Contacting state legislators

The Basics

Each Kentuckian is represented by two elected state level legislators: a member of the Kentucky State Senate (senator) and a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives (representative). These individuals vote on all bills that create or change Kentucky law (Kentucky Revised Statutes or KRS). It is important that both of your state legislators hear from you about issues that are important to you. While you can contact any legislator, it is most important that you communicate with the legislators elected to represent your district.

Find Your Legislators

The Kentucky Legislative Research Commission has an easy to use website to help you determine your legislators. Enter your address and click on the map. Click here to find your legislators.

Making Contact

.Below are some ways you can contact your legislators.

Visiting Your Legislators – By far, a face-to-face meeting is the most effective method of contact with a legislator. During the legislative session (starting in January each year), this most often happens at the legislator’s office in Frankfort, but it is also possible to meet with them in your home district, especially when the legislature is not in session. This is currently complicated by COVID, but you can still ask your legislator if they are open to face-to-face communication. You can also watch for local community events where legislators are scheduled to attend or speak.

**2021 General Assembly Accessibility & COVID Restrictions 
(information courtesy of Kentucky Voices for Health)

GENERAL ACCESS- General Public access to the Capitol Annex and to the Capitol Building will not be allowed. We understand that you will be allowed to enter either building if you have an appointment with an official/policy-maker, but access will be limited to the appointment time and you will be expected to leave the building after the appointment. Your name will have to be given to security at the front door of either building to gain access. We assume that this will have to be done by the official/policy-maker with whom you have the appointment, or by their staff person.

SCHEDULED ANNEX MEETINGS- Meetings will be limited to 3 persons and will take place in Annex offices. When you arrive at the main visitor entrance of the Annex, contact the legislative assistant or LRC staff who will verify your appointment time and may meet you there

Call the Legislative Message Line- A very easy way of making contact is to call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181. A message line employee will answer and ask for your name and address. You do NOT need to know who are your legislators; the operator will look that up. You can ask to leave a message for your senator, your representative, other specific legislators, all members of a specific committee, etc. Ask your legislator(s) to support or oppose a certain bill or amendment to a bill. You can also add a personalized message. You can leave separate messages regarding multiple bills during the same call. Calling is usually a very quick and easy process. Every Kentucky voter can call daily!

Writing to Your Legislators–  Writing to your legislator is another great and effective tool.  Letters (particularly hand-written) are sometimes better than e-mail, although both are important.

It is helpful to write to your legislators several times, but even more impactful than multiple letters from the same person are letters from MORE constituents, so ask your friends and relatives to write also. 

Please email KMFC at kymedicalfreedomcoalition@gmail.com to let us know your legislators' responses.

• Where to mail letters: Letters can be sent to your representative’s home or capitol address. During the session, communication should be sent to their office address. Contact info is available at https://legislature.ky.gov/
• Letters may be handwritten or typed. They should be signed and hand addressed. Handwritten, while more time consuming, is more likely to get seen and noticed!
• Letters should be about one page. 
• Your purpose is not to convince them that vaccines are bad. Your purpose is to emphasize the importance of bodily autonomy and CHOICE. Include your personal reasons for feeling this way.
• If you send an e-mail, be sure to include “constituent" and the bill number in the subject line and include your address in the body of the e-mail.  
• Some legislator e-mail addresses are listed on their legislative profile page, while others only have a generic “contact” link. Their e-mail is usually firstname.lastname@lrc.ky.gov, such as john.doe@lrc.ky.gov. 

Sample Letter to Legislators

Paragraph One: State who you are and that you are their constituent. Write 1-2 sentences about yourself and your ties to the community. Include the name of your city/town, and some personal information such as how long you or your family has lived in Kentucky; what kind of business your family is in; how many children you have; or where you go to church/school. If you know anything you have in common with the legislator, mention it here. 

Paragraph Two: state the purpose of your letter. Here is what we suggest, customized to ask for support of BR 301:

I am opposed to a mandatory COVID vaccine, and I am concerned that current Kentucky law does not protect my right to make medical decisions for my family. 

I am specifically concerned about the last sentence in KRS 214.036, “in the event of an epidemic in a given area, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services may, by emergency regulation, require the immunization of all persons within the area of epidemic, against the disease responsible for such epidemic.” Senator Wilson has filed SB28 which would address this concern by adding exemptions.

I would like to know where you stand on this issue and ask that you please support and co-sponsor SB28. 
(Be sure to include this sentence, or something similar, so that they know you are asking them to respond to you.)

Optional: 2-3 sentences about why this is important to you. Use your own words. Are you or a loved one vaccine injured? Are you religiously opposed? You believe that when there is a risk there must always be a choice? DON’T GO OVERBOARD!
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Paragraph Three: Thank them for their time, and specifically state that you look forward to receiving their response.

Conclude with your name and include your Kentucky mailing address