DO:

• Get in contact!
• Let government official know when you agree with them, not just when you disagree.
• Be brief and to the point; discuss only one issue, and include a bill reference if possible
• Clearly express your opinions or ideas
• Use your own words to express your opinion
• Include your address and signature
• Be courteous and reasonable
• Make contact early in the session before a bill has been introduced if you have ideas about an issue you would like to see incorporated in legislation
• If you are lobbying for or against a bill, and your representative is a member of the committee to which it has been referred, write when the committee begins hearings
• If your representative is not a member of a committee handling the bill, write just before the bill comes to the floor for debate and vote
• Contact the chair and members of a committee holding hearings on legislation in which you are interested
• While you have more influence with the representative from your own district, you are not precluded from contacting representatives from other districts
• Contact each government official individually; it’s courteous and more effective

DON’T:

• Apologize for contacting them—your opinion is not an imposition, and your representative is elected in part to hear your views
• Begin on the righteous note of “as a citizen and taxpayer”
• Be vague
• Be rude or threatening
• Sign and send a form or photo copied letter or e-mail