A leter to Legislator

Letter to the Legislator
Assignment Information

This assignment provides you with the opportunity to use a specific political advocacy strategy: communication with a legislator via a letter. Expressing your support or lack of support for proposed legislation (bills) can be a powerful way to speak up about an issue. In this assignment, you will identify a proposed bill and voice your support for, or argument for not, passing that particular bill.

Completion of this assignment will demonstrate your achievement of the following course outcomes:

describe the impact of health care policies on nursing practice and health care work environments to determine the financial and regulatory influences on patient care
evaluate the political advocacy process to identify opportunities for nursing professional involvement
delineate strategies that nurses can use to engage in advocacy for health care policy to support equity, access, affordability, and social justice for consumers and in support of the nursing profession
Assignment Guidelines

Select a piece of legislation proposed either in your state or at the national level.
Go to www.Congress.gov to find a piece of national legislation
Go to your state’s .gov site to find a piece of state legislation
Identify your state representative at the level of the bill—this will be either your state, House of Representatives, or Senate representative, depending on the bill that you selected.
Conduct a literature review to identify evidence pertaining to the issue addressed in the bill. Find at least three sources.
Develop a letter to send to your state legislator. This letter should integrate the evidence supporting your position. The following websites offer templates, examples, and/or guidelines for letters to legislators that you may want to consider.
How to write to your legislator: How to Write to Your Legislator
Purdue Owl: Writing the Basic Business Letter: Writing the Basic Business Letter

Grading Criteria

Follow these guidelines in writing your letter.

Write the letter in a business letter format.
Include the following:
introduction of self and professional position
overview of the bill you want to address
clear argument in support of or not in support of the bill
integration of evidence from scholarly literature to support your position
legal name, credentials, and contact information
Proofread the letter so that it is free of grammatical, spelling, and syntax errors.
Test yourself on what you just learned. You’ll read a case study and answer questions based on it.

This self-assessment is ungraded; you can take it as many times as you like.

This activity aligns with:

Course Outcome   6. Delineate strategies that nurses can use to engage in advocacy for healthcare policy to support equity, access, affordability, and social justice for consumers and in support of the nursing profession. 

AACN BSN Essential V.11: Participate as a nursing professional in political processes and grassroots legislative efforts to influence healthcare policy.

AACN BSN Essential V.12: Advocate for consumers and the nursing profession

AACN BSN Essential VII.12: Advocate for social justice, including a commitment to the health of vulnerable populations and the elimination of health disparities.