ACTION ALERT - TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ATTENDING CONFERENCES

Dear SOPHE Members,

As we shared with you last week, an amendment passed by the House and Senate in two separate bills extremely limits federal employees from attending private conferences if any federal funds are used for travel expenses.  The definitions used in the amendment (see the amendment language here)impose severe restrictions on all private conferences: associations, other nonprofits, and corporations could only have a federal agency's employees attend one meeting held by that organization every year.  This is an extreme overreaction by Congress and would severely damage many public-private partnerships.

We need your help educating Congress on what these amendments mean and the impact they would have on meetings and conferences.  You can help this effort in three ways:

• Sign the open letter to Congress asking them to amend the offending language.  You can see the letter here, and sign on via our web form or by completing this document.  We are collecting signatures through Friday, May 4.
• Share this letter with colleagues, members, and other organizations.  This letter is open to any organization, as the language would affect all nonprofits and for-profits that hold or participate in meetings.  The more names on this letter, the bigger the impact it will have on Congress.
• During this week's recess,contact your members of Congress in the district and share with them your concern on this issue.  Here is a one-pager that outlines the concerns with these provisions.

While the stated intent of the language would be to prevent wasteful spending on government sponsored conferences, the actual language would prevent many federal employees from attending and participating in private conferences.  We need a strong response to wake Congress up to this issue, so take a few minutes today to take action on this issue.

Elaine Auld, MPH, MCHES

Chief Executive Officer