Pardon Our Dust
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With significant political change at the state and national level, it is important to think ahead about your strategy in managing this changing landscape. MWC offers a unique practice providing guidance to clients on issues that migrate beyond a state border. We work with groups representing the nation’s governors, attorneys general and state legislative groups, as well as insurance commissioners and banking regulators. These officials play an ever growing role in shaping our nation’s policies in critical areas like healthcare, energy and environmental policy, financial services, transportation and education.
It is important for clients to understand that success managing your priorities can be best achieved with proactive outreach to these officials and the groups that speak for them. A new Biden administration in Washington will mean a change in dynamic at the state level. Republican attorneys general will elevate themselves as the defenders of perceived overreaches of the administration. Look for conservative AGs to join together on issues such as drug pricing, healthcare and COVID-19 restrictions, as well as making a stand against perceived bias in technology, pushing back on large environmental programs, and responding to first amendment fights as they arise. This was the playbook used by Democratic attorneys general during the Trump administration, and Republicans will aggressively follow the same line of attack.
At the gubernatorial level, the Democratic and Republican Governors Associations will weigh in on Medicaid expansion, the method of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, changes in the Affordable Care Act, and climate change. As Washington struggles to reach decisions on these big issues, governors will continue to step into the void with programs and ideas of their own, using the partisan associations as a forum to highlight their work.
In most states, legislatures gavel in just weeks from today and COVID-19 will be front and center across the country. Many states will address liability protections for businesses that have operated during the pandemic. Additionally, states must pass a budget and address additional COVID-19 spending at a time when most states find themselves in a budget hole due to lost revenue as a result of the pandemic.