If the mornings are mine, the nights belong to the legislature

I wrote previously about the fun things I get to do in the mornings while my colleagues are all sleeping. The flip side is that I do have some late nights, especially during my busy season, which runs from January to mid-April.

The central organizing feature of my work is the annual 90-day legislative session in Maryland, where 188 legislators come to Annapolis to consider bills and pass a state budget. Today is an important milestone, called Crossover, when bills must move from the House to the Senate or vice-versa; if they don’t, they die. A lot of bills go away and my workload decreases.

Lobbying is fun. The work is interesting, and there is a sense of accomplishment about the passage of bills we’ve had a role in shaping. Plus, I really like the people I get to work with—legislators and lobbyists alike.

Much of the discussion with my employer as we prepared for this year in Norway was about how to manage the session while I’m abroad. So, how do I manage this from six time zones away?

A lot of the work, such as reading the 300-400 bills that impact the company, can be done before the east coast workday begins, and I like to take advantage of that. I have several favorite work spots around the city to drink coffee and get natural light.

I try to do meetings when the US and Norwegian workdays overlap (9:00-11:00 EST, which is 3:00-5:00 central European time).

I often have to work in the evenings, and it requires some logistics to avoid inconveniencing the family when taking meetings in our 800-square foot apartment. That usually means working from my bedside table before Gavin goes to bed, and after that from our kitchen.

All this is to say, I greatly appreciate the Government Relations department at Kaiser Permanente for having faith in me to do this work in Norway. And I have tremendous thanks for the lobbying team at Providence Strategies and our trade associations – the League of Life and Health Insurers, the Maryland MCO Association, and MedChi (the state medical society) for their partnership. You guys are the best.

Most importantly, I appreciate my two loves – Gavin and Annalise. You make it all worth it.