The Financial Planning Association will take its case to Capital Hill in Washington on June 24 for the second year in a row, FPA announced recently.

The program is being repeated in part because of the success of last summer’s Advocacy Day, says Karen Nystrom, FPA director of advocacy.

“Last year was an eye opener for us – a lot of people on Capital Hill did not know who we are,” says Nystrom. The FPA supports the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. and the CFP certification.

“This year we want to engage legislators and their staffs on the issue of the Department of Labor developing a fiduciary standard,” she adds. The members who attend also want to introduce themselves to relevant leaders so they will know who to talk to when issues arise in the future.

The 60 to 70 FPA members who attend Advocacy Day will meet with members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee and their staffs.

“We want to establish relationships so that we are a known entity to legislative leaders,” Nystrom adds.

Similar advocacy days are encouraged by FPA on a state level, such as the California FPA Advocacy Day in Sacramento in March.

“Our purpose was simply to introduce ourselves and our profession and offer to be a resource to legislators,” says Jim Johnson, chairman of the FPA of California.

State level advocacy programs are useful for the national organization as well because issues raised in one state will probably surface in others, Nystrom says.