1.) Question: What is the purpose of the National Legislative Commission?
        Answer: The mission statement of the Sons of The American Legion National Legislative Commission is to have an effective and productive way of communicating with Congress and other elected officials by the use of Grassroots Advocacy. To supply the tools to all members to accomplish this task productively and with the best possible results. To have all members of our organization be active participants. To disseminate legislative information to the entire membership in a timely manner to make them more informed members, along with an awareness of the issues and legislation.

2.) Question: What is the purpose of the Washington Conference?
        Answer: The Washington Conference is held once a year and members of all the Departments & Detachments representing the American Legion Family from around the nation meet in Washington to lobby on behalf of our Veterans, Families, Communities, States and Nation. National American Legion Commission meetings are also held at this time. Valuable information and resources are available to the membership to take back to their Squadrons, Districts, and Detachments.

3.) Question: Where can I find information to help me become an effective and productive veterans' advocate?
        Answer: Information is available in the Legislative Handbook available through the National American Legion Legislative Commission Office. Other excellent resource tools available are the booklet How to Make a Difference Through Effective Grassroots Lobbying available through Emblem Sales and The American Legion Dispatch, a periodical publication available through the American Legion National Headquarters. The American Legion Legislative Action Center is another source of valuable information and can be found at http://www.legion.org.

4.) Question: What is Grassroots Lobbying and what is a Veterans’ Advocate?
        Answer: Grassroots Lobbying (or Veterans' Advocacy as we also call it) is a group of private individuals (members of the Sons of The American Legion) engaged in trying to influence legislators (on local, state and federal) in favor of some special interest. In our case it is the interest of our Veterans. Lobbying on the Squadron level is an excellent method for the Sons of The American Legion to be most effective.

5.) Question: Why is the year-end reporting of our activities so important to the National Organization.
        Answer: These reports are tallied up and the totals are then given to Congress. Our membership numbers gives us a strong voice in Washington and around the country. Our strength comes from the number of hours and dollars from these reports lets Congress and our elected officials see that we are not only a growing organization, but an organization that produces for our Veterans, Communities, States, and Nation.

6.) Questions: What is the Grassroots Veterans’ Advocate of The Year Award?
        Answer: The Grassroots Veterans’ Advocate of The Year Award recognizes a member who has performed outstanding service and made significant contributions of time and effort in Grassroots Veterans’ Advocacy work. One award will be presented each year to a member who displays an aggressive leadership role by building relationships with elected officials that directly impact public policy; by actively taking the message of the National Sons of The American Legion to key media outlets; and by developing strong grassroots initiatives. National Legislative Commission presents the Grassroots Veterans’ Advocate of The Year Award to that special member on stage to be recognized by the entire National Sons of The American Legion Membership at the National Convention each year. Application form, score sheet, rules, and criteria can be found in the Administrative Manual, on the National Legislative Commission Web Site and the National Sons of The American Legion Web Site (in the Administrative Manual).