State Legislative Lobbying

The Firm's lobbying team is well-known and well-positioned to assist clients through the governmental processes in Tallahassee. Our lobbyists have excellent long time working relationships with key legislative leaders, cabinet members, local elected officials, other opinion leaders and key staff members. Our lobbying team has outstanding relationships with the leadership of both the House and Senate and work effectively on both sides of the aisle.

Our lobbying team has been hailed as the most diverse team in Tallahassee and is able to cover more Legislators than any other team of lobbyists. In addition, the firm's thirteen (13) Florida offices enable our lobbying team to connect with legislators in their home districts more than any other lobbying team.

Yolanda Cash Jackson leads our state lobbying team along with: Practice Group Chair Bernie Friedman; longtime lobbyists Jose K. Fuentes who has held several high level governmental positions including as a member of the Florida House Speaker's leadership team, and Richard Candia who served as Chief of Staff to former Florida Senator and now US Congressman Mario Diaz Balart; and Mario Bailey, a former Legislative Aide.

The team has had great success assisting clients:

• securing hundreds of millions of dollars in state government appropriations;
• drafting, tracking, analyzing, thousands of pieces of legislation and advising clients on how to react;
• devising legislative strategies to defeat, pass, or amend legislation;
• building coalitions and organizing grass roots campaigns;
• preparing testimony, coordinating site visits, and meeting with the House and Senate Leaders, key Legislators and Committee Chairs; and
• spearheading political campaigns and fundraising.

Our state lobbying client list is as diverse as our lobbying team and includes for example, The Isle Casino and Racing at Pompano Park, Premier Beverages, Florida Memorial University and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Florida Association of Jewish Federations, Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, AT&T, Florida Bar – Family Law Section, Florida Chamber of Commerce, Ocean Harbor Insurance, Sunshine Gasoline, SEIU Florida Health Care Division, Gulf Power, Metro Orlando Development Commission, ORACLE, R.J. Reynolds, Accredited Surety and Casualty, Assurion Insurance, Recording Industry of America, Ryder Transportation Services, McLane Transportation, Sunshine State Health – Centene, and over a dozen local governments and other private sector clients. We are proud of the accomplishments of our clients and our team. To learn more about our specific experience, click on the links below:

Appropriations & Legislative Client Accomplishments

• For Florida Association of Jewish Federations (a client for 15+ years), we secured tens of millions of dollars in line item appropriations for human service agencies and nursing homes during 25 years of representation and passed substantive legislation to mandate the teaching of the Holocaust in public schools and other legislation related to Hate Crimes and the divestiture of State pension funds from certain countries, such as Iran and Sudan and State pension fund investments in Israel Bonds.
• For City of Hollywood (a client for 15+ years), we secured tens of millions of dollars for the City of Hollywood for senior center programs, beach nourishment, park improvements, museums, and public safety during 20 years of representation and Helped pass substantive legislation regarding Home Rule Power, Annexation, Community Re-Development Agencies (CRA), Municipal Elections, and coastal construction and development.
• For the Bethune-Cookman University, Florida Memorial University and Edward Waters College, we helped protect millions in funds and corrected a funding process that changed the funding process from expenditure and reimbursement process in favor of upfront funding.
• For Isle of Capri Casino & Pompano Park, we helped pass original enabling legislation and agency rules that govern slot machine gaming and card rooms and have been involved in all gaming related issues at the legislative and executive level. Subsequently, we helped pass legislation to lower the tax rate on slots from 50% to 35%, expand hours of operation, poker limits and allow for video black jack for pari mutuels.
• For the Baltimore Orioles, we helped pass legislation on behalf of the Baltimore Orioles and the Florida Grapefruit League that provides tens of millions of dollars in State of Florida funding for the renovation and construction of Major League Baseball Spring Training Stadiums in Florida.
• For Access Health Solutions, we helped secure the passage of State legislation for Access Health Solutions that created a special role for minority physician networks in the delivery of health care to underserved communities in Florida. Worked extensively in Tallahassee with various agencies, including Agency for Health Care Administration and the Medicaid Program Office, to ensure the promulgation of appropriate agency rules.
• For Ocean Harbor Insurance Company, we helped re-enact PIP (Personal Injury Insurance) as a mandatory insurance in Florida during a Special Session of the Florida Legislature. We worked closely with the Governor’s office, House and Senate leaders, the Insurance Commissioner, and many others to reform and re-enact no fault insurance.
• For Family Law Section of the Florida Bar, we helped achieve their legislative priorities including legislation that rewrote the Child Support chapter of Florida Statues and made significant changes to the alimony statute. The Firm is proud of receiving the Section’s Legislative Merit Award recognizing these accomplishments.

2012 Notable State Lobbying Client Accomplishments
2010 Notable State Lobbying Client Accomplishments
2009 Notable State Lobbying Client Accomplishments
2008 Notable State Lobbying Client Accomplishments

CALL
Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. has its very own statewide lobbying organization on behalf of its 4,000 Condominium & Homeowner association clients. The Community Association Leadership Lobby (CALL) monitors and responds to legislation emerging from Tallahassee that impacts condominiums, homeowner associations, mobile home communities and cooperatives. CALL communicates with tens of thousands of concerned Floridians primarily through its website www.callbp.com, and through email alerts, which enables us to activate a grass roots network on issues of importance. The CALL model can easily be adapted to many other lobbying causes.