Advocacy Tips
The following is provided for your information and briefly outlines the legislative process as well as tips to assist you during your legislative visit.
Citizen Lobbying Tips
For basic information on how to communicate with your legislator.
- Introduce yourself. It's a good idea to give the Legislator(s) or staff your business card.
- Decide in advance who will start the conversation for your group. Start with something such as, "We are members of the Professional Association for Childhood Education (PACE), representing early childhood professionals statewide. We are urging legislators to support our two critical issues…"
- Allow a normal conversation to flow. Be sure to explain the issues thoroughly, providing answers to any questions the legislator/staff may have. You are asking for their support.
- If appropriate, allow each member of the group to participate in the conversation. Make your comments personal and provide examples of your local program when appropriate.
- Do not commit to provide additional information or complete a requested task unless you plan to do it. If you do make a commitment, remember to promptly follow through.
- Remember your goal is to educate, not alienate.
The Legislative Process:
A Citizen's Guide to Participation
This booklet is published by the California Senate Publications and includes a very comprehensive and easy to understand overview of the legislative process including:
- How the legislative process works
- How to communicate your position
- Guidelines on letter writing and e-mailing
- Understanding committee hearings and sample committee analysis reports
- Understanding the parts of a bill
- Path of a bill from idea to the Governor's signature
- List of all Senate Standing Committees
- Glossary of Legislative Terms
You can view or download the booklet by clicking on www.artsed411.org/involved/docs/guide.pdf. For hard copies contact Senate Publications at 916-327-2155. Hard copies are free and they will ship as many copies as you need.
The Legislative Process in Brief:
- The two houses that comprise the State Legislature are the Assembly and the Senate. The Assembly is made up of 80 elected members. Each member serves a two-year term and is limited to three terms in the Assembly (six years). The Senate has 40 elected members who serve four-year terms. They are limited to two terms (eight years). The so-called "Third House" is comprised of professional legislative advocates/lobbyists who represent specific interest groups before the Legislature and other state agencies.
- Bills introduced by legislators must be in print for 30 days prior to being heard by a legislative committee, in order to allow the public the opportunity to review its provisions. Each bill is assigned to an appropriate policy committee for consideration. If successful the bill will be sent to the fiscal committee for consideration if there are financial implications; or if the bill is non-fiscal in nature it will be sent directly to the floor for a vote by the entire house. Bills originating in either house must be adopted by both houses before being sent to the Governor for his signature or veto.
- A bill must be scheduled for a public legislative committee hearing and successfully pass that committee before it may proceed to the next step in the legislative process. The Assembly and the Senate must agree on the same version of every bill before it can be sent to the Governor for consideration with the potential of become law. When versions of a bill differ, in the case of the State Budget, a special conference committee is established. The conference committee is comprised of typically three members from each house, and representing both parties. This committee is to resolve the differences between versions. Once a compromise has been reached that bill is returned to both houses for consideration and vote. If that bill passes each house it is still subject to possible veto. However, in California a bill may become law without the Governor's signature, and requires 2/3 vote of the Legislature to override a veto.
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