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Advocacy 101: LeadingAge Virginia counsel tells Virginians how to engage the General Assembly
Summary
At a webinar hosted by the Virginia Center on Aging, Dana Parsons of LeadingAge Virginia outlined practical advocacy steps—how bills move through the General Assembly, committee importance, and simple actions constituents can take—and fielded audience questions about funding and regulation.
Dana Parsons, vice president and legislative counsel at LeadingAge Virginia, led an Advocacy 101 session during the Commonwealth Council on Aging webinar to explain how Virginians can influence state policy and engage the General Assembly.
Parsons told attendees advocacy is broadly accessible and often begins with personal stories: "At its core, advocacy is simply speaking up to influence decisions, policies, or systems that impact people's lives." She walked through types of advocacy (self, community, systems, legislative) and clarified the distinction between advocacy and lobbying: advocacy shares information and lived experience with decision‑makers, while lobbying is asking a legislator to support or oppose a specific bill and often involves registered lobbyists.
Parsons reviewed how the General Assembly works (100 delegates; 40 senators; 45‑day short sessions in odd years and 60‑day long sessions in even years) and emphasized that committees are the central venue where bills are amended and public comment can matter most. She highlighted practical tools for tracking legislation, including the Legislative Information System (LIS), the Virginia Public Access Project, and the General Assembly’s "Who’s my legislator" address lookup.
Throughout the Q&A, attendees asked about budget figures and policy scope. Presenters said the council intentionally left some funding requests unspecified to allow partner organizations to define exact needs; they confirmed the nursing home inspection/enforcement priority is focused on the Department of Health’s licensure and certification authority and would not automatically extend inspector funding to assisted‑living settings, which are regulated differently. On background checks, presenters noted that extensive statutes already require checks at hiring; presenters did not describe an automatic recurring background‑check schedule tied to the council’s priorities.
Parsons encouraged ongoing, relationship‑based advocacy—attending town halls, meeting legislators in district offices, submitting comments on regulatory proposals via the Regulatory Town Hall site—and emphasized small actions (emails, phone calls, personal testimony) can be effective. She closed by urging attendees to use the chat resources distributed during the webinar, including sample letters and printable postcards to support outreach to legislators.
