Civic Standards
People's Petition Standards
A petition on People's Lobby is a public request for government action. It is held to the same standard as everything else on this site: specific, sourced, and free of partisan framing. These standards apply to every petition regardless of its subject or position.
What a petition must do
- ✦Ask a named official, committee or chamber to take one specific action.
- ✦Support or oppose a specific bill, amendment, hearing or investigation.
- ✦Cite public records — bills, votes, filings, disclosures, official statements.
- ✦Describe the real-world consequence of the action being requested.
What is not permitted
- ⚑Threats, intimidation, or calls for violence against any person or office.
- ⚑Harassment, doxxing, or publication of private personal information.
- ⚑Claims presented as fact without a citable public source.
- ⚑Impersonating an official, agency, campaign, or another person.
- ⚑Election-law filings: ballot initiatives, referenda, recalls, or candidate nominating petitions.
- ⚑Commercial solicitation, fundraising appeals, or paid promotion.
Review and removal
Anyone can report a petition. Reported petitions may be placed under review while they are examined against these standards, and removed if they violate them. Removal is a standards decision about the petition text — never a judgment about the position it takes. People's Lobby takes no side on any petition it hosts.
Privacy of supporters
Signing a petition does not publish your name. ZIP codes given for constituent verification are stored privately, used once to check district or state membership, and never displayed. Only aggregate counts appear on the public page. See the privacy notice.