Support and Opposition letters are due no later than 12:00 pm on the Wednesday prior to the day that the bill is set for a hearing.
Please submit all letters electronically via the California Legislature Advocates Portal: https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/
- This portal is available to individuals, advocates, and lobbyists. You will have to create an account. Please see the Advocates Portal Reference Guide for more information.
You may also mail or drop off physical letters to 1021 O Street, Room 3330 Sacramento, CA 95814.
Comments or letters from individuals are encourged to use the Advocates Portal but you may use the committee email address here: SHOU.Committee@senate.ca.gov. Please include your full name and address, including the zip code. Only email your comments through the committee email address, not the consultants or assistant.
If you email the assistant or the consultants a letter, you will be redirected back to these options. If you require assistance, please email the committee assistant at Cicely.Chisholm@sen.ca.gov or call the main committee line at 916-651-4124.
In order to be reflected in the committee analysis, we must receive a letter directly. We do not list organizations that only sent letters to previous committees. That means either mailing the letter to our office or submitting to our committee specifically when using the Advocates Portal. This is our committee policy, and there are no exceptions. This is to ensure we don't mistakenly list organizations who have moved to neutral, or changed positions due to amendments.
Even if you miss the deadline to be included in the policy analysis for our individual hearings, we still highly encourage you to send letters to our committee. They are included in the official bill file for archiving purposes, and can be included in the floor analysis if the bill is taken up on the Senate Floor.
Letters from organizations must be signed and on letterhead. You must be authorized to submit letters on behalf of the organization.
One representative may submit a letter on behalf of others in a coalition letter, but be sure to tag each organzation while submitting through the Advocates Portal. For the letter to be accepted by the committee, only the signature of the representing organization is required. All other organizations can be listed in the signature area and/or have their logo included somewhere on the letter. It needs to be clear who is signed on.
Please note:
Letters will only be listed in the analysis as support or oppose as we do not accommodate subsections. "Support if Amended" and "Letters of Concern" will be treated as no position and thus not reflected. "Oppose Unless Amended" will be listed as opposition.
It is not the policy of the committee to make sure your letters get to all the members of the committee. You are encouraged to send your letter to each member individually if you want them to have a copy.