Legislation & Politics

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• Lobbying Do's & Don'ts
• 2007 Legislative Summary
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Edina High School students learn about lobbying first hand
at the 2007 Global Warming Day of Action on the Minnesota Capitol Mall.

A Citizen's Guide to Lobbying the Minnesota Legislature

By Patrick Jarosch and Brian Pasko
Last update: Summer, 2007
PDF version

Introduction

What is lobbying and who are lobbyists?

Have you ever tried to convince a group of friends to go out to dinner at a restaurant of your choosing? Have you ever negotiated with a family member over which of you will do some undesirable chore? Have you been part of helping a Sierra Club committee make a decision about the next step in a campaign?

If so, you're already a lobbyist and you already know how to lobby!

Lobbying is simply the practice of convincing a person or group of persons to make a decision that you want them to make. According to Wikipedia, lobbying means to attempt to directly influence the actions of government through various combinations of private cajoling, public actions, and encouraging the public to contact members of a legislature. The term lobbyist can refer to anyone who attempts to directly influence the actions of government.

The only difference between the type of lobbying described above and lobbying the Minnesota legislature has to do with a little bit of process and procedure. The good news is that you learned everything you need to know about the Minnesota legislative process in your high school civics class (don't worry, we'll give you a little refresher below)!

To be an effective lobbyist, you don't need to be an expert in a subject area or know everything about the process of how an idea becomes a law. It is helpful, however, to have a basic understanding of how the legislative process works so that you can determine how you can give your idea momentum.