“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” Attributed to Greek leader Pericles (495-429 BC)
The Utah Legislature has begun its 45-day session, where, if the recent past holds, more than 500 pieces of legislation will be passed. These laws will deal with safety at school, higher education, taxes, the environment, traffic laws and oh, so much more.
If you have an interest in following — and impacting — Utah’s legislative process, there are a number of ways you can get involved.
Following the legislature
Start by going to the state’s legislative website: le.utah.gov. This is the one-stop shop for Utah legislative news. You can find information about your legislators; you can search for bills by topic, number or legislator; and you can sign up to track bills electronically. Each time there is a change to the wording and each time it is scheduled to be discussed in committee or on the floor, the bill file will be updated. If you want email notifications of bill changes, enter your email on the bill page, on the right-hand side under “Track This.”
General committee schedules can be found on the home page of the legislative website toward the bottom of the page on the left side. Specific agendas can be found on the calendar. Unless the House or Senate suspends the rules, which happens most often toward the end of the session, agendas must be posted 24 hours in advance of the committee meeting,
To follow the reading calendars for the House and Senate to discuss bills on the floor, go to: http://le.utah.gov/calendar/list.html.
The social media platform X is especially valuable during the session. Several legislators tweet actively, as well as @UtahHouseMajority, @UtahHouseDemocrats, @UtahSenate, @UtahSenateDemocrats and @UtahPolicy. You can also follow along by using the hashtag #utpol or #utleg.
Weighing in
One thing almost all legislators have in common is that they really do want to hear from you, their constituents. But they can also get hundreds to a thousand-plus emails a day during the legislative session. If you want your message to be heard, here are some tips on using email effectively:
- First, note that you are a constituent in the subject line and then make your subject line as descriptive as possible. “Vote NO!” is not actually descriptive. In addition to the bill number, include either the title or a description of the bill. With hundreds of bills to track, it’s hard to identify them by just a number. “Please vote yes on H.B. 234 Motorcycle Safety Amendments” is better.
- Don’t mass email. Take the time to send a personalized letter to each senator/representative. It does not take that much extra time. Mass emails are a good way to guarantee your email does not get read.
- Please take the time to find out just a little about who you are emailing. Mistakes happen, but calling a female legislator “him” or calling a senator “representative,” or vice versa, makes legislators think that you’re probably just mass-emailing everyone and that you’re not actually paying attention.
- Remember the adage about winning friends and influencing people. Or maybe the one about looking for a win/win. Ripping on a legislator for four paragraphs and then demanding they vote the way you want them to is not usually a winning argument.
- Your issue is important to you, and your legislators want to hear about it. Really. They do. They are also hearing from hundreds of others who have important issues too. Be patient but persistent. (That does not mean spamming them, by the way.) If they vote differently than you would like them to, it does not mean they haven’t listened.
- Burning bridges is generally a bad idea. You may not be able to convince them this year, but if you don’t burn bridges, you might next year. Also, disagreeing on one issue does not mean you will disagree on all issues. Disagreeing respectfully is a good way to gain an ally.
- You can also weigh in during committee hearings and you can do it in person, by coming to the Hill, or you can weigh in online, by signing up for public comment as you sign in to the committee hearing. Know that public comments might be limited in number and will be time-limited.
- For face-to-face time, come to the Capitol anytime during the session and send in a note letting your legislator know that you, a constituent, would like to speak to them. Showing up can carry a lot of weight.
There’s always a “sleeper” bill — some bill that suddenly takes off and gets a ton of attention. The year I was in the Legislature, it was the “feral cat” bill, which inspired a very funny Twitter account of a cat commenting on the session. (The bill didn’t pass.)
As bills move through the process of becoming law, there are often changes made. Some are substantive, while others are small. Some changes are hostile takeovers and some are considered friendly. Some changes are made in committee and others on the floor. I’ve seen bills hijacked and gutted so thoroughly by a series of amendments that the bill’s own sponsor will kill it. Some good bills die for lack of time and sometimes due to a lack of understanding.
The process of publicly vetting bills is designed to maximize the chances of passing a “good bill” and decrease the chances of letting bad bills become law. Of the 1,000+ bills that will be introduced this session, more than 800 will have at least one committee hearing and more than 500 will pass. Most of them will pass unanimously, or nearly so.
Finally, let me plug the Utah Policy newsletter, where every weekday you will get a look at each day’s committee meetings, the three things I am watching for that day and news from what the Legislature did the day before. You can subscribe by going to UtahPolicy.com and signing up on the home page.