Many groups hold LOBBY DAYS in Sacramento. If you join up with a group of like-minded people on a lobbying day a group has organized, it is easier to lobby. The group will usually have packets with bill information and fact sheets. The group may have already scheduled appointments with key legislators. Be sure, however, you are comfortable with all the bills the group is supporting or opposing; if you go to a legislator?s office to talk about one bill and the program involves a discussion of several other bills, you can?t very easily just walk out when a bill, with which you may not be in agreement with the group, is raised.

If you are interested in just one particular bill, try to hook up with the sponsor of the bill you are interested in supporting. That will give you a lobbying partner. Often the sponsor will want to have folks come to Sacramento on one of the days the bill is being heard in a legislative committee (usually a policy committee as opposed to a fiscal committee). Even if you are not going to testify, you can sit in the hearing room, come to the table when the bill is called, and provide a ?me too? stating your name and, if possible, your organization name after the testimony is given by the Assembly Member or Senator carrying the bill and after the testimony of the sponsor and other formal witnesses.

Below are some LOBBY DAYS which might be of interest:

California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO - www.calaborfed.org/events/index.html

Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) - www.caoc.com/ca/