When building a query in BillTrack50 you can filter a bill based on its progress. This post will define the different categories and discuss how they can be used to help you narrow down your bills to those that matter most to you.
The Categories
In your bill sheet, go to the Query tab. The categories are in the Filter Bills section:
- Introduced: This is the first progress category for a bill. It means that the bill has been officially filed with the legislature. We include pre-filed bills in this category if they have been given their official bill number. We do not consider Massachusetts bills to be introduced until the docket is assigned a bill number by the clerk.
- In committee: This progress category means that the bill has been assigned to one or more committee(s). If the committee chooses to consider the bill, the committee may hold hearings, mark up the bill, and vote on whether to report the bill out of committee.
- Crossed over: This progress category means that the bill has been reported out of committee and has been passed a vote by the full chamber. Once a bill crosses over we do not put the progress back to In Committee when the bill is assigned to new committees in the second chamber, but we do update the date under the "in committee" segment of the progress graphic. Nebraska and DC City Council skips this step as they have no second chamber.
- Passed: This progress category means that the bill has been approved by both chambers and sent to the executive, which could be the Governor, Secretary of State, or President, depending on the bill.
- Signed/Enacted: This progress category means that the bill has been signed into law by the governor or that the time period allowed for the governor to veto the bill has expired.
- Dead: This progress category means a bill can no longer pass. Typically that means the session the bill was introduced in ended without the bill getting passed.
- Vetoed: This progress category means the bill was vetoed by the executive. The legislature can reconsider the bill and vote to override the veto. If they do not, the bill is dead.
- Veto Overridden: This progress category means the legislature was successful in overturning a veto and thus will become law.
How Can You Use Them?
How you might take advantage of the bill progress filter depends on what you are trying to do:
Advocacy
If you want to influence a bill, you need to know about it as soon as possible so you can start planning. You should look at all bills in your area of interest up until they get passed. Or, if you are willing to reach out to the executive, you can include passed bills. On the other hand, if you do not have the resources to tackle all relevant bills, you can leave out introduced bills and only consider bills that have been sent to committee. This will help you focus your efforts and avoid wasting time on bills that are unlikely to pass.
Compliance
If you only need to know about new laws so you can follow them, you don't need to follow bills early in the process or worry about bills that have been defeated. You can just include signed/enacted and veto-overridden bills in your bill sheet. However, if you want more warning about upcoming bills, you can also include passed bills or even crossed-over bills.
Informing
If you are trying to keep a group of people informed about a list of bills, but aren't taking sides on whether the bills are good or bad, then you might want to simply share all bills in all progress categories except for dead bills or vetoed bills. Choosing those categories will keep your audience up to date on all bills in progress, as well as bills that made it over the finish line. Leaving out dead and vetoed bills will minimize clutter and distractions.
Research
If you are interested in identifying legislative trends, you might want to keep all bill progress categories in your bill sheet, including dead and vetoed bills, so that you can compare what passed to what didn't. Don't forget about the "row group" feature at the top of your bill sheet to quickly count bills in each progress category. You can use the "session years" timeline on the query tab to peruse old bills and count how many passed and failed in previous years too. Another option for comparing this year to previous years is to copy your bill sheet using the copy button on the manage tab and set each copy of the bill sheet to a different legislative session.