Contact Your Local Legislator 🏛️
Effort Level: ●●○○○ (1 - 3 hours)
Areas: Community
Summary
Legislators at all levels need to hear from constituents about AI. Your voice helps ensure that AI legal governance reflects your values and those of the community that you are a part of. After all, if your community doesn’t speak up, then your voice won’t be heard!
When it comes to contacting your local legislator, generally you have three options:
- Meet them or their staff in person
- Call their office
- Write to them
It can be intimidating or seem very difficult to do any of these options, let alone meeting with your legislator or their office in person, but know that legislators are generally excited to meet you. Legislators often report that talking with their constituents is the best part of their day and are actually quite disappointed when a constituent doesn’t show up!
How To Do This
Find Your Representatives
Federal Representatives (House and Senate)
- U.S. House Representative: Visit https://house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and enter your ZIP code to find your congressional district and representative
- U.S. Senator: Go to https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm, select your state from the dropdown menu, and click “Go” to find both of your state’s senators
State Representatives & Senators
Each state has its own website for tracking down your state representatives. This is usually findable via a web search engine (usually searching “[your state] legislature find my legislator” is sufficient).
Choose Your Message
We would prefer that you think for yourself what you’re worried about and excited about when it comes to AI and use that to decide what you want to talk with your legislator about. Hence we are reluctant to offer verbiage on exactly how to talk to your legislators, or what to bring up. We hope that’s something you and your community can decide for yourselves.
However, we understand that it can sometimes be a bit nerve-wracking to talk with a legislator. As such, if you can’t think of anything, we’ve provided the following starting template.
Dear [government official],
My name is [your name], and I am a voter in your [city / state / district].
I am writing regarding the importance of addressing AI and the potential impacts artificial intelligence will have on our community. As our representative, I believe your awareness and thoughtful engagement with AI policy issues will be crucial. [If you have more specific concerns or statements about AI, you can list them here.] I appreciate your time and attention to this important matter.
Sincerely, [Your Name Here]
Next Steps
There’s still more you can do after reaching out to your legislators!