Get Organized: A trip to the State Capitol
- SJ Williamson
- Feb 23, 2025
- 5 min read
Last week, I did not do a blog post because I was in Bismarck, ND with North Dakota United, the state's labor union for educators, for Lobby Day 2025. This was my first trip to Bismarck and my first time organizing with a labor union. I learned quite a bit, so I thought I'd share what I learned and what my experience was like.
Why lobby?
I'm sure most of my close family and friends know I used to try very hard to not be political for most of my life. Politics depress me. However, after the last month of Trump's second presidency, I can no longer sit in silence. The amount of government employees losing their jobs and people who rely on the government for health care, economic assistance, and food at risk of losing their benefits is alarming and in my opinion, not right. The Department of Education and some other executive orders regarding education have also been greatly concerning for me, a neurodivergent researcher in dis/ability studies. For these reasons, I decided to start meeting my university's main union representative with some graduate teaching assistants from other departments.
During one of our meetings, we were invited to attend Lobby Day in Bismarck. We had the opportunity to get reimbursed for hotel and gas in order to participate. As we didn't have school that Monday due to a holiday, I decided it would be my opportunity to use my voice and presence to fight against local issues that concern me like the executive orders do. I RSVP'd and waited for my time. Long story short, this opportunity to lobby was low risk high reward for me. Best case scenario would be my testimony helping to prevent some toxic bills from moving forward in the process of becoming a law. Worst case scenario, at least I learned about the legal process and got to relax in a hotel hot tub the night before. I often feel as if my voice is loud but I never have the right people in my audience; this was my chance to interact with the right audience. It feels good to be able to do something to show our government leaders my opinions and arguments rather than just let the laws I hate overpower us and do nothing. That's why I went to Lobby Day.
Preparing for Lobby Day
My first steps in preparation included searching for bills that concerned education (especially higher education) or my personal values and rights. Luckily, the union website had a list of critical bills that would affect education, what the union supported as "pass" or "do not pass," and what our elected government officials voted for each of the bills. Of highest concern for me personally was SB-2392 (DEIA in higher education). In addition to the bills on the union website, I also searched the bills on our state government website using key words that I was worried about.
Once my partner and I arrived in Bismarck the night before Lobby Day, I attended a workshop to prepare me for the next day. Union leaders went over the critical bills they supported as "pass" or "do not pass," reviewed the schedule of Lobby Day to see what meetings would be related to those critical bills, and figure out how to represent our perspectives using our personal stories and the impact of the bill(s) on our individual lives. We used our addresses to figure out who our representatives were. We were broken up into small teams and with each team chose which meetings to attend and if we'd be interested in providing spoken or written testimony. Then, we drafted our testimonies and had the rest of the night for ourselves after 8. I chose to relax in the hotel hot tub with my partner and get well-rested for the next day.
Lobby Day
After a quick breakfast, we drove to the capitol building. With our small group, we reviewed which bills and meetings we wanted to be involved with and figured out how to get to each meeting. The calendar on the government website was not very easy to use but it eventually became helpful. The first meeting my group went to was committee work. We sat down in 2 rows of chairs and quietly watched representatives bring up bills, state their opinions on the bills, and vote on whether to pass or not pass them. As far as I knew, we only could watch; we were not allowed to provide testimony to this kind of meeting.
Next, my group attended a hearing for HCR 3013 that would vote to overturn gay marriage in favor of reinstating marriage as only between a man and a woman. Once again, we sat in 2 rows of chairs and watched the government official Bill Tveit give his testimony, which contradicted himself as he said it was not due to religion then proceeded to quote Genesis 2. He also talked about marriage as only for child-bearing, which especially disgusts me as I do not want and cannot have children. Then, they opened the meeting for others to give testimony. My group watched several lobbyists and individuals give testimony in favor of this for similar petty and bigoted reasons. When only one gave testimony against it, my partner, who is bisexual, decided to use the Bible similarly against the bill. Mr. Tveit did not like his use of religion, but my partner's quick argument against marriage as defined by religion and the Bible highlighted Mr. Tveit's contradictions. Despite my partner's nerves and anxiety, he stood up for others. I'm proud that he was with us.
Next, most of the groups met up in a Q&A meeting for our union's lobbyists to ask government officials questions. The rows of chairs were quickly filled; some of us had to stand or wait outside. Testimony from our state's teacher of the year, parents, librarians, and educators filled the room. I think I finally felt the power of a mob just being there, adding to the sea of green Lobby Day shirts. I didn't feel so alone against the powers of evil. It was a highlight of Lobby Day for me.
Afterwards, we split up for lunch. As there was not much I could eat, my partner and I decided to leave before we went to the hearing floor gallery and head home after a short lunch. Just 5 hours felt like a whole day. I think the emotional toll of hearing bigoted argument after bigoted argument was heavier than I expected. Still, I am glad we attended. It was nice to see how government works, what I could do as a citizen, and what lobbyists do. If you can't lobby, you can submit written testimony for or against bills. You can email, or better yet, call your representatives (both home offices and D.C. offices) to let them know your dis/pleasure in their actions. You don't have to feel powerless, even though that's what Trump has made me and many like me feel for the last month.
Don't be afraid to speak up against evil. You never know how long you'll have the chance to.
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