Before Lawmakers Return: The Executive Essentials for Early-Session Readiness

From our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, Krystel Reid Heath, MSW -

Across multiple states, the early-session signals for 2026 are already taking shape. Over the past several weeks, as I’ve reviewed legislative pre-session activity, one pattern has remained constant: the policy landscape begins shifting long before lawmakers formally reconvene.

Leadership statements, interim hearings, agency directives, and early budget posture are not background noise. They are often the earliest indicators of the environment organizations will need to navigate in the first quarter.

Whether your legislature reconvenes in January, February, or later in the spring, I guide executive teams to establish several foundational elements well before the opening gavel. These elements strengthen organizational readiness and ensure leaders are positioned to act with clarity from day one.

1. Establishing a Clear Exposure Profile

A strong readiness strategy begins with understanding where policy, budget, regulatory, and sector-wide shifts intersect with your mission. This includes identifying areas where vulnerability is most concentrated and where emerging pressures may require early action.

Executives who enter session without this clarity often find themselves reacting to issues rather than guiding the organization through them.

2. Interpreting Pre-Session Signals

Even in states without pre-filed legislation, early-session dynamics are visible. Leadership priorities, agency behavior, and procedural signals often reveal direction well before lawmakers return.

Executives benefit when they view these indicators not as isolated updates, but as early evidence of the agenda taking shape.

3. Defining a Rapid-Response Structure

Legislative sessions compress decision-making windows.
In many cases, organizations must respond within hours—not days.

Before session begins, roles should be defined, briefing cycles established, and communication pathways mapped so that emerging issues can be evaluated and acted upon quickly. When these structures are not in place early, even well-prepared teams can lose critical time.

4. Aligning Priorities to Real-Time Conditions

The most effective executive teams enter session with a strategic focus aligned to the landscape as it is, not the landscape they planned for months earlier.

This often requires adjusting assumptions, refreshing priorities, and ensuring the organization is not tethered to outdated planning cycles.

5. Creating a Baseline for Early-Session Navigation

A baseline for navigating the opening weeks of session helps leaders move with confidence even as conditions evolve.

This includes:

• A high-level map of issues that could immediately shape organizational exposure

• Escalation triggers that require rapid leadership attention

• Plausible scenarios that may influence operations in the first quarter

This baseline becomes the anchor for executive-level decision-making as early-session dynamics accelerate.

How We Support Executive Readiness

For organizations needing a rapid assessment of emerging exposure, the Policy Vulnerability Diagnostic™ (PVD™) provides an executive-ready snapshot of risk before early-session shifts take hold.

It offers leaders the clarity needed to adjust priorities, strengthen alignment, and enter the session with a grounded understanding of where organizational attention is most needed.

As we continue building new tools to support organizational resilience, PVD™ remains the fastest path to informed alignment as lawmakers return.

Learn more: https://policyreview.impactechsystems.com

As organizations enter a new year of policy and operational complexity, preparation becomes one of the most valuable leadership tools. My hope is that these insights support your planning and strengthen your ability to navigate what lies ahead with clarity and confidence.