A Montanan’s Guide to Participating in the 68th Session of the Montana Legislature
HOW TO FIND YOUR LEGISLATORS
If you know your legislative districts, you can find your respective legislators by looking here: https://leg.mt.gov/legislator-information/.
If you don’t know your district, you can go here:https://leg.mt.gov/map/ and enter your address to learn what your house and senate districts are.
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS
By Phone
During the session, the Legislative Information Desk is regularly open from 7:30 AM to 5 PM weekdays and 8 AM to adjournment on Saturdays. Callers may leave messages for legislators or acquire general legislative information by calling the Information Desk at (406) 444-4800. Callers may leave messages for up to five individual legislators or one legislative committee per call.
By Email
Contacting your Legislator by email is one of the easiest ways to communicate about bills they may be voting on. You can find your Legislator’s email and physical address here: https://leg.mt.gov/legislator-information/
Quick tips for emailing Legislators:
● Be brief. Legislators have many demands on their time. They appreciate letters that are short and to the point.
● Put the message in your own words. Form letters and petitions don’t have the same impact as personal, informed opinions.
● Address your letter to a specific Legislator or Legislators. Depending on your message, you may want to write to the sponsor of a bill, certain members of a committee, or your own Legislators. Don’t address your letter to the entire Legislature.
● Identify bills by their bill numbers, titles, and sponsor. You can look up 2023 bills HERE.
● Explain your position on the bill and ask for the Legislator’s support or opposition.
● Add source references for information that you use to make your point.
● Include your name, address, and a little about who you are (for example, where you work or what school you attend).
On social media
Following and contacting your Legislators through social media is another way to advocate for or against legislation. This can be done in several ways:
● Tag the Legislator in a post expressing your viewpoint on a certain issue, and ask for their position.
● Comment on a Legislator’s post asking their position and/or expressing your viewpoint.
● Directly message a legislator through a social media platform using the same guidelines you use to send an email.