Christian Richards
Legislative Analyst
Government Affairs

What are your primary job responsibilities?
As a legislative analyst, I track federal legislation affecting public transportation policy—including authorization law, appropriations, and tax issues—to inform our members of the changes affecting their businesses or public transit systems.

I draft and/or edit many of the Legislative Updates sent out by Government Affairs; help to craft messaging—which is to say, how APTA can best frame its point of view in a way that will resonate with a particular audience, such as Congress; conduct background research; and cull documents for different projects. I played a small part in editing recent Congressional testimony, which was a first for me, and I was particularly excited to be a part of that.

In conjunction with other Government Affairs staff members, I’ve started meeting with Congressional staff and outside groups to discuss certain federal issues: namely, restoring parity to public transit commuter benefits relative to parking benefits and continuing the alternative fuels tax credit.

Do you have direct contact with APTA members? If so, please talk about recent times you’ve helped out a member.
Yes, I do. I field members’ requests for information on such items as updates on the status of federal legislation; background information on how their elected officials have supported public transit (e.g., votes, sponsored legislation, speeches); and questions of best practices regarding arranging and conducting meetings with Members of Congress.

Some of our members are seasoned professionals in meeting with their senators and representatives, while others have never done so. We want to be sure that APTA members are confident and prepared when they walk into that meeting, so if members have any questions at all, I want to answer them so they can put their best foot forward.

With the recent Congressional reapportionment, some APTA members find themselves represented in the House by someone with whom they are unfamiliar. I’ve worked to find such information as the elected official’s voting histories, speeches, and appropriations requests to gain an understanding of his or her stance on public transportation. We can then use that information to think about the best way for our members to approach a meeting.

What initiatives, projects, or programs have you worked on at APTA that you have taken particular pride in completing?
I am still fairly new at APTA (I started in January) and the nature of my job is extraordinarily collaborative with other Government Affairs staff. I thoroughly enjoyed working at the APTA Legislative Conference in March, as well as helping with details of the Washington Day component of the recently completed, and successful, UIC 8th World Congress on High-Speed Rail in Philadelphia.

How did you “land” at APTA? How long have you worked here? Have you previously worked in the public transportation field, and if so, doing what?
Prior to joining APTA, I worked on Capitol Hill for four years on the House side. I started in the front office, answering phones and filing paper, before eventually working my way up and landing a legislative portfolio.

As the most junior staffer on the legislative team, I mostly handled the issues that other staffers were less interested in working on directly. I was assigned to cover the House Science Committee, which I found to be incredibly exciting.

This committee includes the subcommittee on space and aeronautics, which has jurisdiction over civilian space travel and its relationship with DOT. That’s how I started following DOT Secretary Ray LaHood on Twitter, and—through his tweets—where I first became truly interested in working on public transportation issues.

The process may seem unusual, and I think being a daily Metro rider and natural curiosity about how that system operates helped with my initial awareness of federal public transit policy, but that’s the long story of how I decided this was a field in which I wanted to work. APTA provided me with the opportunity and I couldn’t be happier that they did so.

Could you tell us something about yourself that might surprise us?
A few years ago, out of the blue, my cousin invited me to race a triathlon with him. I said sure, raced, did extremely poorly, and had a blast—I was hooked. After a few seasons of racing and gaining experience, I’ll be racing my first Ironman this October: a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and then a full marathon.

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