Let the Litigation and Legislation Begin!

On Thursday June 5th, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Uber and Lyft to cease operations in the Commonwealth.  

This is just the next step in the on going battle between Uber, Lyft, Side Car and other peer-to-peer upstarts that are trying to disrupt the highly regulated and tightly controlled taxi industry.

I have been watching this battle evolve since Uber broke into the D.C. market last year, and have been closely following how this and other startup vs regulator & incumbent market issues, such as Airbnb vs regulators and the hotel industry, Ethical Electric vs regulators and utility companies, General Assembly vs regulators and (mainly) for-profit quasi-vocational schools and Tesla Motors vs state government and the automobile dealer industry, are playing out around the country.

Next it will be drones and driverless cars.

Each one of these examples tells a story.  They tell us that many of our state and local rules and regulations meant to regulate businesses seem to have been written in the stone age.  But in reality, they were mostly written for the marketplace as it existed, and the framework was designed to accommodate small changes as the need arose.  And that worked for a long time.  But now, we are seeing entrepreneurs who want to disrupt marketplaces and industries, and we have many industries that are prime targets for the shake up.  

Unfortunately, many of our state and local governments (especially regulators) are not ready to have that conversation.  But sadly, too many entrepreneurs also aren’t prepared to have those conversations either.  I don’t know if that is because entrepreneurs don’t understand the roles legislators and regulators play and the impact they can have on their businesses, or because often time government moves too slow for them, or because they simply believe its easier to ask for forgiveness that it is to ask for permission.  Regardless, we are not seeing open lines of communication between government officials and entrepreneurs.  

By the way, with regulators it is usually better to ask for permission, then ask for forgiveness when you don’t like the answer and go and do what you wanted to do anyway.

Among the responses to the VA DMV announcement was from Virginia State Senator, and 2013 Republican Candidate for Attorney General, Mark Obenshain.  He tweeted - 

But does the answer really need to be litigation AND legislation?  I would vote for legislation (or regulation) over litigation.  But as a state and local lobbyist, I might be a little biased.  

Look at Tesla, the lost a legislative battle in New Jersey a month or so ago.  They threatened (or maybe more than threatened) litigation.  The now have a second chance in the legislature, with a pro-Tesla bill passing committee last week.  They always have court to fall back on.  

But is litigation the right move for the rest of these disruptive startups?  If you are planning to be a disruptive startup, is it going to be right for you?  Like I said, I vote advocacy first.  But have a good lawyer on speed dial.

So, what is the solution?  I hope this tweet is a good sign.

What lessons can you learn from all of these stories?

First - Regulatory advocacy matters.  Strong knowledge of both the local regulatory landscape and national regulatory trends and best practice-type solutions is important, but its not enough.  Nothing beats taking the time to get to know your regulators.  You may not agree with them.  You may not get the answers you want.  But open lines of communication are critical to finding workable solutions.  Even if you have to find those solutions while asking for forgiveness.

Second - Legislative advocacy matters just as much in your regulatory advocacy efforts.  Why?  Legislators and staff probably have existing relationships with regulators, and are probably more willing to help.  In addition, most state legislatures hold some sort of oversight responsibility over the executive branch agencies.

Lastly - Your customers are the best advocates you can have.  Provide a service that your customers don’t just want, but demand, and you have a very powerful story.  Does any one care if Uber, Lift, and Side Car (or Airbnb, General Assembly or Tesla for that matter) enter a market if they have no customers?  No. These businesses are winning legislative and regulatory battles because they provide great products and services AND their customers LOVE them.

About Michael O'Brien...

Michael O'Brien is the founder and principal of MOB Advocacy. He has more than ten years experience as a state and local lobbyist. Michael has lobbied governors, mayors, legislators, state and local agencies and regulators in more than 40 states.

Before starting MOB Advocacy, Michael was the the national state and local government affairs department for RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment). Prior to RISE, Michael launched Molina Healthcare's political and grassroots advocacy programs, created strong public-private partnerships as director of The Washington Center, and developed a federal, state and grassroots advocacy program for The National Conference for Community and Justice.

About MOB Advocacy...

MOB Advocacy is a full-service, multi-state government relations firm located in Fairfax City, Virginia. Founded in 2012, MOB Advocacy has quickly become a recognized leader in state and local government relations.


MOB Advocacy's clients range from established corporations, tech start-ups, nationally recognized non-profit and advocacy groups. Our clients chose us because MOB Advocacy offers the full range of solutions of a large government relations firm with the personal service of a boutique firm. Mob Advocacy helps its clients to navigate the complex world of state and local legislative and regulatory affairs, procurement bureaucracy and appropriations processes to achieve their organizational goals.

Yes, There Is An App For That, My favorite new civic-engagement startups for 2013

I recently attended #govfest, an event put on by Fosterly and I was amazed by the number of startups working in the public sphere.  I know it has been a growing trend for a while now, but seems to have exploded recently (in what feels like the last few days).

When I started working in state and local government relations there were few choices for vendors of any kind.  Most of us were doing bill tracking by hand and few were lucky enough to hire one of two or three big multi-state lobbying firms.  I am not sure if all the state legislatures were even on line when I did my first nation-wide tracking project - looking for and tracking bills related to disparities in healthcare and other issues.  You get the picture.

Then I discovered Capwiz and fell in love with the idea of e-advocacy (not sure if that is an official term).  I was an early adopter and was constantly amazed by the new tools and services they kept rolling out.  There were a few others advocacy platforms that took off about that same time, but to me Capwiz was the far and away best in its class.  

Outside of Capwiz, there seemed to be a lull.  Maybe not really a lull, more accurately I was just uninspired.  I know it wasn't a complete lull because one day I was listening to a speaker talk about the future of grassroots advocacy and they said that it was not going to be long before we would be asking, "What is our FaceBook strategy?" (maybe they actually said MySpace, which could explain the lack of inspiration) when planning grassroots campaigns.  And then came Foursquare.  And Twitter.  It seemed like every year something new would come out that was considered a "game changer" that I never believed would really catch on for advocacy.

One day someone told me about POPVOX.  Right away I knew they were different.  POPVOX seemed to be ground breaking.  No longer would we send emails or faxes or letters to the hill, but real data.  And I got my first smartphone.  And open government started to happen.  Mayor Bloomberg's right hand man Kevin Sheekey launched BGov.  And Mayor Corey Booker became a superhero on Twitter.

That brings me to where I am today, which is again "all in" on tech and startups, and especially tech startups, for government relations, civic engagement and advocacy.  These startups are everywhere.  There are some great new grassroots platforms - VoterVoice (not really new, but recently launched their DC office) and Votility.  New state legislative and regulatory tracking services like my favorite startup - BillTrack50 (which was recently named one of Denver's Hottest Startups).  And apps for EVERYTHING!  State and local governments have their own apps for news and information (Delaware has a great app), to legislatures (I really like Ohio and Utah), to procurement sites (Virginia's eVA is a great example) and everything in between.

Here are a few of my favorites that I have been introduced to this year (most in the last couple of months) ...

• TrendPo - Not really an advocacy tool, but a great way for elected officials and candidates to see how well they are connecting with the public - in case the single digit approval ratings weren't enough of a clue.  JD Chang and his team are going get famous calling races based on social media scores.

• Capitol Bells - A new all-mobile app for grassroots advocacy.  Let's you vote right along with your Member of Congress.  It is unique in that the data goes right to the Member, because your Congressman downloaded the app to keep track of votes.  They have some kinks to work out, but I think they are onto something.

• FiscalNote - These guys are brand new, I haven't even seen their beta yet.  However, I get intrigued when one startup comes up in conversations five or six times in one night and each time by a different person.  I get really intrigued when the founder tells me he can tell if a bill is going to pass or not by the second reading. 

• CitySourced - I recently tweeted that if Mayor Booker were an app, he would be CitySourced. Citizens report problems to local governments, they get properly routed and fixed.  I just hope that when responders email their responses to citizen activists they simply use the immortal words of Mayor Booker, "I got this!"

• PollVault - Also, brand new. An election information site that matches the views from groups you trust to the best candidate for you to vote for.  Just in time for the big New York City mayoral race and gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia. 

So there are five very different startups but all doing great things in the public/civic sphere.  I am excited to see what is coming next!