Submitted by: ECA
With the new Congress being sworn in today, the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) has published its 2023 public policy priorities. For 2023, the 10 ECA alliance partner organizations have identified four key areas of focus for ECA:
- Ensuring a favorable operating environment for the industry going forward
- Fully welcoming international exhibitors and attendees back to the US
- Supporting industry efforts to address sustainability and climate change
- Promoting government involvement in developing the industry’s future workforce
“As the unified advocacy voice of the face-to-face business events industry, ECA’s 2023 public policy priorities serve as our industry’s North Star as we continue to engage with policymakers to help drive economic growth, support job creation, and empower small businesses from coast to coast,” says Hervé Sedky, Emerald Holding Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer and chair of the ECA board of directors.
As part of ECA’s 2023 public policy priorities, the ECA board of directors further identified five top issues for the coming year.
- Prevent anti-growth state-level taxation of the industry
- Bring back communicable disease coverage to event cancelation insurance
- Restore visa operations to pre-pandemic levels while making visa processing more modern and efficient
- Encourage smart decarbonization efforts by governments while ensuring the right balance between environmental aims and industry feasibility
- Support government policy and programs to attract, train, and retain the industry’s next generation workforce
“ECA will be actively engaged on the issues that matter to the industry in 2023,” says Vinnie Polito, Society of Independent Show Organizers Chief Executive Officer and ECA Co-President. “From working on the restoration of visa processing at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to fighting back against efforts to introduce growth-stifling taxes on our industry, ECA will be front and center to champion our interests with elected and appointed officials in Washington, DC and beyond.”
Since its establishment in early 2021, ECA has been supporting the recovery and advancement of the face-to-face business events industry on Capitol Hill and in states and cities nationwide. In 2023, ECA will be looking to build upon its advocacy successes over the last two years including:
- Leading campaigns in 2021 to reopen states and cities for large-scale face-to-face events
- Working to eliminate country-and-region-specific travel bans and lift pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated inbound international travelers to the U.S.
- Supporting federal relief programs that delivered more than $800 million to industry small business and other stakeholders
- Securing the introduction of legislation that would provide relief for our industry’s small businesses and help restore communicable disease coverage to event cancellation insurance
- Launching ECA Legislative Action Day and ECA Small Business Advocacy Week
“Since its founding, ECA has worked tirelessly to support the industry on its road to recovery,” says David DuBois, CMP, CAE, CTA, FASAE, CMP Fellow, International Association of Exhibitions and Events President and Chief Executive Officer and ECA Co-President. “In 2023, we look forward to amplifying the voice of our industry’s many passionate advocates in the policymaking process, including at ECA Legislative Action Day, which will return to Washington, DC in person on June 1, 2023.”
ECA’s 2023 public policy priorities can be viewed here.
