WASHINGTON D.C. — Advocacy Day proved to be a fitting conclusion to RVs Move America Week, as 103 industry executives participated in 142 meetings with members of Congress or their staffs as well as a handful of federal agencies, officials noted.
Hosted by the RV Industry Association (RVIA), RVs Move America Week featured two days of committee meetings where volunteers from across the RV industry collectively work to build a strategic roadmap to help define future growth of the $159 billion RV industry. Following that was Advocacy Day, in which attendees rubbed elbows with federal policymakers, forging relationships beneficial to the future growth of the RV market.
RVIA Vice President of Government Affairs Jason Rano told RVBusiness he thought Advocacy Day was a “great success” and he, his team and the association itself were extremely thankful for all who participated.
“As always, thank you to everybody who participated and sent team members. We’re just so appreciative, in this market especially, for the continued commitment to participate and help the industry continue to use our collective voice,” Rano said.
What follows is an edited account of the rest of Rano’s conversation with RVB.
RVB: So, how was Advocacy Day?
Rano: Yesterday was great. We had great success just in terms of sheer numbers: 142 meetings, 103 advocates. And around 30 of those meetings were member meetings — or scheduled to be member meetings as some of them adjust because of changes and schedules and things like that.
But, most importantly, with the industry being in a tough market we’re so appreciative of the RVIA members and partners that invest the time and resources to come to D.C., participate in the work of the association through committee meetings and coalitions, and then participate in Advocacy Day.
And it’s not just yesterday. It’s the work they do to prepare attending webinars and trainings and reading up on materials and being prepared to talk about their companies and the impact of all these policies on their companies. So, we’re so appreciative of that, and maybe it matters a little bit more in a tough market where we’re pushing so hard on all of these policies.
RVB: You mentioned “impact on their companies.” Time and time again, you’ve said that the members’ stories on that impact is really what resonates. I’m assuming that’s still the case?
Rano: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. We at RVIA tell the story of the industry, but when you can individualize the story and talk about the impact to your employees and your community, it brings it home and it made more connected to the impacts of the policies.
RVB: There were four specific issues that members were lobbying for during Advocacy Day: Ensure trade fairness and certainty for American businesses and manufacturers, no tax on RV loan interest, reauthorizing the Legacy Restoration Fund for public lands, and to join the RV Caucus. How did that go?
Rano: When you’re talking about the legislative asks — No Tax on RV Loans legislation and the Legacy Restoration Fund — those are more concrete when you’re asking the members of Congress to sign onto something. And we’re so grateful to Congressman Yakym and Congresswoman Titus and Senator Young who worked with us to time the introduction of their bills to our members’ and partners’ participation in Advocacy Day. So, we would have those tangible things to be asking for.
I heard from a number of advocates and guides there was real interest from members of Congress and staff about joining the RV caucus. We discovered that Congressman Stutzman is actually an RVIA member. His family owns a member company. Senator Moody from Florida, who’s a relatively new senator, was very enthusiastic and shared her story of growing up with RVing with her family and expressed keen interest in becoming more involved. That’s so beneficial. Our team does a lot, but we do have limited capacity, and so to have our members up here spreading the message is really important.
But tariffs, trade, anti-dumping, countervailing duty, there’s not legislation on that front where we can say, “Oh, because of this we see more co-sponsorship.” So, it’s a little more flexible, but there were good things coming out of meetings in Commerce and USTR and certainly with the Canadian embassy on USMCA.
I can say that on meetings I sat in on that were trade-focused, we heard consensus that they understood and generally agree with the industry’s desire for certainty and less whiplash from the tariff policies.
