03 — Take action
Five things that actually move a bill.
Signing is the beginning. These are the steps that put a reform in front of the people who vote on it.
- 01
Sign the petition
It takes under a minute and it is the number every office will ask about first.
- 02
Find your two legislators
Every Californian is represented by one Assembly member and one Senator. Both offices track constituent mail by topic, and volume is the only signal they reliably read.
- 03
Write once, in your own words
A short, specific, local letter outweighs a hundred form emails. Use the script below as a frame, then cut it down and put your own reason in it.
- 04
Ask for a hearing
Bills of this kind die in committee for lack of a hearing, not for lack of votes. Ask the chair of the Education committee in each house to schedule one, and say you want to testify.
- 05
Carry it into your district
Send it to the parents in your school community, your church, your practice, your family. The petition has no budget and no staff. It travels only when people hand it to each other.
The letter
A frame you can make your own.
Replace the bracketed lines, keep it to a page, and put the reason that matters to your family in the first paragraph. Offices read the first paragraph.
Dear Assembly Member / Senator, I am a constituent in your district, and I am writing about California's school immunization exemption laws. I ask you to support legislation that: 1. Restores a religious exemption, claimed by written attestation; 2. Restores a personal-belief exemption, and affirms in statute that parents are the primary decision-makers for their children's education and health; 3. Accepts a licensed physician's clinical judgment without routine state review; 4. Requires public disclosure of pharmaceutical industry spending and advisory ties affecting school health policy. Please tell me your position, and let me know if a bill on this subject will receive a hearing in your committee. Respectfully, [your name] [your city and ZIP]
One more time