We the People · For us, by us
You brief me.
I report back.
Brief Me is where citizens take an active part in shaping policy. You bring the perspective, the evidence, and the lived experience. Your representative brings the vote, and a clear answer about why it went the way it did.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE · 1776
How it works
Four steps from your kitchen table to the chamber floor.
Every brief follows the same path, so every citizen gets the same treatment.
Pick the issue
Choose a bill or topic already on the table, or raise one that is not on the radar yet.
Think it through
Use the Lens: the same eight questions your representative asks before any vote.
Back it up
Attach data, statistics, or examples from official and credible sources.
Get an answer
Briefs are batched by issue. When the vote happens, the decision and the reasons are posted.
The Lens · How I think through a decision
Eight questions before every vote.
This is the thinking process in the open. Answer any of these in your brief and you are speaking the same language as the decision.
What are we trying to accomplish?
The problem in plain words, and what success looks like.
Who are the affected parties?
Families, workers, businesses, neighborhoods, agencies. Who carries the weight?
What happens if we do it?
The likely results, intended and unintended.
What happens if we don’t?
Doing nothing is a decision too. What does it cost?
What are the potential benefits?
Who gains, how much, and how sure are we?
What are the potential challenges?
Costs, risks, trade-offs, and who pays for them.
What does it do for us now?
The effect this year, on real people in this district.
What does it do for us in the future?
The effect on the next generation, and the one after that.
The questions come in pairs on purpose: do / don’t, benefits / challenges, now / future. Both sides get weighed.
Submit a brief
Brief your representative.
Disagreement is welcome. Noise is not. Briefs with profanity or personal attacks are returned automatically, because making sense starts with respect.
Batches · Where your brief is right now
Read in batches. Answered in batches.
Briefs are grouped by issue into two-week batches. That keeps every one of them read, and keeps every answer on schedule.
Child care access and cost
Property tax relief
The Record · Decisions and reasons
Every batch gets an up-or-down answer.
What the vote was, what the decision is, and why, in as much detail as the issue deserves.
E pluribus unum · Out of many, one
There is no “they.” They is us.
Your brief is read
Every brief that meets the standard is read before the batch closes. Themes are summarized and published.
Your time is respected
You will know when the batch closes, when the vote happens, and where to find the answer.
You get the reasons
A vote without reasons is a verdict. A vote with reasons is a conversation you can keep having.