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GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
AHFA in Washington
AHFA, the nation's most influential trade association for the home furnishings industry, maintains high visibility and a strong voice in Washington. Our full-time staff works to protect the interests of the furniture industry with elected officials and regulatory agencies. AHFA lobbies on Capitol Hill, confers with senior members of the Administration and Congressional staffs, testifies at Congressional hearings and maintains regular contact with major government agencies, including the:
- Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Department of Commerce
- Federal Trade Commission
- International Trade Commission
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Add value to your AHFA membership by making your voice heard! AHFA's Government Affairs program:
- Gives you a voice in establishing our legislative agenda.
- Keeps your company informed about the status of key legislative and regulatory issues through the Washington Report, as well as through the AHFA in Action snapshot of our positions and progress on key issues.
- Prompts you to respond by issuing alerts when there are important votes on our agenda.
State-Level Activities
In recent years, AHFA's stake in state-level issues has been growing. State governments are becoming increasingly involved in affairs critical to the furniture industry, including tax issues, business practices, environmental issues and educational allocations. With the federal government pushing more responsibilities to the state level, and with the states' ever-increasing needs to generate more revenue, AHFA must monitor and increasingly be involved in activities of state regulatory agencies and legislatures. AHFA tracks state-level legislative activities electronically.
If You're Not at the Table, You're On the Menu!
Why should manufacturers support AHFA's advocacy efforts?
A ground-breaking study published by the National Association of Manufacturers in 2003 found that domestically-imposed costs – by omission or commission of federal, state and local governments – add at least 22.4 percent to the cost of doing business in the United States. Such internal costs, the study concluded, impose a larger burden on U.S. manufacturers than any foreign competitor.
Escalating compliance costs for regulatory mandates, particularly those related to workplace safety, pollution abatement and corporate governance, are among the most critical obstacles.
Against this backdrop, when a federal agency initiates rulemaking that will impact some aspect of home furnishings manufacturing, which single corporate entity within our industry can step forward to authoritatively represent the home furnishings industry? Which group of companies will volunteer to fund costly research to identify the potential impact of suggested proposals? Who will hire the technical expert to sit at the table in meetings that extend over the course of several years?
The answer is, no one company can carry this responsibility. Instead, AHFA is the authoritative voice. AHFA funds the scientific research on environmental, workplace and product safety issues that impact both our manufacturing and importing members. AHFA sends the expert to the table.
Where regulatory issues are concerned, the AHFA approach is known as "SET:"
- Solutions to Issues
- Educational Opportunites for the Membership
- Tools for Compliance for the Membership
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