How to Engage Legislative Members Prior to the Legislative Session
Voters elect legislators to serve them. To do that, legislators must be approachable. Consider building a working relationship with your legislator.
Relationships should begin long before a legislative session. Legislators need reliable sources when bills are coming at them fast during the session. If you have information on a specific subject, let your legislator know.
A first contact can be made by email, a phone call, or face-to-face conversation. Most legislators handle their own phone calls, emails, constituent services, media interactions and calendars. Be respectful of their time. Help them understand the specifics of the subject matter being considered by the Legislature.
When Legislators are elected, they are committing to about 60 days of official work per year and, most likely, hundreds of days of informal work (for which they are not paid).
Most legislators are grateful to constituents and stakeholders for engaging in the political process. They appreciate the time people put into the political process, especially members of the public who are volunteering their time.
Be honest and transparent during interactions with a legislator. And expect the same in return. As an individual citizen, opinions will carry the most weight with the Senator and Representative elected from your area. Most interactions should focus on those two individuals, because they were elected to represent you.
As you get more involved in local politics, relationships can develop with other legislators from surrounding areas who perhaps are more involved with the issues you care about. Work to build these relationships too.
If a bill is important to you, you can reach out to legislative members that are part of the committee that will hear and vote on the bill. Blanket emails to all legislators can fall on deaf ears. A legislator is going to give more weight to a constituent than to a citizen from another part of the state.
Even members of House and Senate leadership technically just represent their own constituents. These members were voted into leadership by members of their caucus. Many of the leadership members do listen to opinions of citizens who are not their constituents, because they need broader input to guide their caucus.
It is important to most legislators that members of the public feel heard. If you do not feel heard, you might consider changing the way you interact with your legislators. You might campaign for their opponents. Or you might run against one of them!
Consider engaging in this years’ session by approaching your legislators and finding ways to to assist their work—which is the work of your state.