2025 remix: Your representatives want to hear from you

*How can legislators hear us from Spokane? (Photo illustration by Valerie Osier, remix by Erin Sellers)*

Now that you’ve learned how the Washington state legislative process works and the places where you can enter the process, you need to know how to effectively get in touch with your elected representatives.

Before we get to the how, let’s talk about the why.

Hopefully, if you took the time to read the first half of this piece, you’re already the sort of person who believes in demanding our elected representatives listen, but a lot of people don’t think speaking out matters, and for good reason.

In our current political climate, it’s easy to be cynical and think that the people we elect to represent us don’t actually care what we think.

We talked to Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig of Spokane, and Alex Bond, a communications specialist for the Senate Democratic Caucus in Olympia. One thing they both stressed is that, whatever else you think of local or federal government, state lawmakers in Washington really want to hear from their constituents.

Billig said he reads every email that comes into his office’s inbox, and he and his staff respond to every single one — even if it’s not from him personally.

“We work for the people of Spokane, and we can only do our job well of representing them if we’re getting input from them,” Billig told RANGE.

Bond stressed that people can reach out to the caucus’ office if they need help navigating the website or need answers to seemingly simple questions.

“I think the big picture thing that people should know about is, first and foremost, that the legislative offices here are here to serve people,” Bond said.

He pointed to the legislature hotline (1-800-562-6000) as an easy way to get in touch with the right people.

Get your legislators’ attention effectively

To contact your state legislators, the most straightforward way is to find your legislative and congressional district here. Each representative’s name is linked to a page that tells you everything about them, including their email, phone number and what committees they’re on.

Specific pieces of legislation — especially hot-button issues — are supported by an advocacy group, and those groups usually have form letters with talking points already drafted that you can send to your legislators.

Those work to get the point across, but both Billig and Bond noted that a little customization can go a long way. Powerful stories often get priority, so if you have time and the ability, share your connection with the issue to your representative with a personal story.

And you can still call their office too — you can call those sweet civil servants as much as you want.

When it comes to reaching out to legislators outside of your home district, Bond noted that it may be hit or miss with how effective it is for different offices. “Some, I think, feel that they are responsible, first and foremost, for their constituents in their district,” Bond said, noting that every office is different. He said that some offices will sometimes first ask what your zip code is to ensure that they’re hearing from one of their constituents.

But if you work in one district and live in another, you have an extra set of lawmakers you can make a case to. In our region, we have no fewer than 5 legislative districts that touch Spokane County at least a little bit. That’s 15 sets of legislators and aides you can make your case to (see our list of local legislators below).

If you have something really unique and special to say about a particular bill, or it directly affects your life in a big way — and a legislator outside of your district is the sponsor of the bill — your input may get noticed.

“But in general, I think it really makes sense to focus on the members who are in your district, because those are the ones who are going to be the most accountable to you,” Bond said.

The power that lies in contacting your own legislators is real, he stressed.

“I’ve seen many pieces of legislation that go through the process that the entire idea of the bill comes from a constituent who contacted their legislator and said, ‘This is a problem that we need to fix,’” Bond said.

This includes problems large and small, and might ultimately mean amending current state law, adding money to a budget item, or creating a whole new law from scratch. It would be unlikely to call your legislature today and get a new bill written for this legislative session, but if you keep talking to them, it could lead to real change down the road.

As for things currently before the body, you can get in your legislators’ ears.

“I think folks should take their power seriously,” Bond said. “When you send an email to a legislator, that’s a real thing and real bills can pass out of that. I think folks should feel like they are powerful because they are.”

OK, but what about all those lobbyists?

When we think about lobbyists, we tend to picture the Hollywood version: shadowy, powerful men in dark suits whispering into our lawmakers’ ears, or perhaps sliding a thick manila folder across a bartop in a slightly threatening manner. And in popular media about the other Washington, there’s a sense that special interests run everything and it’s impossible for a regular person to make change.

But while lobbyists for big business and massively funded special interests definitely exist at the state level, there are a lot of others as well. And at the end of the day, a lobbyist is a professional advocate: someone who is paid to make the case for the group they represent.

Spokane sends a lobbyist to Olympia who advocates for the city’s legislative priorities as decided upon by the city council, as does Spokane County, with priorities decided upon by the county commissioners. Better Health Together, a local nonprofit that helps people access medicaid also sends a lobbyist to Olympia. When the core part of your work is dealing with government bureaucracies, it’s important to have someone consistently pushing for the changes you need made. In Washington, lobbyists have to register with the Public Disclosure Commission and take a code of conduct training before lobbying.

And while the title “lobbyist” generally means a professional, the concept of “lobbying” is just the act of trying to get your legislator to care about your priorities. Arts non-profits often organize groups of artists to all take to the capital on the same “lobby day” to advocate for better arts funding. Reproductive rights organizations do as well. If there’s a piece of legislation you care enough about, there’s nothing stopping you from getting a group of passionate allies together and … well not storm the capital, but politely walk in and make your case.

Best practices for how to run an effective lobby day are way outside of the scope of this article, and probably a little tough to pull off this year anyway, but local organizations like PJALS can help people understand the ins and outs of effectively advocating the government.

And while it might still seem like the odds are stacked against normal people, Bond said that different lawmakers take lobbyist input differently. As an expert in their field, they might have information on how a bill would affect a specific process in a specific industry. “We work on 10,000 different issues and we’re only experts in four or five issues where we’re really in the weeds on the details,” Billig said. “And so we need to rely on our staff, on our colleagues who are experts in those areas and the lobbyists.”

He added that generally, if it’s a controversial issue, he’ll want to hear from lobbyists on both sides, but still take what they say with a grain of salt. And, like in any industry, there are good and bad lobbyists, Billig said, but, “by and large, the lobbyists are an important and productive part of the legislative process because they are experts in their issue area.”

All that said, lobbyists generally aren’t scary and sleazy and they definitely aren’t more powerful than regular people, especially if those people show up in numbers, so your voice is important too.

Now get out there and talk to your representatives.

Now that you know all about the process and how to get your lawmakers’ attention, check out the bills we’re keeping an eye on this session.

Find your legislative and congressional district here or see below for Eastern Washington representatives.