What it takes to get the laws changed

Each year the Indiana General Assembly is presented with about 1000 bills on average. Most of these will never get a hearing. I have previously written about the legislative process but not as much as what goes on behind the scenes to get a new law or to amend an old one.

What I am writing about today is for the reader who wants this change but isn't a professional lobbyist. Anyone can help bring about change to our laws. I want to convey to you a series of small steps that it takes rather than a single large undertaking.

The first and most important step is to learn who the decision makers are. Start first with your local legislators. Know who your senator and representative are. Read about them on their webpages. Get to know about them and what you have in common. To be more effective you want to develop a relationship with your legislators rather than be an anonymous name at the closing of an e-mail.

You may lament the idea of lobbyists but lobbyists play an important role in the legislative process and legislators are dependent upon their knowledge. Do not mistake this for lobbyists being the ones who decide what becomes law. Legislators do want to hear from their constituents.

As I started by saying, most bills won't get a hearing. Hearing a bill is determined by the next set of decision makers. These are the committee chairs who assign bills to be heard by their committee. Here is the list of committees. By clicking on the committee you can see who the chair is, who the members are and what legislation has been assigned to that committee.

During this session the chair of a committee said his next meeting would be the last for this session. A very important piece of legislation was not on the calendar for that final hearing. The author of the bill asked if I could attempt to get it scheduled. I went to the committee chair, whom I have a good relationship with, and explained the need for the bill, the lack of opposition and the brief amount of the committee's time it would take to hear. He then added it to the schedule. Without this intervention the bill may have died before it was ever considered. There is nothing to prevent you from explaining to a committee chair the need for a bill and asking that he or she set it for hearing.

Once a bill goes for final reading before the full chamber in which the bill originated a sponsor for the bill needs to be found for the other chamber. This is not something that a common constituent would generally be involved in but it does not mean that one cannot try. This year I was called upon to find a House sponsor for a bill as it was coming on for final reading in the Senate that day. Generally it is not as last minute as this. If you see a bill in the House that you know your Senator would support you could suggest that he or she consider contacting the House sponsor about being a sponsor for it in the Senate.

If your legislator has a community meeting attend that. Bring up the issues that concern you. Engage your legislators in a discussion about what their plans are to address the situation. Although I draft my own bills and present them to the appropriate legislators you need nothing more than an idea. The Legislative Services Agency has attorneys who take requests from legislators and write the bills.

Ultimately you must convince your representative or Senator to vote for the bill. Getting it heard in committee, passing committee and even passing the originating chamber with a sponsor for the other chamber still leaves the members of that chamber in control. A majority of them need to vote in favour before it goes to the governor. A letter to your legislator will be of great help at this point. Here are some tips on effective letter writing.

A letter to your legislators could be the first thing you do when learning of a bill you support. This could get the attention of a legislator who will do much of the remaining work on his or her own. If you have the opportunity to be near the State House it is a worthy investment to stop in for a personal meeting with your legislators. Simply put, nothing can replace the impact of a personal meeting.

Finally, if your legislator votes in favour of your particular bill be sure to thank him or her, in person if possible.

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©2010 Stuart Showalter, LLC. Permission is granted to all non-commercial entities to reproduce this article in it's entirety with credit given.