We look forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C. for the NAB’s State Leadership Conference (SLC) and our meetings on Capitol Hill. Below is information to help you prepare for the trip (or here is a pdf version if you’d prefer to print it out!). We will have packets on-site for each of you with copies of all these documents.
Quick Links to Documents
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OAB event schedule
NAB SLC schedule
Maps
Navy Yard area
Capitol Hill
House and Senate building layouts
Lunch options
Capitol Hill Meetings
Hill meeting schedule – rev. 2/22/2023
Ohio Congressional map
House and Senate building layouts
Lunch options
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Locations
As previously noted, the NAB has moved SLC to Washington Nationals Ballpark, located about two blocks from the NAB’s new building. Here is a map with the following locations:
| 1 | NAB Building | 1 M St., SE Washington, DC 20003 |
Location for OAB issue briefing and board meeting on Mon. 2/27. |
| 2 | Washington Nationals Ballpark (Enter at center field gate at N and Half St.) |
1500 S Capitol St., SE Washington, DC 20003 |
Location for State Leadership Conference (Champions Club) and SLC Congressional reception (PNC Club) on Tues. 2/28. |
| 3 | Residence Inn Navy Yard | 1233 First St., SE Washington, DC 20003 |
OAB overnight room block. |
| 4 | Officina at The Wharf | 1120 Maine Ave., SW Washington, DC 20024 |
Location for OAB dinner on Mon. 2/27. |
| 5 | Walter’s Sports Bar & Restaurant – Navy Yard | 10 N St., SE Washington, DC 20002 |
Location for OAB dinner after NAB reception on Tues. night. |
Overnight Accommodations
Our room block is at the Residence Inn Navy Yard, located at 1233 First St., S.E. Here is a list of hotel confirmation numbers at the Residence Inn. All reservations are set up to direct-bill room and tax charges to the OAB. Let me know if you have any problems with this upon check-in. Please note that you will be asked to provide a credit card for incidental expenses.
Schedule
Monday, Feb. 27 — will be our OAB briefing session and board meeting beginning at 3pm, followed by dinner for OAB participants at Officina at 6:30 p.m.
| 2-5 p.m. | NAB State Leadership Conference Registration open Conference materials can be picked up in the lobby of the NAB building, located at 1 M St., SE. |
NAB Building |
| 3-4 p.m. | OAB Issue Briefing We will be meeting in the Gordon Smith conference room on the 8th floor |
NAB Building |
| 4-5 p.m. | OAB Board Meeting Non-Board members do not need to stay for the board meeting. |
NAB Building |
| 6:30 p.m. | OAB Dinner Officina is located at 1120 Maine Ave., SW in the Wharf area, about 1.5 miles from our hotel. We have a private room reserved on the third floor. No ties required! |
Officina at The Wharf
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Tuesday, Feb. 28 — will be the NAB State Leadership Conference (SLC) from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Washington Nationals Ballpark, followed by the reception for all Members of Congress and their staff from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday evening. And, for anyone interested in dinner after the reception, I have a reservation at Walter’s Sports Bar, which is across the street from Nationals Park – we’ll just order off the menu.
| 9-11 a.m. | NAB State Leadership Conference Registration open Nationals Park is located at 1500 S Capitol, but you can enter at the center field gate at N and Half St. |
Champions Club Nationals Ballpark |
| 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. | NAB State Leadership Conference Agenda and other info is available on the SLC website. |
Champions Club Nationals Ballpark |
| 5 – 6 p.m. | NABPAC Reception | PNC Club Nationals Ballpark |
| 6 – 8 p.m. | NAB State Leadership Reception The NAB is inviting Members of Congress and their staff – several Members of the Ohio delegation and their staff are attending. |
PNC Club Nationals Ballpark |
| 8:15 p.m. | Dinner at Walter’s Sports Bar & Restaurant Walter’s is located at 10 N St., SE., across from Nationals Park. Please let me know if you plan to join us. |
Walter’s Sports Bar |
Wednesday, March 1 — will be our day on Capitol Hill. See below for more details.
NAB State Leadership Conference
As noted above, the NAB’s SLC will be held from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28th at the Champions Club at Washington Nationals Park. Here is the conference agenda. Unless you have told me otherwise, I have registered you to attend the conference.
You can pick up your registration materials on Monday afternoon in the lobby of the NAB Building (when you arrive for our OAB briefing), or you can get them at the ballpark on Tuesday morning between 9-11 a.m. You can enter the ballpark at the center field gate, which is at N Street and Half Street.
Hill Visits
Here is the Congressional meeting schedule as of 2/22 – as you can see, I’m still waiting on times for a couple of meetings. For the House members, I’ve tried to schedule you for those districts covered by your station(s) – here is a map of the current House districts. Please review the list and let me know if there are other meetings that you’d like to attend. Unless otherwise indicated, all meetings are with the actual Member (though last-minute schedule changes may mean we meet with a staff member). Our meetings with Sen. Vance and Sen. Brown are late morning, and all OAB members are welcome to attend one or both meetings. I will update the schedule grid as changes occur and will also have printed versions in your packets.
There likely won’t be many taxis outside the Residence Inn, so Uber or Lyft is your best bet to get to Capitol Hill on Wed. morning. You should be dropped off at the Independence Ave. entrances for the buildings. If you prefer to walk, it’s about 20-30 minutes from the hotel to the House office buildings. You’ll need to go through security to enter any of the buildings, so plan to arrive at the building about 30 minutes before your first meeting. The tunnels between the House buildings are open again, so once you’ve gone through security to enter a building, you can use the tunnels to access the other House buildings. The tunnel under the Capitol from the House and Senate is not open to the public – you must be escorted by staff.
Our first Senate meeting is at 10:45 a.m. with Sen. Vance, who is in a temporary office (SDB 40) in the basement of the Dirksen Building. Enter the building through the Constitution Ave. entrance, take the elevators down to “B” level, and follow the signs for SDB 34 – SDB 47. For those of you who are attending the 10 a.m. meetings with Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Bill Johnson, I have asked each of these offices to provide us with escorts under the Capitol to the Senate side. Be sure that you’re taking the subway to the Hart Building. Once you’re in the building, go past the Hart elevators to the door for the Dirksen Building. Follow the hallway and signs for Dirksen, and once in Dirksen, SDB 40 office will be on the right. If all else fails, ask someone for help! 😊
Here is a map of the Congressional buildings, with info about the tunnels from building to building. I’ve also included some lunch options if you’re eating on the Hill.
Issues for Hill Visits
The key issues for discussion during our meetings will be the radio performance tax, challenges with big tech, NEXTGEN TV, diversity tax certificate program, and the House broadcasters caucus.
Shawn Donilon from the NAB and Tim Nelson from Brooks Pierce will be at our briefing session on Monday afternoon to review the issues and answer any questions you may have.
As in the past, we’ll have packets with the issue papers for your Congressional meetings. Additionally, the NAB will have materials for us to distribute to our Members of Congress.
OAB Attendees
Here is the list of attendees for the trip. In addition to our OAB Board, we have three other OAB members participating in our Hill visits, briefing session and dinner on Monday:
- Dave Glass, Vice President & Director of Broadcast, Findlay Publishing Co., Findlay
- John Wharff, III, Owner & General Manager, JAWCO, Inc., Marietta
- J Chapman, President, Woof Boom Radio, Lima
We’ll also be joined by Matt Bell’s son, Maddox, who is a high school student interested in politics and government.
Miscellaneous Items
- Bags at National Park – the NAB has informed us that Nationals ballpark will enforce a similar bag policy as they do for baseball games. They have a clear bag policy for all guests entering the ballpark – any bag larger than a clutch is not permitted unless it is clear. There are apparently exceptions made for private events for medical or laptop bags (with additional screening), though it’s not clear exactly what that means. NAB is providing clear bags for all conference attendees. More info is available on the SLC site.
- Attire – business casual or smart casual for Monday meetings and dinner. For SLC on Tuesday, NAB is suggesting that everyone wear their favorite team (pro, college or HS) jersey/shirt, in keeping with the ballpark theme. Or, you can also dress business or business casual. I think there will be plenty of both, so feel free to dress as you wish (unless you have a Hill visit on Tues. afternoon!). You should plan to dress up a bit more for the reception on Tuesday evening and business attire for Hill visits on Wednesday.
- Business Cards – please be sure to bring business cards with you! You will need to provide them to the receptionist when you arrive for each of your meetings on Capitol Hill.
- Flight Reimbursement — here is the travel reimbursement form for your airfare – if you haven’t already done so, please email the completed form, along with your airline receipt, to cmerritt@oab.org. We will run checks at the end of the month.
Let me know if you have any questions or need additional information. Look forward to seeing you soon!