Practical Guide to Legislative Change as a Registered Nurse
1.Learn about what level of government would make the changes you want to see. Find out: is this a federal, state, or local issue?
Federal government example: Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) reimbursement rates for advanced practice nursesState government example: Scope of practice for advanced practice nurses2.Figure out WHO are the elected officials that represent you at that level of government because you are their constituent. It is their job to listen to your concerns!
Best website: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
3.Learn about your elected officials!
Federal legislators will have at least two offices; one in Washington, DC, and one or more within the congressional district. Each office has federal congressional staffers working to address constituents’ concerns and provide official follow-up.A U.S. House member specifically represents your district’s needs (including you as a constituent) to Congress more so than U.S. Senators, as they represent your entire state’s needs.4.If you are interested in a state issue, please be aware that state representatives and senators are “part-time” legislators. State legislative bodies typically meet in the first months of the year but occasionally are called back for special sessions.
This website shows upcoming state legislative schedules: https://documents.ncsl.org/wwwncsl/About-State-Legislatures/2024-sessions-calendar.pdf5.It is important to be aware of your legislator’s committee assignments and if they serve in any kind of leadership role. Do they sit on a health committee? Are they the chair of a committee?
Committee assignments often are related to the member’s legislative areas of expertise and related to their professional background before running for elected office. Committees will be the first place legislative change will be introduced, debated, and voted on before coming to the full legislative body. 6.Many organizations develop a form letter for you to send to a legislator regarding an issue or a specific bill.
These are helpful but be aware that if you cut/paste, sign, and send, your letter will be placed in a pile with the rest; depending on the size of the pile of form letters about one issue, this will impact how much attention the office and the elected official gives to a certain topic. Please take 5-10 minutes to personalize the form letter with your own experiences and always make sure to include in the first sentence that you are a constituent of the elected official (and maybe if you voted for them). Talk about how the congressional district is impacted by the issue specifically.Provide your background as a nurse and your contact information so the legislative staff may follow up with you about your experience and your expertise on the subject.7.Reach out to nursing organizations that may already be advocating for this issue.They may have a legislative “champion” that has sponsored bills in the past and is helping to move towards progress on this issue.
Some nursing organizations are allowed to hire lobbyists, and some organizations cannot because of their tax filing statuses.Some nursing organizations have political action committees (PACs) that raise money to impact legislation. Nursing organizations can come together into coalitions to move forward complex legislative issues.8. Get to know your legislators as individuals. Often this happens by volunteering your time to help them out.
Volunteering is easy and fun. The campaign provides you with all the training and materials. You just provide your time and enthusiasm.Examples: Phone banking, door knocking, fundraising
