By Judith M. Green, Social Media Specialist, Los Angeles County CSSD

Did you know social media is now one of the most impactful forms of digital marketing? According to Hootsuite, eleven new people start using social media every second, which is about 1 million people every day. There are now 3 billion people using social media—that’s almost half of the entire earth’s population!

Even though social media is used by citizens all around the world, government social media isn’t being used to its full potential. Due to this amazing growth, Local Child Support Agencies (LCSAs) are encouraged to utilize social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram to spread the word about their services. As the Social Media Specialist for Los Angeles County Child Support Services plus the 10+ years of experience as a child support professional, I have used social media as a tool to work and connect with the families we serve more effectively.

Communicating with the public via social media can be an effective way to disseminate information about the many important child support services that can help families everywhere. Social media is not just the “in thing,” but it is a platform where our target audience “likes” to hang out. Communicating with the public via social media can be an effective yet light hearted way to distribute information and develop a closer relationship with the communities we serve.

Here are 4 proven effective ways your LCSA can utilize social media to communicate and engage with your customers:

1. Use Visuals:

It’s time to grab their attention by using eye-catching visuals with your social media content. Posting images and videos will play a big role in helping you grow your brand awareness. Eye-catching content not only increases engagement, but also boosts social shares. Social media images are a vital part of ensuring your content reaches the maximum number of people.

1. Be consistent with color.
2. Choose the right imagery and filters.
3. Use your logo as your profile image.
4. Create different images for each social network.
5. Add your text, illustrations, and brand your images.

2. Link to Your Website from Social Media:

One goal is to get the public to your site. There they can explore and, hopefully, decide to engage further with your LCSA. One way to get people to your website is to direct them there. Los Angeles County promotes specific services by directing customers straight to that page. Cutting down the opportunity for distraction or hesitation and making it easy for them to act makes all the difference. If people are interested in the type of content you’re sharing and discussing, they’ll likely be interested in finding out where they can get more.

3. Short Videos:

Launching a video digital marketing campaign is a bold and innovative idea. Watching a video is much less demanding and more of an automatic process, requiring less effort on behalf of the person watching when compared to reading the same information. According to Social Media Today, “44% of consumers prefer learning about a product (or service) via watching a video (rather than reading about it).”

1. Get personal: With such a diverse platform, start by targeting your audience. What are your most popular website pages? Think about what they’d like to see.
2. Short attention spans: Keep your videos short and simple, try not to exceed 90 seconds when posting online.
3. Add a featured video: You can pin a video to the top of your page to introduce your brand or highlight a new service.
4. Upload videos directly (avoid links).

4. Create a hashtag campaign:

Having the right hashtag can help you to connect with targeted audiences on social media. Hashtags (#) are digital marketing tools that can be shared with an online community and creating a hashtag for your LCSA has lots of benefits. Hashtags give you additional strength toward customer engagement. Not only that, but hashtags tend to be great marketing resources. The hashtag frenzy has been an important element in the rise of social media and L.A. County has successfully branded CSSD by creating the hashtag campaign #SupportLA. A branded hashtag can help give life to your digital identity, providing additional reach, impact, and personality.

1. Make sure to keep it short and simple: Keep your hashtag to the point. Social media posts are meant to be short, and you don’t want to waste characters with a lengthy hashtag.
2. Use the same hashtag: Using the same hashtag across all platforms is the best and easiest way to brand your hashtag and build awareness. This will also help you to track users and content later.
3. Brand it: Branding the hashtag as your own will help make it memorable. Make sure the hashtag is as visible as possible to encourage others to take part in the campaign.
4. Use your hashtag at every opportunity: Use your hashtag on all relevant social media posts and marketing materials. Using the same hashtag across all platforms is the best and easiest way to brand your hashtag and build awareness.

The fear of receiving negative feedback is often the reason why LCSAs are hesitant to use social media. But fear not because you can turn that negative into a positive. Social media enables you to respond and help your customers in real time and as a result it lets your customers know you’re listening. For example, CSSD received feedback on Twitter from a Veteran who was frustrated with the child support process. We immediately reached out to him and had a child support professional look into his case and resolved his issue within an hour. We are now proud to say he is a @CSSDLA follower who actively supports and likes our posts, and this is an example of how social media can improve customer relationships.

Another way social media can add value is through data analytics. All social media platforms offer data analytics, and with this insight it gives you valuable information on how well your posts are performing. There is no denying that social media marketing has many advantages. LCSAs have a responsibility to the public, and now social media empowers our reach and most importantly, allows us to help the families we serve in a powerful way.

There are thousands of bills introduced and hundreds of new laws enacted every legislative cycle. As CSDA continues to contemplate its place in this legislative process, it is important to understand the nuts and bolts of law-making before diving in to influence those bills.

The California State Legislature is comprised of two houses: the Senate and the Assembly. There are 40 Senators and 80 Assembly Members representing different overlapping districts of the state. The Senate and Assembly work in parallel while also serving as a check against the other’s authority.

The Legislature convenes for a “regular session” every two years. We are now winding down the second year of the current session. A new two-year session will begin again in January 2019. Any bill that doesn’t move out of both houses to the Governor’s desk within that two-year period is dead. Many legislators bring failed bills back during the next two-year cycle and restart the process.

There are six classes of legislation considered by the Legislature. The most common form is the bill, which establishes, repeals, or in some other way modifies state law. Generally, in order for a bill to become law it must be passed by a majority of both houses and signed by the Governor. Laws ordinarily take effect on January 1 following their passage, though some bills may establish a different effective date.

A bill begins when a legislator delivers a conceptual bill framework to the Legislative Counsel staff. The Legislative Counsel’s office is comprised of attorneys who then draft the idea into the proper format consistent with the code or statute to be created or modified. Though bills are written by the Legislative Counsel attorneys, the “author” is the legislator who introduced the idea.

A paper draft of the bill is then returned to the legislator. If the author is a senator, the bill is introduced in the Senate and if the author is an assembly member, the bill is introduced in the Assembly. Introducing a bill is often referred to as “putting the bill across the desk.” While it may seem archaic in this age of technology, the printed bill is literally hand-delivered to the clerk’s desk where it is stamped with a bill number. Bills are numbered in the order they are received during the session. Bills originating in the Senate are preceded with “SB” and bills originating in the Assembly are preceded with “AB.” There is no effective difference between these as all bills go through the same process.

A bill is introduced or “read” the first time when the bill number, the name of the author, and the descriptive title of the bill is read on the floor of the house. The bill is then sent to the Office of State Printing where paper copies are printed for distribution around the capital. An electronic version is also made available online at the Leginfo website. No bill may be acted upon until 30 days have passed from the date it was first in printed form. This allows organizations such as CSDA to read, analyze, and comment on these draft bills.

After being introduced, bills go to the Rules Committee which assigns it to an appropriate Policy Committee for its first hearing. There are several Policy Committees for various subject areas of possible law. For example, an Assembly bill that deals with the interception of insurance payments would be first assigned to the Assembly Insurance Committee. Each committee is made up of a specified number of senators or assembly members. Bills that require the expenditure of funds must also be heard in the fiscal committees: the Senate Appropriations Committee or the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

A bill analysis is prepared by highly experienced paid non-partisan staff that explains current law, the intent of the bill, and pertinent background information. Typically, these analyses will also list organizations that support or oppose the bill. Letters of support and/or opposition are important in the bill process as legislators and their staff often form the basis for voting largely on stakeholder opinion. Letters of support or opposition should be emailed, mailed, or hand delivered to the author or to Policy Committee members before the bill is scheduled to be heard in committee. It is considered better etiquette to write letters of opposition to a bill’s author rather than a committee. That way, the author may be able to fix any flaws before the full committee is involved and the legislator can save face among their elected peers.

During committee hearings, the bill author presents the bill to the committee, and organizations or other stakeholders in support or opposition to the bill may attend to provide testimony. Much of the debate over bill language happens before the hearings. Communicating with legislative staff before the hearing ensures the legislators fully understand the impacts of their proposed bills. For that reason, hearings often seem to go very quickly and may seem confusing to outsiders. During the hearing, the committee will vote and may pass the bill, pass the bill as amended, or defeat the bill. Bills can be amended numerous times. It takes a majority vote of the full committee membership for a bill to be passed out of a committee. The Rules Committee may then assign the bill (also known as “Re-Referring”) to another Policy Committee for further review or to the Appropriations Committee if the state will end up spending money because of the bill.

Bills passed out of Policy Committees and Appropriations are then read a second time on the floor in the house of origin and finally assigned to Third Reading. Bill analyses are also prepared prior to the Third Reading. When a bill is read the third time it is explained by the author, discussed by the members, and voted on by a roll call vote. Bills that require funding generally require 27 votes in the Senate and 54 votes in the Assembly to be passed. Other bills generally require 21 votes in the Senate and 41 votes in the Assembly. If a bill fails to gain the required majority, the author may seek reconsideration and another vote.

Once the bill has been approved by the house of origin, it proceeds to the second house where the entire procedure through the various Policy and Appropriations Committees is repeated. The author who introduced the bill in the first house typically partners up with another legislator in the second house who shares the same ideology to introduce the bill there.

If a bill is amended in the second house, it must go back to the house of origin for agreement on the amendments. If agreement cannot be reached, the bill is referred to a two-house conference committee to reconcile the differences. Three members of the committee are from the Senate and three are from the Assembly. If a compromise is reached, the bill is returned to both houses for a vote.

If approved by both houses, the bill is Enrolled, that is sent to the Governor for a signature or veto. The Governor has 12 days to sign or veto a bill once he receives it. If the Governor signs the bill or if the Governor takes no action, the bill is Chaptered, meaning it becomes law.

Microsoft Teams Now Available to All LCSA Attorneys

By Gina Johnson, Supervising Attorney, San Joaquin County DCSS

For the past few years, LCSA attorneys throughout California have been using a platform called Slack to get answers to questions, determine best practices, find alternatives and strategies for processing legal issues, and discussing new and developing case law. Recently, we migrated our discussions to a new platform from Microsoft called Teams. MS Teams is described by Microsoft as a “true chat-based hub for teamwork.” Essentially, MS Teams brings together people, conversations, and content that is integrated with other Microsoft products like Outlook, One-Note and Skype. MS Teams is available as part of the Office 365 suite. If your LCSA isn’t using Office 365, it is still possible to access it from your LCSA with the help of your IT department.

Some question why use chat when we have email? While email has long been a tool for group collaborations, chatting allows for real time discussion that doesn’t result in a long email chain. Much faster and easier than opening 38 emails on the same subject. If you aren’t online when the chat is taking place, just scroll up and read the thread. MS Teams works toward the goal of state uniformity by allowing communication between LCSA attorneys to be more productive, enabling us to work and collaborate more effectively.

The structure of the application is based on the creation of teams and within those teams, creating channels. The LCSA attorney team is called “Child Support Attorneys” and was designed so that each channel reflects the topics in the CSDA Attorney Sourcebook. Each team space automatically has a general channel, but we have added topics like establishment, parentage, inter-jurisdictional cases and multiple topics under enforcement for a total of 25 topics. This gives the users guidance about where to post their questions as well as where to search for previously posted answers. The posts create a searchable archive of legal knowledge, tips, and best practices.

MS Teams also provides a document sharing feature. Users can quickly upload documents to share with all team members. They can be downloaded to your computer or viewed within the app. No matter how long most attorneys have been practicing, there is always a time when you need a sample pleading on an issue that is new to you. MS Teams document sharing creates an online reference library for all LCSA attorneys.

MS Teams has been live since late July 2018 and many users are finding it helpful. Napa County DCSS lead attorney, Doug Durward, who was a frequent user of Slack and has transitioned to MS Teams, finds it to be “…an ideal means for collaborative education without having to pause for a meeting or phone call.” Meetings and phone calls can be time consuming. Trying to find a time when everyone is available or playing phone tag with the one person who has the information you need is time consuming and impractical. MS Teams gives users the option to decide when they want to jump into a conversation.

Learning to navigate in MS Teams is easy given that there are videos, blogs, and visual aids to help you get started. MessageOps.com has a free comprehensive visual guide that explains all the links and tabs and gives you everything you need to get started. Quick Start Guide Microsoft Teams There are several other resources downloaded to the CSDA Attorneys team on MS Teams including a quick start guide created by CSDA Communications Specialist Danielle Wermund.

The CSDA Attorneys team on MS Teams is for all LCSA attorneys. The goal is to have attorneys of all experience levels using the platform. Experienced attorneys can mentor attorneys new to the IV-D program. The knowledge and information left on the site by the experienced attorneys builds a database that ensures their knowledge stays in the program. It is a great tool for improving collaboration, productivity and customer service among all LCSAs. I encourage all attorneys to sign-up and log in. You can contact Danielle Wermund at dwermund@csdaca.org for more information on how to get started.

By Colin S. Anderson, Yolo County DCSS

For years the California State Bar has been talking about changing the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys in the State of California. This topic was raised at the last CSDA Legal Practices Committee meeting on June 14 and 15 held at the Judicial Council’s office in Sacramento. The changes that impact your Local Child Support Agency (LCSA), and in particular your Managing and Supervising/Lead Attorney, I will discuss shortly. First, here is some background: In 2015, the California Supreme Court told the California State Bar to update its Rules of Professional Conduct. The idea was to bring California rules in line with the National Standard, i.e., the American Bar Association’s (ABA) model rules. Those of us who took the Professional Responsibility Exam remember that you had to study not only the California rules but the ABA model rules. They also had a different numbering system. That has now changed, and California and the ABA model rules have essentially the same numbering. In essence, the State Bar has blended the ABA model rules with California law. The new rules were submitted to the California Supreme Court on March 9, 2018, and the Supreme Court approved them with some minor changes on May 10, 2018. To most observers this was a really quick turnaround. The approved rules will go into effect November 1, 2018. Here is the link to the new rules.

How does this impact your LCSA and your legal operations? New Rule 5.1 defines the responsibilities of Managerial and Supervisory Lawyers. Subsection (a) mandates that a Supervisory Lawyer, “…shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that the firm has in effect measures giving reasonable assurance that all lawyers in the firm comply with these rules and the State Bar Act.” A local child support agency (LCSA) will be considered a “firm” for the sake of this section. The new rules go on to state a Supervising Lawyer can be held responsible for his or her subordinate’s violation of the ethics rules if: The Supervising Lawyer orders or, with knowledge of the relevant facts and of the specific conduct, ratifies the conduct involved or the Supervising Lawyer knows of the conduct at a time when its consequences can be avoided or mitigated but fails to take reasonable action. In addition, Supervising Lawyers in our LCSAs can be held to the same standard as above, under certain circumstances, for the unethical conduct of the non-lawyer assistants employed by an LCSA. The specifics can be found at Rule 5.3 included in the above link. Since so much of our operations are involved in the legal process, this is something to think about. These codified changes should be reviewed by all legal staff and potentially new policies and procedures implemented in light of these ethical standards.