Abstract

Abstract Research has long established nonprofit organizations’ vital role advocating for the needs of vulnerable populations before legislative policymakers. In the best of times, it is difficult for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits employing grassroots advocacy to mobilize vulnerable constituencies to compete with 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) advocacy and special interest groups. The latter organizations inherently have greater flexibility and resources to lobby lawmakers directly, permitting greater access to influencing the policy agenda. Through a multi-method case study of the 2020 regular session of the Louisiana State Legislature, this article demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic’s unique contextual conditions made legislative advocacy more difficult than usual for charitable nonprofits promoting a progressive policy response to the pandemic within a politically conservative state. Conducted through interviews with nonprofit leaders and an analysis of legislative records and committee hearings, the case study reveals specific barriers that hampered charitable nonprofits’ access to the legislative process, including physical capacity restrictions and health concerns, as well as issues with virtual legislative protocols and conservative committee chairs’ discretion to ignore remote testimony. The article analyzes how these barriers negatively impacted charitable nonprofits’ ability to advocate for vulnerable populations and explores potential implications for equitable political participation and response to the pandemic.

Highlights

  • The nonprofit sector serves many vital functions

  • Data analysis identified four barriers to legislative access facing the interviewed charitable nonprofits during the 2020 session that can be divided into two groups: those that limited access to the state capitol building and, hampered physical participation in the session; and technological issues and legislator discretion that impeded virtual participation in the session

  • Some of these barriers were intentionally designed to limit the number of people who could physically participate in the session to reduce spread of the COVID-19 virus

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The nonprofit sector serves many vital functions. Advocating on behalf of vulnerable communities in the political arena is widely recognized as one of the most important (Almog-Bar 2018; Lu 2018; MacIndoe 2014; Salamon 2002). This article argues that during state legislative sessions held in spring 2020 amid the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, legislative advocacy was more difficult than usual for many charitable nonprofits representing vulnerable groups. This is true in states with unfavorable political contexts for a robust and progressive policy response to health and economic threats facing vulnerable populations as a result of the pandemic (Pleyers 2020; Warner and Zhang 2021)

Objectives
Results
Discussion
Conclusion

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.