State Resolutions Toolkit
- Introduction
- Research and planning
- Build a coalition
- Use a petition as an organizing tool
- Write your resolution
- Build support for passage
Build a Coalition
Find likeminded groups
Bill of Rights advocacy groups probably already exist in your state. Look up their contact information and contact them to organize a meeting, either in person or via conference call.
Develop a list of natural allies
The following groups are just some of the likely allies for a Bill of Rights resolution campaign:
- Local peace and justice groups
- Counter-military recruitment groups
- Universalist Unitarians
- Quakers (Friends)
- Other religious groups or coalitions of religious groups (Ecumenical Ministries etc.)
- ACLU chapter
- University professors (law school, political science, sociology, history) - maybe they'll let you speak to their classes, and you can find new recruits there
- Military Tax Resisters
- National Lawyers Guild
- Veterans for Peace
- Environmental groups
- Booksellers
- Librarians and Library Associations
- Civic groups (e.g. League of Women Voters)
- Local political groups or parties - Libertarian, Democrat, Green Party, Socialist, and Communist groups are often great allies in a resolution effort. You can often get individual Republicans on board in your effort, but cultivating a good relationship with the institutional party itself is much more difficult. One local organizer explained, "A young Republican worked in my office, and he was willing to sign our petition. I asked him then to get an endorsement from the Young Republicans. He was enthusiastic, but later returned saying the Young Republicans were not allowed to support anything that President Bush opposed."
Determine how administrative tasks will be handled
Decide whether the coalition has the energy to keep up a website, and start a bank account, or whether each local group should continue those activities separately. It's a lot of work to keep a website current. And if you truly don't have someone who's willing to devote the energy, then you're better off with local group websites broadcasting statewide news themselves.
Seek out endorsements
Using email and phone, contact likely supportive groups to begin to get endorsements. A local member of the League of Women Voters can learn how to contact the state League for an endorsement. A local member of a Unitarian congregation can learn if there is a statewide Unitarian body for an endorsement. The ACLU is a good contact for endorsement and support in the legislature.
Develop a core group
Make sure there is a core group vetting all information from citizen lobbyists who have talked to their legislators, and making modifications in the plan. There may be times when this group needs to make modifications in the resolution or rouse the email and phone lists for calls to the legislature or to a specific legislator