GenAI Change Management: A Starter Kit for State Legislative Offices

Jun 9

Purpose of this Kit

This starter kit is designed for state legislators and their staff undertaking thoughtful introduction and integration of institutionally approved generative AI (GenAI) tools into their office’s operations. The approach is grounded in flexibility, staff development, and Member-led control. Every office is different; this guide is meant to support and recommend, not prescribe.

We recognize the realities of meeting the modern demands of serving as an elected official: limited time, varying comfort levels with new technology, and high stakes in the public eye while serving the people of your district or region. This kit is structured to help legislators and staff make informed, intentional decisions about how to lead their office as they learn about using GenAI tools in ways that support the legislator and improve service to constituents.

Roadmap to GenAI Familiarity & Use

A phased approach to follow at your office’s own pace.

Phase 1: Build Your Knowledge as The Member or Senior Staffer

1. Review institutional guidance. Explore if your institution has issued official guidance regarding use of GenAI tools. If so, familiarize yourself with these rules.

If your institution has issued guidance, gain access to approved tools and begin experimenting with them. Follow your institution’s guidance to obtain a subscription or licence to an institutionally-approved Large Language Model (LLM). (Common LLMs include ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot.) Paid subscription accounts come with data security features; it is a best practice to enable privacy settings on your account.
If your institution has not issued guidance but you have the authority to use an LLM, it is a best practice to set up a paid, subscription account that comes with additional data security features.

2. Review training, explore resources, and discover use cases. Resources such as Harnessing AI to Master a New Policy Topic, Creating and Using Custom Bots, and our AI Starter Kit for State Legislators can spark your imagination of what these tools can be used for.

Tip #1: Brainstorm use cases with help of an LLM. Once you gain access to an LLM, one of your first queries can be focused on how it can help you in your role. Try out the prompt:

“I’m [a Member or a staff member for an elected official] of [your institution’s name] and am new to using GenAI. Please provide me with a list of use cases for how I can utilize you (the LLM) and include two sample prompts per use case.”

Tip #2: In your personal time, use a personal account on the LLMs at home to further explore their capabilities and use cases. Ask an LLM for recipe recommendations, strategies to improve your finances, tips for time management or trying a new hobby…anything!

Phase 2: Build a Strategy for Your Team

Define the Member’s Buy-in and Prepare Your Office for Structured Experimentation.

3. Clearly define the Member’s guidance for GenAI use within the office. Each Member is at a unique place and comfort level of understanding this technology and its applicability in a professional setting. It’s essential to have clear communication and transparency among your office’s leadership team regarding what guidelines should be set to lead your team’s successful integration of this emerging technology.

4. Create an initial GenAI Use Policy for your team. Clear instructions are key to encouraging safe and responsible innovation by your team. By providing an additional guidance document to supplement the policies set by your institution, your staff and interns can begin using GenAI tools with confidence, knowing they are staying within set boundaries.

Tip: See a sample GenAI Use Policy here.

5. Consider formalizing routine GenAI learning sessions. The two best ways for individuals to learn the capabilities of GenAI tools are to start using them and to learn from their peers’ use cases. Consider setting aside ten minutes with your staff or colleagues for individuals to share how they are integrating GenAI into a workflow, lessons learned, and potential related use cases. This routine check-in can act as a transparency measure for you to stay informed of use cases across your team or institution and may assist in the continual development of your office’s or broader institution’s GenAI Use Policy.

Phase 3: Remain in Control

6. Routinely revisit your office’s GenAI Use Policy. Artificial intelligence is an emerging technology with evolving capabilities. Your team is at the forefront of the legislative workforce in understanding how it can be used to augment institutional workflows. In this dynamic environment, innovation is key to success but it’s essential to mitigate risk by establishing transparent guardrails to protect Members, staff, and the constituents you serve. Reviewing the institution’s guidance regularly and revisiting your office’s specific guidance to ensure it continually aligns with the Member’s values and comfort level is important.

Tip: Whenever your internal GenAI Use Policy is updated, ensure your employee onboarding documents and intern training resources are also kept up to date.

7. Build out transparency best practices. Staff experience with these tools will vary widely. For some, GenAI may already be second nature; for others, it’s brand new territory. Regardless of experience level, staff corresponding directly with constituents carry real responsibility and building transparency practices around their use of GenAI protects both them and your office. Mitigate risks and support your team’s professional growth by implementing transparency best practices. For example:

For content creation: If a staff member is using an LLM to draft a letter to constituents, have them copy and paste the LLM-created draft into a Word document and use “track changes” to create a record of how the staffer further edits the letter to customize it for the Member’s voice, policy position, or tone. When submitting the form letter for your review, have the staffer submit both the red-lined version and the final version. This transparency practice has a number of benefits. It provides you with awareness of what content was AI-generated as well as what customization the staff member initiated to match the Member’s position.

8. Have an open door policy. Be clear about your desire for staff to be using this technology and that you want to hear about it. Have an open door policy to encourage staff to share what worked and didn’t work, and give them opportunities to showcase innovative use cases.

For Additional Consideration

Practice what you preach. Set your own usage goals and challenge yourself to continually explore how this emerging technology may improve your workflows. Encourage and inspire your staff by sharing how you are using these tools.
There is no one-size-fits-all, timeless model. Let your voice and your team culture guide the approach, and recognize that your office’s approach will very likely need to change and adapt over time.
People are the heart of state legislatures. The goal of using GenAI tools is to boost legislative capacity by strengthening the operations and efficiency of your team in service to your constituents. It is not to replace the legislative workforce, automate judgment, or support lazy staff work. Human review and agency should remain at the core of all your office’s functions.
Give your staff permission to try, reflect, and revise. The world is at the starting gate of understanding this technology. You and your team are not behind; you are innovators. Support your team during this exciting time and create space to allow for experimentation, failure, and shared learning. You set the culture of your office regarding use of this emerging technology.
As a Member or staff member exploring this new technology, you are not alone. Reach out to others to learn about the approach they are taking in their own education of these tools or with their teams. Additionally, outside organizations, thinktanks, civil society groups, and more stand ready to support you. We’re building this ecosystem together to future-proof state legislatures.

Have additional questions or feedback on this resource? Reach out to us at info@popvox.org.

Resources for State Legislators