California

Advocacy Guide
Generation Ratify CA
2021
 Table of Contents
About Generation Ratify CA 1
CA Contact Spreadsheet 2
Lobbying State Legislators
Calling Your State Legislators 3
Emailing Your State Legislators 5
Contacting Voters
Phone-Banking 6
Text-Banking 8
Author's Note 10
About Generation Ratify CA
Who are we ?
Generation Ratify California is the California State Chapter of

Generation Ratify, the national youth-led movement to empower

students to fight for gender equality across all platforms. Our primary

goal is to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment as a full part of the

United States Constitution.

What do we do ?
The main focus of Generation Ratify is to get the Equal Rights

Amendment added to the U.S. Constitution, and to advance gender

equality. To do this we:

educate youth about the Equal Rights Amendment and gender

inequality today

advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment through legislative and

judicial advocacy

elect pro-ERA candidates by making the ERA an election issue

through the youth vote

empower young women-identifying, non-binary, gender non-

conforming, and femme folks.

How can I get involved ?

Stay up to date with us at @generationratify & @generationratify.ca on

Instagram. To get more involved, visit generationratify.org and

generationratifycalifornia.weebly.com for involvement opportunities!

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 CA Contact Spreadsheet
What Is the Spreadsheet ?
The CA Contact Spreadsheet is essentially a central database

containing the following information of every California State Senator

and Representative:

party affiliation

district of representation

district & capitol office phone number(s)

link to contact form

Senators: Instagram & Twitter handles

Accessing the Spreadsheet

To access the CA Contact Spreadsheet, click here, or enter this into

your browser: tinyurl.com/GRCAcontactsheet. If you have difficulties

accessing the spreadsheet, please reach out to Generation Ratify CA

at generationratify.ca@gmail.com.

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Lobbying State Legislators
Directly lobbying politicians is one of the most effective ways to make

sure your voice gets heard. Although you most likely will be

communicating with their offices instead of themselves, your actions

will still make a huge impact! There are two key ways to lobby your

state legislators (other than physically showing up, of course): calling

and emailing.

Calling Your State Legislators

Why ?
Calling state legislators is an effective way to shine light on issues you care

about as they shape statewide policy. When you call them, their staff will ensure

the information you provide is addressed appropriately. You might bring up a

topic that they haven’t heard much about, and your call can help directly cause

changes. Calling legislators can be especially effective since their staff can hear

your voice, which can create a deeper connection than other forms of

communication.

What ?
When you contact your legislators, be sure to start off by introducing yourself and

letting them know that you live in an area they represent. This increases your

impact as one of their constituents. Then, introduce the issue you are calling

about and how you feel about it. Use valid evidence and logical reasoning to

support your views. Personal anecdotes are also extremely helpful!

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Calling Your State Legislators ( cont .)
How ?
Make sure you have access to a phone number to call your leaders -- you can use

the CA Contact Spreadsheet for this! Prepare a message to ensure you make the

most out of your call.

Sample Call Script

Hello, my name is _________, and I’m one of your constituents. I live in

_________ and my zipcode is _________. [If you're calling with us: I’m part of

an organization called Generation Ratify CA, which is the California chapter of

Generation Ratify — the youth-led movement to ratify the Equal Rights

Amendment and promote further equity across the country.]

I’m reaching out to speak to you about [name of bill], which [explain what the bill

does, 1-2 sentences].

I’m particularly passionate about [name of bill] because _________. OR I’m

asking you to support [name of bill] because _________. Feel free to include a

personal anecdote about why you connect with this bill or issue. The more

emotion you can convey, the more likely they are to listen to you.

I am asking for your vote to support [name of bill]. Use this time to explain why it

is important they take the particular action.

Thank you for your time. If needed, I can best be reached at _________

[preferred contact information].

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Emailing Your State Legislators

Finding Contact Information

All of California's State Representatives' and Senators' contact forms are on the

CA Contact Spreadsheet. Instead of directly emailing their email address, you

will be submitting your information and message through a built-in contact form

on their websites.

Writing the Message

Remember to be polite and professional in your messages to Representatives and

Senators’ offices, provide your stance on an issue or bill as a constituent, and be

clear and to the point.

Sample Email Script

Hello, my name is _________, and I’m one of your constituents. I live in

_________ and my zipcode is _________.

I’m writing to you in regards to [name of bill], which [explain what the bill does, 1-

2 sentences].

I’m particularly passionate about [name of bill] because _________. OR I’m

asking you to support [name of bill] because _________. Feel free to include a

personal anecdote about why you connect with this bill or issue. The more

emotion you can convey, the more likely they are to listen to you.

I am asking for your vote to support [name of bill]. Use this time to explain why it

is important they take the particular action.

Thank you for your time. If needed, I can best be reached at _________

[preferred contact information].

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 Contacting Voters
When you are advocating for a candidate, in favor of a bill, or against

a bill, contacting voters is the best way to make an impact. The two

most common organizing strategies in voter contact are phone-

banking and text-banking.

Phone - banking

Why ?
Phone-banking is one of the most common organizing strategies in electoral

politics. Whether you’re calling for a candidate or in favor of specific policies on

the ballot, you’ll be able to engage potential supporters and gauge the status of

existing supporters through cold calling.

What to Expect

Typically, phone-banking is done through software such as VPB or CallEvo, which

are both automated calling systems that will allow you to make calls through the

computer with the click of a button, instead of manually entering each phone

number. Campaigns will almost always have a predetermined call list geared

towards their audience of focus (ex: geographic area, age range).

When phone-banking, you’ll be cold calling hundreds of people, so don’t be

discouraged if not everyone picks up! On average, 10-20% of people pick up,

and about half of them engage in conversation. Having at least a rough outline

of what you want to communicate to the voter is very important and can help

with voter contact rates.

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Phone -banking (cont .)
Sample Call Script

Hey there! Is this [name of voter]?

If YES: My name is _________, [If you're calling with us: and I’m part of an

organization called Generation Ratify CA, which is the California chapter of

Generation Ratify — the youth-led movement to ratify the Equal Rights

Amendment and promote further equity across the country.] I’m calling you today

about [issue] and getting [bill code and name of legislation] passed or blocked

(this depends on what the bill is for and how you feel about it). Have you heard of

it?

Let voter respond.

I’m particularly passionate about [name of bill] because _________. OR I’m

asking you to support [name of bill] because _________. Feel free to include a

personal anecdote about why you connect with this bill or issue. The more

emotion you can convey, the more likely they are to listen to you.

Can I count on you to take action for this by _________ (signing a form,

emailing legislators, texting others, etc.)?

If they reply “yes”, tell them what they need to complete the action. If they reply

“no,” “remove me from this list” or anything else, simply thank them for their time.

If you are using a software, there should be a button to mark the person’s

response.

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Text -
banking

Why ?
Text-banking is a quick, effective way to communicate with people, whether this

be voters, grassroots organizers, or community members, via text messages. It is

faster and easier than alternatives, such as phone and email banking. Text-

banking is highly effective too with a 90%+ open rate and 10-24% response rate.

Although it does not allow you to make the same face-to-face and voice-to-

voice connections as with other methods, texting creates a line of direct

communication, can be done from almost anywhere, and allows you to reach

many people quickly. Given that you will most likely be using your personal cell-

phone, keep that in mind when deciding how to take action.

When text-banking with a group, they may have an established list of numbers for

you to text along with a script you can copy and paste, and fill in the blanks for

the more personal information. If you are wanting to take action alone/on your

own time, a great resource is your address book!

Sample Text Script

Hey [name of voter], my name is _________.

[If you're texting with us: I’m part of an organization called Generation Ratify CA,

which is the California chapter of Generation Ratify — the youth-led movement

to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and promote further equity across the

country.]

I’m reaching out to you today about [issue] and getting [bill code and name of

legislation] passed or blocked (this depends on what the bill is for and how you

feel about it). Have you heard about it?

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Text - banking (cont .)
Sample Text Script (cont.)
The rest of the conversation will be based on their response, but some
sample texts you can reference are:
I’m particularly passionate about [name of bill] because _________. OR I’m

asking you to support [name of bill] because _________. Feel free to include a

personal anecdote about why you connect with this bill or issue. The more

emotion you can convey, the more likely they are to listen to you.

Can I count on you to take action for this by _________ (signing a form,

emailing legislators, texting others, etc.)?

After the Text Conversation:

If they reply “yes”, send them what they need to complete the action. If they reply

“no,” “remove me from this list” or anything else, simply thank them for their time.

If you are using a software, there should be a button to mark the person’s

response.

If you are just texting your address book, make a note in their contact card.

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 Author's Note
Thank you so much for reading Generation Ratify CA's first-ever

Advocacy Guide! We are so grateful for your continued support, and

we hope the guide will be helpful to your endeavors in political

advocacy. As a general note, there are so many more methods of

advocacy outside of the ones we chose to feature; if you have any

suggestions for future Advocacy Guides, please do not hesitate to let

us know by emailing us at generationratify.ca@gmail.com.

Additionally, if you have any questions about any information that was

provided in the guide, please send them our way at the email listed

above, and we will try to answer them as best we can!

The creation of this guide would not have been possible without

Generation Ratify CA's State Director, Shira Griffith -- thank you for

your dedication and unwavering support. I'd also like to thank

Generation Ratify's West Regional Organizing Director, Sophia Heath,

the entire Generation Ratify community, and most importantly, the past

and current Generation Ratify CA Policy Team members who

contributed to the making of this guide: Natasha Matta, Suyash Goel,

and Beth Miller.

Again, thank you for reading our California Advocacy Guide, and keep

an eye out for more to come from Generation Ratify CA!

- Esther Lau

Generation Ratify CA

State Policy Director

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