The Advocacy Glossary
The terms that run legislative advocacy, defined in plain language. No jargon explaining jargon.
Leave-behind
A leave-behind is the one-page document an advocate hands to a legislator or staffer at the end of a meeting, summarizing the ask, the local stakes, and sources, so the argument keeps working after the meeting ends.
Policy brief
A policy brief is a short document that argues for one specific action by one decision-maker, combining a clear ask with evidence and local impact, usually compressed to a single page for legislative meetings.
Markup
A markup is the committee meeting where legislators amend and vote on a bill, line by line, before deciding whether to send it to the full chamber. Most of a bill's real changes happen in markup.
Appropriations
Appropriations is the process by which a legislature grants agencies the legal authority to spend money. In Congress, twelve annual appropriations bills fund the federal government, and no program operates without one.
Authorization
An authorization is a law that creates a program, sets its rules, and permits spending on it. It does not provide the money. Funding comes separately through appropriations.
Continuing resolution (CR)
A continuing resolution is a stopgap law that keeps the government funded at existing levels when Congress has not finished its annual appropriations bills by the fiscal year deadline.
Omnibus
An omnibus is a single giant bill that packages several appropriations bills, sometimes all twelve, into one vote, usually at the end of a funding fight.
Earmark
An earmark is a provision in a spending bill that directs funds to a specific project in a specific place, such as a local road, hospital, or water system, at a legislator's request.
Fiscal note
A fiscal note is a legislature's official estimate of what a bill will cost or save the government, prepared by nonpartisan staff and attached to the bill as it moves.
Committee substitute
A committee substitute is a rewritten version of a bill that a committee adopts in place of the original text, common in state legislatures such as Florida's.
Floor vote
A floor vote is the vote of a legislature's full chamber on a bill, taken after committees finish their work. It is the most visible step in the process and usually the least changeable.
Cloture
Cloture is the Senate procedure that ends debate on a measure so it can reach a vote. It generally requires 60 senators, which is why most major legislation needs 60 votes rather than a simple majority.
District office
A district office is a legislator's office located in the area they represent, where constituents can meet the member or staff without traveling to the capitol.
Advocacy day
An advocacy day, also called a fly-in or Hill day, is a coordinated day when an organization's members meet with their legislators about a specific issue, usually timed to a vote, deadline, or session.
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