STEP 1: Determine who your legislators are in the State House and State Senate. Click on the district number on the map to call up that legislator's web page. Find contact information for House members here and Senators here.
STEP 2: Get and stay informed. Read through the pages of this website. We update content as new developments occur.
STEP 3: Contact your legislators. You can do this in person, by phone, by email or through a printed letter. (See the letter example below.)
STEP 4: Let your friends know why it's important for public notices to remain in newspapers in North Carolina. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Post on your Facebook or Twitter page and get others to join the chorus of voices in support of HB 723. And keep us in the loop -- Tweet at us so we'll see what you're saying.
SAMPLE LETTER Dear __________, As a citizen of North Carolina, I wish to express my deep concern about efforts to allow public notice advertising by counties, municipalities and other government agencies and bodies to be removed from our local, community newspapers. Newspapers, through the decades, have not only provided a consistent and reliable place to go to find these notices, but help to provide a non-governmental check on the system to prevent abuse. Proposals that would turn over this function to the government by placing them solely on their own, rarely visited websites, making it less likely that citizens such as myself will be able to participate in the democratic process and decrease government transparency. Instead, I urge you to vote against bills which would not only remove public notices from my newspaper, Sincerely, Citizen's name and contact information |