BillTrack50 Help Center

You can search for specific committees using the committee quick search screen. You can also filter bills by which committee they’ve been assigned to using the committee / committee category filter. This post will cover how both tools work.

Committee Quick Search

In the QUICK SEARCH section of the navigation panel, you’ll notice there is a Committee Search option:

You can use this new search to look at the list of committees in a given state, for example, or, of course, to look up the details about any specific committee.

Click the name of the committee to be taken to the committee page with general contact info and links, the members of the committee, and info about committee staff.

The Committee Filter on the Query Tab

You can filter your searches by either a specific committee or broad committee categories.

Go to the Filter Bills section of the Query tab on any bill sheet, and choose an option from the drop down menu:

You can now choose whether to filter your bills by a single committee or by using committee categories.

What is a Committee Category?

We have looked at all the committees across the whole of the country and assigned them one of 11 broad categories:

• Justice
• Government Affairs
• Education
• Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Business and Industry
• Labor and Employment
• Military Affairs and Security
• Budget and Finance
• Health and Social Services
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Housing and Urban Affairs

So, for example, the House Congressional Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Committee is in the Agriculture and Natural Resources category (which covers environmental, farming, mining and so on). The Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee in in the Government Affairs category (which includes anything to do with elections, interstate relations, local governance, administration and so on).

How Does the Search Work?

When you select one or more of the categories, and click save, it will filter the bills on the bill sheet to just bills that have been assigned to one of the committees in the category. This allows you to make sure your search isn't returning bills that are unconnected with the main topic of your search. So if you're searching for bills related to medical marijuana, you can select the Health and Social Services category which should help to filter out those bills related to the commercial aspects of marijuana legislation.

A few things to note:

• Not all bills are sent to a committee. So if you choose to use this filter, you won't find those bills.
• Bills can be sent to more than one committee, in which case they may be in more than one committee category.

Single Committee Filter

The filter for specific committees works like adding a bill by bill number. YOU MUST choose states for your query and save your sheet before this feature will work. In the committee box start typing the name of the committee you would like to filter by. After you type three characters you’ll get a list of all matching committees for the states you have chosen on the state list. Keep typing to narrow down further then click on the committees you want.

Here, I've chosen Colorado and Texas as my states so it shows me committees from both states. The committee filter will limit your existing results to bills that were ever assigned to the committee(s) in question, NOT just bills currently in that committee.

If you want all bills that went through a specific committee you will need to enter search terms that will return all bills and then apply the committee filter. If you are searching a single state put the state code (like FL or TX) into the “Contains All” box to get all bills. Unfortunately if the state abbreviation is a word, namely OR or IN, then your best bet is to enter in the whole state name. If you want to search across the whole country then try choosing an any of search and enter: act enact* state states sec*. That should get you all bills. If you want resolutions too then add: whereas resolv*.

You can search for specific committees using the committee quick search screen. You can also filter bills by which committee they’ve been assigned to using the committee filter. This post will cover how both tools work.

Committee Quick Search

In the quick search section of the navigation panel, you’ll notice there is a Committee Search option. You can use this new search to look at the list of committees in a given state, for example, or, of course, to look up the details about any specific committee. The committee display shows general contact info and links, the members of the committee, lists of any subcommittees, and provides info about committee staff (example).

Committee Filter on Bill Sheet Query Tab

The filter for Committees works like adding a bill by bill number. YOU MUST choose states for your query and save your sheet before this feature will work. In the committee box start typing the name of the committee you would like to filter by. After you type three characters you’ll get a list of all matching committees for the states you have chosen on the state list. Keep typing to narrow down further then click on the committees you want.

The committee filter will limit your existing results to bills that were ever assigned to the committee(s) in question, NOT just bills currently in that committee.

If you want *all* bills that went through a specific committee you will need to enter search terms that will return all bills and then apply the committee filter. If you are searching a single state put the state code (like FL or TX) into the “Contains All” box to get all bills. Unfortunately if the state abbreviation is a word, namely OR or IN, then your best bet is to enter in the whole state name. If you want to search across the whole country then try choosing an any of search and enter: act enact* state states sec*. That should get you all bills. If you want resolutions too then add: whereas resolv*.

 

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