Thank you so much to everyone who attended Lutheran Lobby Day 2024! It was a great day of advocacy, and we look forward to seeing you in 2025!
Scheduled Events
Worship Service
Please join us for a worship service at St. John’s Lutheran Church the evening before Lobby Day.
When: Tuesday, May 27, 2025 6:00 PM
Where: St. John’s Lutheran Church 1701 L St. Sacramento, CA 95811
Live Stream: Click here to access the service’s live stream
Lobby Day
When: Wednesday, May 28, 2025 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Where: St. John’s Lutheran Church 1701 L St. Sacramento, CA 95811
Common Lobby Day Questions
A legislative visit is a meeting with a legislator or their staffer. A meeting with a staffer is just as valuable as a meeting with a legislator because they often are more in the weeds of particular policy areas, and legislators rely on staffers for information.
You will be placed into multiple legislative meetings during Lobby Day. This could be 2 or more meetings depending on how many people register! For more details on the flow of these meetings, check out our video from last year discussing it: 2023 Lobby Day Meeting Walk Through.
You might meet with your legislators, but we will be spreading our network out to meet with key decision makers for the particular bills we are following. This means focusing on legislators on certain committees and who might be on the fence on their vote.
If you are not able to meet with your legislator during Lobby Day, you can always schedule a meeting, call, or email to share your thoughts. Because we have more political power when we come in numbers, organizing a small group of 5-10 people from your church can increase your impact on your representatives.
Please join us for as much as you can. You are free to step out if needed to tend to professional or personal matters. Please make a note in your registration form if you cannot join us for the whole day.
Lobbying is a form of advocacy work that involves directly meeting with political decision-makers, whether elected or appointed. Many of us have heard of lobbyists in Washington, DC, and while we tend to think of lobbying as something only corporations do, anyone can lobby. Lobbying is simply talking with your legislators about your priorities and asking them to listen, and bringing your network to the table to back them up when decisions get hard, and stakeholders pull legislators in multiple directions.
California has two legislative houses, the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. Both base representation on population, but the Assembly has 80 members and the Senate has 40 members.
Find your representative here.
***Note: Districts have changed since the passage of new maps in 2020. However, odd numbered Senate districts won’t change until after 2024. You may see 2 Senators representing you in this case. That’s ok!***
Bills may be introduced in both chambers. Each bill must pass through the first chamber’s committees before being voted on by the whole chamber “on the floor.” After passing the first house, the bill moves through the same process in the other house. If successful, the bill goes to the governor’s desk. The governor can sign or veto a bill.
This year, we will focus on bills that align with our social statements regarding environmental and immigration protection. Click here to learn more about our Lobby Day Priorities!
Why do we announce bills so late? We need to make sure any bills we’re considering haven’t been amended poorly and are still moving through the legislature by the time Lobby Day takes place.
We suggest wearing something business casual–something you feel comfortable in. Wear smaller jewelry as you will have to go through metal detectors when entering the legislative swing space building. We also recommend you wear comfortable shoes as you will be walking between meetings and such throughout the day. It will also likely be in the 90s that day, so loose and light clothing could be helpful!
You need to have a notebook and pen or pencil to take notes. Bill related fact sheets, the schedule, legislator information, and your group information, will be provided to you upon arrival at St. John’s and via email prior to Lobby Day. Otherwise, just bring your interest and enthusiasm!
Lobby Day 2025 will begin at 8:00 am on May 28th and run until 4:00 pm. If you have a very long drive or will be flying in, we suggest you arrive the day beforehand to ensure you will be on time and not miss any of the trainings and speakers on Lobby Day.
The nearest hotel to St. John’s is the Residence Inn by Marriott, Sacramento Downtown at Capitol Park. If you have any additional questions about lodging or travel, please reach out to Courtney Hall at Courtney.Hall@elca.org
We’re so glad you want to volunteer to facilitate legislative meetings! Please indicate that you’re willing to volunteer on your registration form and we will reach out to you directly with more information. Otherwise, you can also reach out to Courtney Hall at courtney.hall@elca.org about volunteering in any capacity.
No. The actual Capitol building is undergoing years-long renovations, so the legislative offices are currently housed in the Capitol Annex Swing Space at 1021 O St, Sacramento. We will head over to the Swing Space following the morning program at St. John’s.
Yes! We’ve booked a shuttle service for the day that will take half-hourly trips between St. John’s and the swing space for meetings for those who need it or if it rains.
Nope! We will provide vouchers to receive lunch from a local restaurant.
Other questions?
Email Courtney Hall at courtney.hall@elca.org