EIA - Member Councils

Member Councils

EIA's member councils are an essential component of our government relations efforts. Most importantly, they enhance our ability to successfully influence regulatory and legislative policy. Our member councils assist in the development of EIA policy positions, which in turn allows EIA to best represent these positions before Congress, the Administration, regulatory agencies and international bodies.

Legislative Affairs Council (LAC):

The LAC is the organizational core in EIA's efforts to monitor and influence legislative developments that affect the information & communications technology and electronics industries.

Our regular LAC speaker series – open to any government relations professional from an EIA member company – offers our members the opportunity to hear from and discuss policy with key government officials and staff. Some of our speakers in the 109th Congress included Senator Jack Reed; Congressmen Joe Barton, Artur Davis, Rick Larson and Adam Smith; the communications director, budget director and policy director of the Senate Majority Leader; the policy director of the House Majority Leader; the chief of staff to the House Minority Whip; and key committee clerks and staff directors.
The LAC interacts with other EIA councils to bring together the legislative expertise of member-lobbyists in Washington with the substantive issue knowledge of members across the country. Policy analysis and EIA positions are developed through each Council and its subcommittees, approved by the Board of Governors and then executed on Capitol Hill by the LAC.
Within the LAC, members can participate in policy committees that address International Trade and Tax & Economic Policy. Our working groups, which communicate primarily via e-mail with occasional meetings, focus on export controls; visa and immigration reform for high-skilled workers; and the broader innovation and competitiveness agenda. Developed to ensure that EIA has interested and knowledgeable industry representatives who can vet proposals and legislation, the working groups are open to any member company professionals who specialize in these areas.
In addition to hosting speakers in Washington, EIA also offers members the opportunity to spend time with government officials and staff outside the Beltway at our Annual Legislative & Regulatory Roundtable at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia, now in its 25th year. EIA members have the valuable opportunity to spend time with key Congressional and Administration staff, attending issue panels during the day and enjoying informal networking in the evenings. There is no better way to build relationships and hear the perspectives of staff members who work on your company’s priority issues. Learn more about EIA's Annual Legislative Roundtable.
Members of the LAC receive EIA's monthly policy updates, as well as issue alerts on key legislative activity.

For more information on the LAC, please contact Storme Street.

Environmental Issues Council (EIC):

Founded in 1990 through the leadership of our member companies, EIA's Environmental Issues Council (EIC) is the recognized and respected voice of the electronic and high-tech industries on key environmental initiatives at the international, federal and state levels. The EIC works with our members at the domestic and international levels to:

Provide detailed compliance assistance
Harmonize global environmental product regulations
Promote industry-led initiatives on product environmental performance
Develop consistent standards for worldwide markets
Ensure that regulations are based on sound science
Promote policies that reward innovation and sustainability

Through our years of work representing and advancing the priorities of our industries, we have established constructive, credible, long-term relationships with elected officials, regulators and other key decision-makers in the environmental and energy field. Member services include bi-annual in person meetings, a weekly newsletter, issue specific mailing lists and other relevant updates. The EIC has over 60 member companies that have long been leaders in innovation and environmental design in the following product sectors:

Information technology
Telecommunications systems and wireless devices
Consumer electronics
Electronic components
Medical devices
Commercial and industrial systems

For more information on the EIC, please visit www.eia.org/environment or contact Rick Goss.

Government Procurement Relations Council (GPRC):

The GPRC provides EIA's focus on legislative and regulatory matters dealing with the acquisition and contracting policies of all federal agencies. Members are involved in issues impacting contract management and compliance, competitive sourcing, supply chain management, domestic content, federal acquisition reform, commercial acquisition policy, and related legal issues.

The GPRC sponsors monthly meetings that include Executive and Legislative Branch guest speakers who provide the most current information on issues of importance to the industry.
Participation in the GPRC is open to all EIA sector member companies. Historically, GPRC has focused on Department of Defense, GSA, NASA, and Department of Energy acquisition policies and procedures.
The GPRC Commercial Acquisition Policy Subcommittee is a leading industry advocate for a strong and continued federal preference for the procurement of commercial items and services. Included in the proactive agenda of the GPRC are commercial items financing issues, additional statutory exemptions for the procurement of commercial items/services, and commercial items advocacy between government and industry representatives.
The GPRC's Competitive Sourcing Subcommittee concentrates its efforts on enhancing the government's reliance on public-private competitions for needed goods and services as a way of improving performance and efficiency in the government.
The primary focus of the GPRC Domestic Content Subcommittee is to protect against Congressional efforts to enact protectionist legislation aimed at limiting industry's ability to sell its products to the government by protecting specific classes of material suppliers from foreign competition. The Subcommittee also supports the elimination of those statutes (e.g., Buy American and Trade Agreements Act) that serve as barriers to the government's procurement of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items.
The primary role of the Supply Chain Management Subcommittee is to fend off regulations and legislation that will negatively impact the global supply chain and, thus, our industry's ability to provide products in both the government and commercial markets.
The role of the GPRC Contract Management & Compliance Subcommittee is to keep abreast of all legislation and regulations that are likely to change government and industry's contract responsibilities.
The GPRC's Small Business Subcommittee targets those government initiatives that will enable more small businesses to enter the government market and/or impact the prime contractors' small business subcontracting goals.
The GPRC relies on the professional expertise of the members of the Legal Subcommittee to support all of the Subcommittees.

More more information on the GPRC, please contact Susan Tonner.