Submit a letter of support - CA Legislature

Submitting a Letter to a Legislative Committee 

The Assembly is using a new portal to streamline submission of support/opposition letters about bills to committees. To submit a letter on behalf of your Indivisible group you will need to:

  1. Create an account on the CA Legislature Advocates Portal
  2. Create a PDF of your support letter. The letter should include: your group’s logo in the letterhead, a reference to the bill number in the subject line, a signature at the bottom of the letter. Check out this resource for a template for a letter. We recommend reaching out to partner organizations for template letters about specific bills.
  3. Submit your letter using the online portal. If you are an Indivisible group, send a copy of your letter to [email protected] so we can keep track of all the awesome work your groups are doing!

Check out this  video below for a tutorial on how to create an account and submit a letter on the legislature advocates portal.

Letters of Support/Opposition to Policy Committees

In state legislatures, the committee process is extremely important. Once a bill is introduced, it is referred to a policy committee, which debates its content and may propose amendments. This is where interest groups on both sides of the aisle weigh in and lobby legislators hard because there are fewer people to convince of your position. As a result, bills can easily fail in committee and never see the light of day. So if there is a bill that you care about, engaging in the committee process is both absolutely critical and enormously impactful — a little effort can go a long way.

Sending a written letter of your position directly to a state legislative policy committee is a tried and true method of making your voice heard at the committee level. Committees keep a list of the written testimonies they receive from various interest groups. Sometimes, portions of your testimony may even be included in formal bill analysis documents that are provided to legislators when they are voting!

Letter template 

<GROUP(S) LOGO(S)>

To:

<FULL NAME OF COMMITTEE CHAIR>, Chair
<FULL NAME OF COMMITTEE>
<DATE>
 

Re: <BILL NUMBER> (<LAST NAME OF LEAD AUTHOR>) – <SUPPORT/OPPOSE>

Dear Members of the <COMMITTEE NAME>,

<YOUR GROUP NAME> is pleased to <support/oppose> <BILL NUMBER>, which will <BRIEF ONE SENTENCE OVERVIEW OF WHAT THE BILL DOES>.

<YOUR GROUP NAME> is a group of concerned California citizens who XX [insert your mission or goal. 

<PARAGRAPH OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROBLEM THE BILL IS TRYING TO SOLVE IN YOUR STATE>

<PARAGRAPH OUTLINING THE PROVISIONS OF THE BILL THAT WILL SOLVE/HARM THOSE PROBLEMS AND WHY YOU SUPPORT/OPPOSE THE BILL>

<YOUR GROUP NAME> strongly <supports/opposes> <BILL NUMBER> and we urge you to vote <in favor of/against> passing this bill out of <COMMITTEE NAME>.

Sincerely,
<GROUP LEADER SIGNATURE>
<GROUP LEADER NAME>
<GROUP NAME>

Letter template 

AB 18