Understanding the Petition Process

When you want to submit a petition about some issue that has importance for you and a region, you do need to understand the petition process in order for it to be effective. Government agencies have a specific petition process (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/browse-petitions) that you must follow.

The most common form or petition that people do present to local, state and federal governments and politicians involves environmental reviews about situations that affect people and wildlife of a region. First, you do have to make sure your petition qualifies for the review because some projects are not considered large enough to warrant attention.

If you have a concern about a project that could have an impact on the environment, you should research the project to find out its scope. A completed petition of this nature must include a description of the project and the name of the person in charge of it.

Then you include your own name followed by a list of ways in which this project would harm the environment. You do need to provide supporting evidence, such as documentation about harm done in other areas as a result of a similar project. In order for such a petition to be taken seriously, you need to have at least 25 signatures.

Another common petition is one that wants to get a species listed as endangered. These formal requests must be accompanied by published documentation to support the claims you make in the goal of your petition.

Once you submit the petition, the organization has 90 days to make a ruling as to whether the claim is warranted. If there is enough data to warrant inclusion of the species on the endangered list, then it will take a 12-month review period to research the information before there is anything done.

Anyone can initiate a petition letter (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/corporate-accountability) about a cause or situation about which one feels strongly. The environment is just one of several categories in which petitions are filed. Others include:

•civil rights
•business
•education
•entertainment
•health
•government and politics

There are general guidelines to which a petition must adhere. These are:

•The petition must have a clear goal. You should use a header to write your reasons for starting this petition.

•You should include background information of the situation. This should be concise and not consist of any more than two or three sentences.

•You must state precisely what you want done about the situation and if you have suggestions about how to carry this out, include them here.

•Indicate the name of the person or agency to which you will submit the petition.

Then you start to collect the petition signatures of those who agree with the issue. If you have more than one page, each page must contain the information about the petition. The lines on the page should also be numbered for the signatures.

The process of starting and completing a petition also includes the circulation of the petition so that you have a large number of signatures in a timely manner. In some cases, such as having laws enacted or changed, you only have a small window of opportunity in which you can make your views known to the powers that be so that there is some chance of effecting the changes you outline in the petition.