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Tips on Visiting With Your State Legislators

Ask your legislator to visit you when he or she is back in your district, at your home or some other site that's convenient for you. Bring your child with disabilities along if possible. Ask other members to join you and to bring their children with disabilities if possible.

(If you don't know who your legislator is, you can: 1) call House Information at 651-296-2146 or 1-800-657-3550 (or Senate Information at 651-296-0504 or 1-888-234-1112) and give them your street address, city, and zip; or 2) go to the District Finder page of the Minnesota state Legislature web site at www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/Districtfinder.asp. Click on "Find your Elected Officials" and then on the "Minnesota State Legislature" link. On the next screen, go to the field for "Search By Zip Code." When you type in your zip code, you will be asked to type in your street address and city. After you enter that, you will see links to your state senator and state representative.)

Share your story with the legislator. (Click for sample stories: Sample # 1 Sample #2) Here are some questions you can answer when putting together that story:

Describe the needs of your family member with a disability.
Describe what life was like before you or your family had any services.
Describe how you found out about services.
How long did you have to wait for services?
What services are you or your family receiving now?
Are the services you are receiving meeting your or your family's needs?
What would happen if these services were no longer available to you or your family?

State clearly what you would like the legislator to do - for example, "Please protect supports for people with disabilities," or "Please don't cut funding for waivered services," or "I would like you to maintain current funding for the Family Support Grant." Don't threaten the legislator with consequences if he/she doesn't agree to your position (for example, "If you don't vote for this bill, I won't vote for you").

Keep a record of what happened in the visit - who you met with, the issues discussed, any comments or commitments that the legislator made. Please use our Legislative Contact sheet to tell us how it went - click to get the page, print it, fill it in and mail it to us.

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