ATSSA Signal November December 2020

American Traffic Safety Services Association 10 Government Relations that message to both Republicans and Democrats and House members and Senators. Even not being able to meet legislators face-to-face won’t stop ATSSA members from advocating that Safer Roads Save Lives.” The briefing included live appearances by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) and Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.), and recorded messages fromRep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) and Sen. JohnBarrasso (R-Wyo.). The chief topics were infrastructure and transportation funding. Brandon Ashley, themajority deputy staffdirector for the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, spoke about tribal roads and ATSSA’s Smith provided tips on making your case to Capitol Hill, which included talking points on key issues. “The briefing was awesome,” Saunders said. She has two decades of experience inhuman resourceswithbothnonprofits and for-profit businesses and was work - ing on an executive MBA when she met the owner of Holland Enterprise and joined his company in 2016. Asarelativenewcomertotheroadwaysafety infrastructure industry andanemployee of a small,minority-owned company, she recognized the value of both the briefing and access to decision-makerswho have impact on federal funding. She employed the tips she learned the first day when shemet withD’Anton and made her pitch for Van Hollen’s support for highway and safety funding she said will help her growing company. Holland Enterprise started in 2005 and does hauling, snow removal, tempo- rary traffic control, pavement marking, and is looking to expand into guardrail maintenance. After months of living and working with the modifications brought about by COVID-19, Saunders thought the virtual experience with the Legislative Briefing & Fly-In was ideal. She had her second briefing at 4:30 p.m. with staff fromSen. Ben Cardin’s (D-Md.) office and planned to do that one from herworkplace. She said the virtual format was much easier than trekking from office to office in the halls of Congress. “I don’t knowhow the folks on Capitol Hill feel about it,” she said, “but logistically it was much easier.”  The first day of the Legislative Briefing & Fly-In included live appearances by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) (pictured above) and Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-N.Y.), and recorded messages from Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).