a service that drafts legislation and will have up-to-date information on where a bill is in the legislative process and have a searchable database to look at past legislation

Clearly articulate the issue you want to address.

For example, if you are working to reduce hunger, legislative decisions at both the federal and state level impact hunger relief programs. You have heard a lot in the news about potential SNAP benefit cuts at the federal level, which will directly impact states since states implement the SNAP program, and those dollars are much-needed revenue in local communities.

Since states administer SNAP, they can impact the eligibility process and streamline or restrict access to SNAP via administrative rules.

States also can address hunger in other ways outside of federal support like SNAP. The state budget could impact all of these efforts. Examples include:

• Funding food banks and pantries

• Funding programs that make locally raised food more available

• Funding universal school meal programs

• Providing funds to make SNAP more accessible

• Establishing programs to support for SNAP recipients and/or those who are experience hunger but are not eligible for SNAP

• Establishing programs to reduce food deserts

• Matching SNAP benefits for healthy food

• Supporting the channeling of surplus agriculture products to food banks

In-state think tanks, like those part of the EARN and State Priorities Partnership, will have information available on their websites about issues impacted by state budget, in-state legislation, and federal cuts. There are also in-state think tanks that aren't associated with these networks but are still good resources, which you can usually find by using ChatGPT or other search engines.

For hunger specifically, the state association for food banks, as well as advocacy organizations such as No Kid Hungry, may have useful information. Some states that have a larger population and more resources may have specific think tanks dedicated to hunger issues, e.g., Hunger Solutions New York.

Examples of in-state advocacy groups addressing hunger are below:

• NC Budget and Tax Center | Hunger 

• Hunger Solutions New York | Hunger 

Research whether other states have introduced or passed similar legislation.

• Use tools like ChatGPT for preliminary searches, but you must verify the results.

• You can also visit your state legislature website to search for legislation.

• Look to NCSL or the State Innovation Exchange for legislation that may have been done in other states.

What information is out there? Think about what statistics will be most relevant to your targets, then search for them in studies conducted by government bodies, nonprofits, or universities. See examples below:

• Hunger in Ohio 2024 | Ohio Food Banks

• Map the Meal Gap | Feeding America

• Food Research & Action Center | State of the States: Profiles of Hunger, Poverty and Federal Nutrition Programs

• Institute for Emerging Issues | Food Security in North Carolina | NC State

• Hunger Task Force | Hunger in Our Community | Wisconsin

• 2025 Budget Stakes | Millions Could Lose Needed Food Assistance | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Potential partners may include:

• State Restaurant Associations

• Food Bank Associations and Grocers Associations

• Farmers Union or similar agriculture groups

• Immigration advocacy groups

• Local think tanks (especially those affiliated with EARN, State Priorities Partnership)

• If introducing legislation, the bill lead sponsor and other sponsors

These groups may already have staff or lobbyists advocating for your issue or a related one.

National groups to follow: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 

Collaborate with allies to define roles:

• Inside game: Meetings with legislators, formal lobbying and intercepting elected officials at events or places they frequent

  • Do they go to your restaurant, coffee shop, church, etc.?

  • Are they at food events that may be hosted at your restaurant or one you have a relationship with?

  • If you have a legislator who is championing the effort, work closely with them on which other legislators or key stakeholders you need to meet with to get onboard your legislative agenda

  • Give testimony at hearings when possible and strategic

• Outside game: Hosting events with legislators, grassroots mobilization, media outreach, social media advocacy

Ensure all efforts align to amplify your message.

There are going to be times when you only want to use an under-the-dome strategy, especially if you are trying to get something done quietly in another bill, e.g. the Budget.

The States Newsroom is a helpful resource to stay on top of happenings in your state. It was created to fill the gap of many local newsrooms that used to report on state capitals going under.

Follow journalists from your state that cover state legislative news. They may operate at your local NPR station, a newspaper based in your state capital, or the State Newsroom. Axios is also a helpful news resource in many communities, covering state legislative news as well as affiliates of the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Set up Google Alerts on the issues you care about in your state.

Set up a messaging group with in-state chefs and allies you are working with. This way, you can be in quick contact with each other when something arises—just because you may have seen something does not mean others have. Use WhatsApp or Signal.