Contact legislators
Find yours
Use the secretary of state's poll locator service to identify your House and Senate districts and who represents you: www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/mvp.do.
Online
The General Assembly's home page (www.legis.ga.gov) links to House and Senate members by name and district. The directory lists the legislator's office phone and email. Some legislators also list home addresses and district phone numbers.
Complete Georgia legislature coverage
Top issues for the Georgia General Assembly in 2018
Top players in the Georgia Legislature
Five newcomers to watch at the Georgia Capitol
How to follow this year's Georgia Legislature
Get involved and take action in Georgia politics
Will election year keep Ga. lawmakers away from controversial issues?
A wide range of health care woes face Georgia Legislature this year
In preparing next Georgia budget, Deal faces many challenges
In person
Look for lawmakers in the House or Senate chamber or in their offices. You can find your legislators' phone numbers and office locations on the General Assembly's website: www.legis.ga.gov
When the Legislature is in session, volunteer pages (usually schoolchildren) will carry messages to legislators in the chambers.
The public is not allowed on the House or Senate floor while in session.
Legislators often will leave the chamber to meet with voters, especially their constituents. Page desks are directly in front of the main doors leading to both chambers on the third floor of the Capitol.
Top lawmakers’ offices are in the Capitol. The rest are across Mitchell Street (officially known as Capitol Square) in the Coverdell Legislative Office Building. Be prepared to pass through metal detectors in both buildings.
Track bills
Online
Follow the progress of bills on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's exclusive Legislative Navigator and see our prediction of a bill's chance of passage. You can also explore a wealth of background on lawmakers, including their success at passing bills, top contributors and recent votes. It's only at legislativenavigator.ajc.com.
Go to www.legis.ga.gov and look for the box in the top-right corner of the website where you can search for legislation. Then enter the bill number (if you know it) and select "HB" if it's a House bill or "SB" if it's a Senate bill. This allows you to view the bill in its entirety, track it through committees and see roll call votes. Listings of committee meetings can also be found on the websites of both the House and Senate.
In person
Find copies of bills in the House clerk’s office (Room 309) and the secretary of the Senate’s office (Room 353). Each has a desk where you can request a bill. Committee hearing notices are posted daily on a bulletin board outside both offices, and meeting calendars appear on monitors in the Legislative Office Building. You can also contact by phone. House clerk’s office: (404) 656-5015; secretary of the Senate’s office: (404) 656-5040.
Heading to the statehouse
If you plan to visit:
Take MARTA. The Georgia State University station on the east/west line is a short walk from the Capitol. Most people drive, nonetheless, even though parking is limited. Lots generally charge a minimum $5 daily for parking.
Some options: Pete Hackney Parking Deck (162 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive); Steve Polk Parking Plaza (65 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive); 90 Central Parking Lot (accessible from Central Avenue and Courtland Street).
While you’re there
Wheelchair-accessible restrooms are available on the first, third and fourth floors of the Capitol, and other facilities are also on the second floor.
There are vending machines on the first floor, where coffee, sodas and snacks are available; a cafeteria on the sixth floor of the Legislative Office Building serves breakfast daily until 10 a.m. and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. A food court on the bottom floor of the Sloppy Floyd Building keeps similar hours and features more options, including a Starbucks and a Chick-fil-A.
Dozens of monuments dot the Capitol grounds and the building's interior. Find a description of each here: georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/monument.htm.
Now in its fourth year, Liberty Plaza, the public gathering space across Capitol Avenue from the Gold Dome, is a great place to eat lunch on nice days or watch protests and rallies that occur regularly during a session. The plaza features an outdoor amphitheater and several statues, including replicas of the Liberty Bell and Statute of Liberty.
Follow the money
Go to ethics.ga.gov, the website for the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (formerly the State Ethics Commission), to see campaign finance disclosures, lobbyist disclosure reports and lawmakers' personal finance disclosures.
Lobbyists are required to file disclosures twice a month during the session. You can also request hard copies at the commission’s offices in the Sloppy Floyd Building. Call (404) 463-1980 for information.
Speak at the hearings
The real work on bills is done in committees and subcommittees, and that’s the place to weigh in. Contact committee members by phone, mail or email to make your voice heard. Speaking in person before a committee, though, is one of the most effective ways to reach legislators. The experience can be a little daunting, but legislators often appreciate hearing from taxpayers. Most committees have a sign-up sheet for speakers. Try to keep your remarks short and to the point.
Watch the action
Online
Live video feeds are available online. Go to www.legis.ga.gov and look for the links under "Live Broadcasts" on the left. For the first time this year, Senate committee meetings will be streamed online. Video of House committee meetings has been posted online for several years. Look for the links at www.house.ga.gov/mediaServices/en-US/VideoBroadcasts.aspx and www.senate.ga.gov/spo/en-US/videobroadcasts.aspx. Only full committee meetings — not subcommittees — stream live online.
In person
Business begins at 10 a.m. most days in the House and Senate chambers, but legislators often arrive before that. If you want to catch a legislator before the day’s session, try waiting at the velvet ropes outside the chamber. Each chamber also has a gallery on the fourth floor of the Capitol. The hallways on the third floor have monitors that carry live feeds from the House and Senate. You will have to jockey with the lobbyists crowding the hallways for a good spot.
Complete coverage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will again have Georgia’s largest team covering the Legislature. No one will have more expertise on issues that matter to taxpayers when legislators return.
The AJC recently launched Politically Georgia, a premium website for subscribers that provides in-depth reporting on the Georgia General Assembly, elections, state government, health care, immigration and more, along with opinion columns from all sides. You can also sign up to receive The Morning Jolt, the AJC's daily politics email newsletter.
Get complete daily coverage during the legislative session at politicallygeorgia.com. Follow us on Twitter via @politicallyga and on Facebook at Politically Georgia.
