Legislative Process – Instructions

  1. Process Description
  2. The legislative process involves everyone in the Unit releasing letters for bills that affect Veterans. These letters will be processed by direction of the Unit Legislative Chair.
  3. The legislative process will address two means for contacting legislators. One is by writing letters for specific bills to the applicable legislators; and the other is to send emails for specific bills to the applicable legislators. Regardless of what method is used to actually generate the letter, the process will be the same, and the Unit Legislative Chair will coordinate and provide direction to the remainder of the Unit.
  4. Unit Legislative Chairperson - Incoming

Each month the Unit Legislative Chairperson will receive instructions from the State Legislative Chair on your Unit’s assignments. The following will be received:

  1. Spreadsheet listing the bills that need to be addressed. Refer to Exhibit A for a sample. This spreadsheet will be used to identify what bills need to be addressed and to track your Unit’s progress on the letters released for each bill. It includes the following:
  2. Date column: The date each individual bill (either Senate bill or House bill) was added to the spreadsheet. This date will already be indicated on the spreadsheet.
  3. Nat’l or State column: Indicates whether the bill can be found on the National website or the State website. This is cited to help those who will be utilizing the websites to send email letters. This indicator will already be indicated on the spreadsheet.
  4. Bill No/Name column: Lists the bill number and the name of the bill. Note that an “S” preceding the bill number (i.e. S.3192) indicates that this is a Senate bill. An “H.R.” preceding the bill number (i.e. H.R.4477) indicates a House bill. Some bills will have both a Senate bill number and a corresponding House bill number. When this happens, the bills will be handled individually. The Bill numbers and names will already be indicated on the spreadsheet.
  5. Bill Description and Updates column: A description of the bill will already be indicated when you receive the worksheet. Any updates to the bill (i.e., it was passed into law) can also be indicated by you to track the progress of the bill. This will be used only by you but is helpful in reporting to the Unit at your monthly Unit meetings.
  6. Addressee column: This column will indicate to whom the letters for that bill should be addressed. The senators will be listed by name, but the House Representative will vary by district. It is up to the Unit Legislative Chair to provide the Unit members with the name and address of the appropriate House Representative.
  7. No. of Letters column: This column will be completed by the Unit Legislative Chair. You will record the total number of letters that were released for this bill. This total will include all letters sent to all Addresses. You do not have to keep track of the number of letters to Senator Feingold vs Senator Kohl, but the total of all.
  8. Reported to the Unit column: This column will be completed by the Unit Legislative Chair. It is the date that this particular bill was included in the Legislative Report to your Unit.
  9. Sample Letters to be released
  10. You will receive the letters that need to be released for each bill. Exhibit B is a sample of the letter format you will receive for your House Representative. Exhibit C is the sample letter format you will receive for Senator Feingold. Exhibit D is the sample letter you will receive for Senator Kohl.
  11. Exhibit E (1) is a sample of a completed letter to your House Representative. Exhibit E (2) is a sample of a completed letter to Senator Feingold. Exhibit E (3) is a sample of a completed letter to Senator Kohl. These exhibits are provided so that you can see what information still needs to be completed on the letter formats received from the State Legislative Chair. The information that needs to be completed is circled.
  12. These letter samples will only be utilized by those Unit Members that do not have a computer, or do not wish to use the websites.
  13. These sample letters will not be used by those Unit Members that prefer to use a computer and access the National and State websites.

If the Unit Legislative Chair has email capabilities, the above will be attached to an email for you. If the Unit Legislative Chair does not have email, then the above will be sent to you via mail through the postal service.

  1. Unit Legislative Chairperson - Assignment to Unit Members
  2. General
  3. The Spreadsheet (Exhibit A) received should be provided for all Unit Members so they can track their progress. This spreadsheet should be given back to the Legislative Chair upon completion so the Chair can tally the letter count and include the total count in the Chair’s copy of the spreadsheet.
  4. The sample letters (Exhibits B, C and D) should be provided only to those Unit Members that are not using a computer. Email letters will be released instead of these sample letters for those Unit Members using the websites.
  5. The Unit Legislative Chair will provide the address for the applicable House Representative(s).
  6. The Unit Legislative Chair is responsible for releasing letters also. Include the letters you have released in the total tally on the Spreadsheet.
  7. If the Unit Legislative Chair will be utilizing the websites for sending the letters, the bills can be assigned via the Tell-A-Friend to Unit Members that will also be utilizing the websites. Refer to Exhibit F for the instructions to use the National website. Refer to Exhibit G for the Sign Up instructions for the National Website. Refer to Exhibit H for instructions to use the State website.
  8. Non-Computer Assignments
  9. Copy or print the Spreadsheet (Exhibit A) for all Unit Members that will not be utilizing the websites. The Unit Members should indicate the number of letters they sent out on the spreadsheet and return the spreadsheet to you to tally the counts.
  10. The sample letters need to be copied and provided to each Unit Member. The bill names and numbers are indicated on each letter. Each Unit Members should receive the appropriate amount of letters per bill.
    For example, the Spreadsheet in Exhibit A indicates that bill S.1963 – Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act has three addressees – Senator Feingold, Senator Kohl and the House Representative. Each Unit Member should receive a sample letter addressed to Senator Feingold, a sample letter addressed to Senator Kohl, and a sample letter for the House Representative.
  11. Each Unit member must add his or her home address at the top right of each letter, and must sign each letter. For letters going to the House Representative, the Representative’s address must also be completed. Refer to Exhibit E. The information that must be added for each letter is circled.
  12. Once the information is completed for each letter, the Unit Member will address the envelope using the legislator address in the letter, stuff the letter, provide a stamp and mail the letter.
  13. Website Assignments
  14. Copy or print the Spreadsheet (Exhibit A) for all Unit Members that will be utilizing the websites. The Unit Members should indicate the number of letters they sent out on the spreadsheet and return the spreadsheet to you to tally the counts.
  15. If the Legislative Chair will be utilizing the websites, you can assign bill to the Unit Members that will be using the websites via the Tell-A-Friend section on both websites. If you utilize this facility, the Unit Member will receive an email automatically from the website. Refer to Exhibit I. This is a sample of the email the Unit Members will receive. Upon receipt, they just need to click on the URL line. This will take them to the Take Action screen on the website for that particular bill. They can proceed to release email letters from there.
  16. If the Legislative Chair will NOT be utilizing the websites, the Unit Members that will be using the websites can identify the bills that need email letters via the Spreadsheet.
  1. Unit Legislative Chairperson - Follow-up with Unit Members on progress of letters
  2. If you do not receive the spreadsheet back from Unit Members, check with them as to their progress.
  3. Encourage them to release the letters.
  4. Unit Legislative Chairperson - Report on a monthly basis
  5. A month after the Spreadsheet is received, tally the total letters per bill and indicate on the Spreadsheet. You can send the Spreadsheet back to the State Legislative Chair via email (if the Unit Legislative Chair has that capability), or you can just send the State Legislative Chair an email listing the bills and number of letters released per bill (if the Unit Legislative Chair has that capability), or you can send the completed Spreadsheet to the State Legislative Chair via mail through the postal service.
  6. Any questions, concerns or suggestions regarding this legislative process can be addressed to the State Legislative Chair.
  7. Current State Legislative Chair contact information:

Susan Starr

2600 Golden Road

Plover, WI 54467

Phone: (715) 344-0026

Email:

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