Legislation Action Assignment: Letters & Summary

Construct a letter that will be addressed to elected officials that states your position on the pending legislation or policy issue. This position must be based on the evidence you found and must be grounded in the values and ethics of the social work profession. A template is provided to you below.

Note: There are protocols and guidelines you must follow for these types of communications. These are described in the

In your letter, you must refer to the specific piece of legislation; make an argument for or against the policy (using research evidence) and state a recommendation/request. Also, you must contact the appropriate representative. If you contact a federal representative on a bill or issue in the State of Michigan, your assignment will be docked a considerable amount of points. You are expected to know the difference between the federal and state governments.

How to know if a piece of state or federal legislation is pending:

1. It has been introduced on the floor of the House or Senate AND
2. At the top of the bill it will say that it has been referred to a committee (ex. referred to the Committee on Education)

Q & A regarding the legislative action assignment

Q: Do we need to include references in our letter?

A: Yes, if you are referencing a stats, fact, or other information not commonly known you should insert a citation in your letter. As this is a letter, not an academic paper, you do not need to follow APA style for the letter. You may use words such as “According to…”, “….(Cosby, 2026)”, or use footnotes.

Q: Who should I send my letters to?

A: You must select 2 lawmakers at the local, state, and/or federal level. Depending on the issue and whether it has local, state, or federal relevance, you can send letters to a State Representative, a U.S. Representative, a State Senator, or a U.S. Senator. Most often your two letters will be sent to the legislators that represents your district and the other letter should be sent to the chair of the committee/subcommittee that is reviewing the bill.

Q: I am a bit confused about the rubric. What content should be addressed in the letter, and what content should be addressed in the summary? If possible, I am hoping for clarification for each of the areas of evaluation, because I am having difficulty distinguishing it. Area C, for example, does that criteria apply to the summary or the letter?

A: Everything mentioned in the rubric should be covered in the letter, including those listed in Area C. The summary portion of this assignment is simply you providing a summary of the piece of legislation you selected.

Proof of two letters being delivered to lawmakers, and a copy of the two letters.

• APA is not required for the letter unless citing the sources in-text citations.

Sources provided below: