‘Raising awareness of our industry’ – SIA’s Jake Parker discusses elections, legislative efforts

SILVER SPRING, Md.—With the outcome of the upcoming elections too difficult to predict, the Security Industry Association (SIA) continues to focus its lobbying on key issues versus individual candidates.  

“I think we will definitely have a better idea after the election as far as what to expect because it’s not normal that you would have so much up in the air,” said Jake Parker, SIA’s senior director of government relations. “It's going to be a really fun election to watch the outcome of because nobody really knows who's going to win the White House, the Senate or the House. It's all up for grabs.”  

Earlier this year, during Security Hill Day, SIA and the Electronic Security Association (ESA) brought together nearly 50 security industry executives to Washington, D.C., to promote industrywide policy priorities on Capitol Hill. Policy priorities ranged from AI and school security to workforce development, counter-UAS (counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems) and various critical homeland security grant programs. 

For critical infrastructure security, for example, SIA has been advocating for full funding for grant programs, particularly for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), but battles over appropriations are ongoing until a continuing resolution is decided on for the beginning of fiscal year 2024, Parker said.  

“We’re basically raising awareness of our industry and the benefits it provides for public safety and for citizens, and also some idea of the economic impact,” he said. 

On school security, Parker said, “We’ll definitely be advocating for more to be done (on school security) because there's such a difference among schools and what kind of security measures they have in place that to bring everyone up to an acceptable level is, I think, a good goal." 

Regarding workforce development, Parker noted that SIA is supporting legislation that will allow students to use their college savings accounts for non-traditional programs like certifications in technical fields as opposed to just traditional degree programs. 

“There’s a lot of congressional support now for that,” he said. “That's the type of thing we would hope to help the supply of qualified people coming to the industry.”  

Also on SIA’s radar on the Hill: The decision by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in June to cancel its planned markup of the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) following pushback from a wide spectrum of stakeholders, with House leadership noting that an overhaul would be necessary to consider bringing it to the House floor. Parker noted that these developments effectively ensure no further action on the measure until after the 2024 election.   

“We weighed in forcefully against that measure as it was last changed because of some concerns,” he stated. “We're going to still be looking to the states for action on that.”