Your Role
You may be supporting a bill in Congress, opposing a bill, asking for a bill to be introduced, or asking for something from a federal agency.

Understand the Issue and the Players
- Take some time to learn about the issue and know how secular concerns are involved.
- No one expects you to know everything.
- Use personal stories to demonstrate your position, or the reason you support or oppose a bill.
- Use data from an official source if possible, or from another respected source that will show the need for your request.
- Let elected officials know how many people you are representing, either officially or unofficially.
- Let officials know, subtly, that you would be happy to give them credit in your local group or on social media for whatever they do to help you.
- Find a champion in Congress who will support you on your issue. Start with the ones who represent you, but look for others if your members aren’t in the majority party or on the appropriate committee.
- Learn about the committee your bill was—or will be— referred to. Learn about the members and the chair of that committee (They are going to have the most say about what happens to the measure).
- If your legislator is not on that committee, ask them to contact members of the appropriate committee.
- Know your audience when meeting with a legislator or staffer. Look up his or her background, his or her district—and find reasons he or she would respond to your request.

Remember, YOU are the “expert” on secular issues.

Your representatives should be happy to see you and to have this opportunity to learn more about the subject under consideration. You can explain how a bill that affects secular Americans would work in the real world, and why it’s good or bad, and you can also bring a legislator’s attention to an issue that they otherwise wouldn’t pay much attention to among the hundreds of other bills under consideration.

Get Informed and Stay Informed
- Join the email list maintained by your legislators.
- Follow your legislators on social media.
- Check the SCA Action and Key Issues pages on secular.org for information and to email your representatives.
- Set up Google Alerts on important issues.
- Google “[your state] political news” to find websites that track political information, polling, elections, and people.
- Join your local party organization. They are often organized by county. You will definitely meet your representatives at party activities.

Who is a Lobbyist?
Advocacy of this type does not legally make you a lobbyist. There is a difference between educating and lobbying. If you are educating someone about secular issues, you aren’t lobbying. And basically, if you aren’t being paid for your efforts, you aren’t a lobbyist. The many thousands of people who meet with members of Congress and their staff each year aren’t lobbyists. They are constituents explaining why a particular bill or proposal is a good or a bad idea.