Industry leaders bring concerns to Washington, D.C. during Security Hill Day 2025

YARMOUTH, Maine—This year’s Security Hill Day brought more than 60 security and life safety industry executives to Washington, D.C., to share their concerns and promote important policy priorities while engaging with members of Congress and their staff. 

The Security Industry Association (SIA) hosted the event March 4-5, with support from the Electronic Security Association (ESA) and The Monitoring Association (TMA). Topics and priorities covered ranged from artificial intelligence and data privacy to workforce development and various critical homeland security grant programs. 

On March 5, attendees met with as many as 73 congressional offices consisting of lawmakers and their staff from both the Senate and House. They relayed policy priorities important to the security industry and the crucial role it plays in providing solutions that safeguard the American people and the nation’s vital assets and infrastructure. 

Lauren Bresette, SIA senior manager of government relations, called Security Hill Day “really incredible and successful.”  

“We got our members out on Capitol Hill talking about a lot of the important issues that we're working on - tax policy as well as border security policy, making sure that critical border technologies are being supported in any packets that move forward - as well as data privacy, artificial intelligence policy and regulations,” she stated. 

Jake Braunger, ESA vice president of advocacy and public affairs, cited several pressing issues that were discussed including additional school security funding, the passing of The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act. The act would allow families, students, and workers to use their 529 savings plan funds on recognized skills training and credentials such as occupational licenses and professional certifications.  

“This is a bill that we've been working on and in support of for years. It just continues to get more and more momentum behind it,” he explained. “Obviously, we’d like to see the opportunity for somebody to be able to use education savings accounts to go toward professional training, certification, and continuing education. We've seen the spike in people who think, ‘Oh, I need a four-year degree to do anything,’ but you actually don’t. There are really good careers outside of a traditional four-year liberal arts school. Let’s lower the barrier of entry and get more people in the field and allow more integrators to attract some of the talent that's out there.”  

TMA CEO Celia Besore noted the importance of having the three major associations join forces on Capitol Hill to raise awareness of the major issues facing the security industry.  

“The best part is that the last two years, because of issues like Right to Repair and things like that, the three associations are working very closely together,” she noted. “Being on the Hill is really powerful because when you go to Congress and say we represent a whole industry, and there’s three associations, they're more likely to listen.”