How to reach state politicians

All of Arkansas elected solons — State Representatives and State Senators — love hearing from you, the electorate.

Remember, it was you the voters who this past November, sent these elected officials down to Little Rock to make laws for the state.

During the busy 60-day session, which begins this week, getting in touch and staying in touch with your solon can be a little tricky and a little frustrating.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are some quick “Dos” and “Don’ts” to help you stay in touch with your elected officials.

First and foremost — State Representatives and State Senators — can only help you with state issues.

Your outrage letters at the federal government, such as the IRS, your Social Security benefits, the U.S. Armed Services, President Barack Obama or President-elect Donald J. Trump, U.S. Senator Harry Reid or U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, have no bearing on what can be done in Little Rock.

Neither can your state Representative or state Senator get you out of a speeding ticket, immediately lower your taxes or make your neighbor rake the leaves in his yard. On letters and notes: • DO send all correspondence you want them to read at the State Capitol to:

State Representative (insert name) or State Senator (insert name), C/O State Capitol, Little Rock, AR 72201.

Personal correspondence and business correspondence still needs to go to the home or office back in their district.

• DON’T expect the mail from Northwest Arkansas, on most days, to be in the State Capitol the next day — i.e. a letter mailed Monday will usually be in the solons’ hands by Wednesday, but rarely on Tuesday.

• DO send ample postage. The state will not be picking up postage due letters and the new rules for overages on weight — even in a business letter — applies.

• DON’T send them such items as illegible handwritten notes or clipped copies of newspaper stories with line-after-line underlined or highlighted with a yellow marker.

• DO use the House Bill Number or Senate Bill Number when referring to a bill. Example: If you are in favor of lowering the sales tax on groceries that piece of legislation is House Bill 1021, use HB 1021, when corresponding to the solons.

Likewise, if Senate Bill 034 is a bill for expanding the concealed carry of guns and you are against that bill, use SB 034 when commenting on that issue.

Legislators are trained to look for a particular bill by its House or Senate bill number to make sure they have the correct issue you are writing about.

Email: While most elected officials will use the official House and Senate email address — not all of them do. Some will use a gmail.com or yahoo.com account, or the same account they used during their campaign.

Check directly with your House or Senate member — or consult this column in the weeks ahead — for an email address for the region’s state House and Senate members.

• DO send short, concise emails with your name and address in the email. An email with no name from hotmomma345@ yahoo.com may not get a reply if the legislator does not recognize

who hotmomma345 is?

• DON’T send forwarded emails. If you receive an email from a friend opposing a bill — don’t just forward that email — write about why you want a vote up or down on that issue. A forwarded and forwarded and forwarded email loses its individuality.

I’ll have more on ways to stay in touch with your legislators, especially on telephone calling next week.

— Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at maylontrice@yahoo.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.