Policy and Legislative Affairs Liaison

State of Washington•Thurston County – Olympia, WA

21h•Remote

About The Position

This position is exempt from civil service rules. Exempt recruitments may close at any time without prior notice. It is in your best interest to apply as soon as possible. As a policy and legislative affairs liaison, you will help advance the Office of Equity’s mission to achieve systemic equity across Washington state government. You will support the Federal Affairs Director and guide key legislative initiatives that drive meaningful, statewide change. This is a remote position with schedule flexibility that requires travel in Washington State for meetings, events, and on-site work. The frequency of on-site work varies based on business and operational needs. The Governor’s Office may choose, but is not required, to employ individuals who reside outside of Washington on a case-by-case basis.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience: Developing, evaluating, and implementing legislation and legislative strategy.
Navigating Washington state legislative processes, such as tracking legislative bills, hearing schedules, writing fiscal notes, drafting legislative briefing materials, and monitoring hearings.
Working with a wide range of stakeholders, specifically legislators, and creating effective working relationships.
Building and maintaining relationships between government (other state agencies, Federal and local governments), nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations and groups who have been excluded and marginalized by government decisions.
Experience developing and maintaining relationships with diverse communities, including Tribes, Black, Indigenous and communities of color, low-income communities, immigrant and refugee communities, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, and other historically marginalized communities.
Leading change and strategic planning in organizations.
Discussing issues and topics of racism, anti-Black racism, social justice, disability justice and belonging.
A vision for embedding equity throughout the legislative process.
Ability to evaluate legislative policy agendas and actions during Washington State legislative sessions in the areas of equity, access, belonging, and anti-poverty.
Understanding of equity and social justice and the role institutional racism and oppression plays in inequitable outcomes across sectors, including lived experience.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Strong commitment to and comfort with curiosity, improvisation, and continuous improvement.
A demonstrated commitment to social and racial justice issues and fundamental understanding of the historical context underlying current challenges facing communities of color, people with disabilities, immigrant communities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) communities, as well as low- and moderate-income families.
Ability to exercise a high level of emotional intelligence, critical thinking, self-care, and judgment during challenging or ambiguous situations.
Advanced skills with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.

Nice To Haves

Experience in civil rights, disability justice, and anti-poverty policy.
Proficiency in a language other than English.

Responsibilities

Facilitates interaction between legislative staff and members, other agencies, outside partner organizations, and other interested parties.
Manages issues that are received in various formats, from legislators, legislative staff, and external partners.
Reviews legislative constituent correspondence to determine appropriate EQUITY staff to assist in drafting responsive correspondence.
Uses process improvement to facilitate the collection and analysis of legislative information.
Assists EQUITY leadership to identify and plan business process changes for short- and long-term strategic goals.
Communicates between EQUITY and external governmental offices and agencies, as appropriate.
Oversees the monitoring of legislative communications, to include the news and social media, for issues of interest to EQUITY leadership, outside partner organizations, and other stakeholders.
Assists with the development of briefings and fact sheets for informing external parties and legislators of EQUITY priorities, resource needs, and policy direction.
Provides consultation and analysis on legislative issues.
Provides informed advice and consultation to the Federal Affairs Director and other EQUITY leadership, outside partner organizations, and other interested parties with varying issues, assorted complex and conflicting interests.
Reviews the content of bill analysis and monitoring reports to inform testimony and informational follow-ups to legislative hearings.
Reviews bill summaries for impact and implementation considerations.
Prepares briefings for the Federal Affairs Director and EQUITY leadership with actionable recommendations for policy or legislative responses.
Manages the development of proposed legislation, budget packages, and regulations; acts to accomplish legislative and regulatory goals and strategies.
Oversees the monitoring of legislation and development of bill analyses and fiscal notes for the Office of Equity.
Works with interested parties on legislative impacts, including the Governor’s Office staff and other impacted groups.
Establishes and maintains important key working relationships concerning equity and accessibility, statutes, policy development and implementation with legislators, professional organizations, state agency legislative teams and other interest groups.
Directs the development of EQUITY’s state legislative request package; obtains legislative sponsors and leads the orderly progress of essential bills through the legislative process.
Builds and maintains the office's internal legislative review process to ensure the proper disposition of required actions.
Directs and develops strategy and communication with legislators, legislative staff, and state agencies to prioritize actions.
Reviews and analyzes all appropriate state legislative proposals and other equity issues with executive staff.
Makes recommendations as executive staff build out their proposals for ARLs and DPs.
Provides advice to EQUITY staff as needed to ensure that policy goals are achieved.
Represents EQUITY at legislative meetings and maintains collaborative relationships with legislators and legislative staff; consults with legislators and their staff on issues of equitable policymaking and assigns appropriate staff to respond to issues.
Directs the monitoring of legislative requirements from the biennial budget and their fulfillment by department divisions.
Reviews and approves communications in collaboration with the Communications team with state and local elected officials.
Reviews draft fiscal notes with appropriate backup documentation in partnership with Operations.
Attends in-district meetings as necessary with legislators, staff, and community organizations.
Build and sustain relationships with state government partners and communities with lived experience facing racism, oppression, or marginalization.
Coordinates policy efforts and leads the Policy Subcommittee of the Governor’s Immigration Subcabinet.
Leads and implements special programs and projects as assigned.
Other duties as assigned.