By Jerry Orten March 1, 2020
A bill is pending that you are interested in. What can a concerned citizen do?
- Determine if you desire to support the bill, seek to have it amended or want it killed – a bill is killed when it is postponed indefinitely (“PI’d”)
- Present your point of view to your legislator and to those on the first committee to hear the bill before the bill goes to its first hearing. A directory of Colorado legislators may be found at https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators
- If you are a constituent, make that clear to your legislator
- Seek to build support for your position with your colleagues, business associates, friends and neighbors
- Enlist the support of any professional, social or community organizations that might concur with your position
- Be clear on your objections or support
- Give your own reasons why the bill is either good, bad or should be amended
- Consider the constituency for the pending bill. Who are they? What is their motivation? How big or small are they? Be careful about engaging with them
- Initially, focus on contacting just those committee members of the first committee who will hear the bill
- Send emails – not one, but several – and also call your legislator and each committee member and speak to them, to their aide or intern, or leave a message
- Attend the hearing and testify. If the bill has drawn a lot of attention, the hearing may be moved to a room that allows for greater attendance. However, the best way to influence, amend, or kill a bill is not with testimony at the hearing – it’s with emails and phone calls from you, your colleagues, business associates, friends and neighbors and more before the hearing in the first committee
- If the bill passes the initial committee, then you may decide to contact the entire state chamber that the bill will go to next – either the State House of Representatives or the State Senate
- If the bill passes the first chamber, then start the above process all over again with your legislator in that chamber and the committee to which the bill is assigned
- After the bill passes the second chamber and before it goes to the Governor, reach out directly to the Governor’s office with your input on the bill
- Contact the Majority Leader’s/Speaker’s and Minority Leader’s offices for both chambers/parties to reiterate your support or objections
- Remember to be courteous and respectful to your opposition
- Play fair – even though some say “All is fair in love, war and politics!”
Good luck!
