MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS Look at all your community receives as a member of the R.I. League of Cities and Towns! 1. Legislative Advocacy Full-time advocates for local government interests throughout the entire General Assembly Session! Information on the status of any bills which a community may be interested in! Special reports on all legislation introduced which affect cities and towns! Legislative Alerts which enable local officials to quickly respond to pending legislation! Immediate and individualized estimates of state aid proposals under various bills and budget articles! Your community benefits immensely from the League's extensive and aggressive lobbying of the General Assembly! 2. Representative Advocacy Advocacy of municipal interests before the executive branch, administrative branches of state government and all regulatory agencies! Direct representation on dozens of state boards and commissions! Community officials may be appointed to many boards and commissions for which the League designates or recommends members! 3. Annual Convention Learn new and interesting ideas to help municipal officials govern more effectively and deliver municipal services more efficiently at over two dozen seminars! Learn about the latest products and services available to local governments from over 100 vendors and agencies! Network and exchange ideas with over 700 other local officials! Free admittance to all convention events as a League member! 4. National League of Cities Your community is eligible for membership in NLC only when it is a League member! Your community officials receive NLC publications and other services! Your community officials may serve on NLC committees! Your community officials may attend the Congressional City Conference, the Annual Congress of Cities meeting, and NLC workshops! Your community benefits from NLC's and the Rhode Island League's lobbying of Congress and federal agencies! 5. R.I. Energy Aggregation Program Save money, and lots of it on your costs for municipal electricity! Benefit from the professional and legal expertise of recognized leaders in energy aggregation available thru the League! Learn how to save money on your water, oil, natural gas and other utility bills! 6. U.S. Communities Program U.S. Communities is a non-profit instrumentality of government established by public agencies to reduce the cost of purchased goods and to streamline the purchasing process Public agencies can gain access to the national purchasing power of all local government public agencies through U.S. Communities Competitively solicited contracts by a lead public agency Most favorable public agency pricing No cost to the public agency to participate Broad range of high quality products 7. Reports and Publications Receive special reports on Legislative Enactments, Bills of Interest, Effective Advocacy of Municipal Interests, Cellular Tower Site Provisions, Municipal Employee Labor Laws and much more as a League member! 8. Labor Relations Internet Library (under construction) Customized computer reports on police, fire and municipal employee wages, salaries and fringe benefits! Use and obtain information and copies of municipal employee collective bargaining agreements and fringe benefit data! Become 100% prepared for labor contract negotiations by utilizing the only municipal labor relations library in Rhode Island! 9. MuniSurvey Utilize the professional expertise of the Center for Research and Public Policy (CRPP), a nationally-recognized market research and consulting firm which has conducted thousands of public and private sector surveys! Take advantage of MuniSurvey to conduct: public satisfaction surveys, community needs-assessments, parks and recreation surveys, planning and conservation studies, surveys on any other municipal services, other customized surveys to meet your specific municipal needs! MuniSurvey will provide municipal officials with the key information they need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of municipal services!