Letter to the Legislator
Description
Assignment Information
This assignment provides you with the opportunity to use a specific political advocacy strategy: communication with a legislator via a letter. Expressing your support or lack of support for proposed legislation (bills) can be a powerful way to speak up about an issue. In this assignment, you will identify a proposed bill and voice your support for, or argument for not, passing that particular bill.
Assignment Guidelines
Select a piece of legislation proposed either in your state or at the national level.
Go to to find a piece of national legislation
Go to your state’s .gov site to find a piece of state legislation
Identify your state representative at the level of the bill,this will be either your state, House of Representatives, or Senate representative, depending on the bill that you selected.
Conduct a literature review to identify evidence pertaining to the issue addressed in the bill. Find at least three sources.
Develop a letter to send to your state legislator. This letter should integrate the evidence supporting your position. The following websites offer templates, examples, and/or guidelines for letters to legislators that you may want to consider.
National Council of the State Boards of Nursing Template Letter to the Legislator
How to write to your legislator:
Purdue Owl: Writing the Basic Business Letter:
Grading Criteria
Write the letter in a business letter format.
Include the following:
introduction of self and professional position
overview of the bill you want to address
clear argument in support of or not in support of the bill
integration of evidence from scholarly literature to support your position
legal name, credentials, and contact information
Proofread the letter so that it is free of grammatical, spelling, and syntax errors.
