How to track Florida House and Senate BIlls

Here’s a way you can protect what you feel needs protecting in the 2008

Legislative Session

Start at the site for the Florida House at http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/  The Senate site doesn’t have a way to register and keep track of what you are following but you can search both House and Senate Bills from this Florida House site. You can also reach this by going to a search engine and searching for ONLINE SUNSHINE. It is the entry way for both the House and Senate.

Here at http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/  you can search by the Bill Number or by Text for the bills going through the Florida House. House bills have odd numbers and the Senate bills all have even numbers. If you put a Senate bill number in the “Find a bill by number” slot on the House site on the left hand side of your screen it will bring up that bill. You don’t have to switch to the Senate side.

If you are concerned with what bills are being filed on certain things click on the “Search Bill Text” and put in, say you are interested in what they might do to wetlands, so type in wetlands. If you find bills you would like to follow go one step further and register and use this Free Service to follow bills. This site has progressed so much since they went online a number of years back that it is well worth your time to register and use it. Click on “Legislative Tracking” on the left hand side of the HOUSE screen and it will take you to the page where you register. It will ask name, address, e-mail address and password.

Below that is a list of when and how often you want to be notified of actions or movement of your chosen bills. I like to know when it has been referred to a committee, when it goes to the floor for first reading and any amendments made to it and whatever else pleases you. You really need to keep tabs of any amendments to your bill of concern. Often the bill that was filed is amended into something exactly the opposite. It’s an amazing process. Don’t get discouraged.

 Once you are registered and confirmed go back to the House Home page and if you saved the bill number you wanted to follow, put that number in on the left and click on GO. After you are at the one you wanted to track look at the top right hand part of the first page of the bill and you will see “Add Bill to Tracking.” Give it a click and the program will follow it for you and report back via e-mail the reports you selected at registering.

I have found over the years that they have a very good staff to answer your questions if you have problems. Also you can call the staff of the Committee handling the bills you are interested and question them if there is something you don’t understand.

You can also watch online some broadcasts of committees and broadcasts on the floor of the House or Senate when the bills get that far. Broadcasts are also archived.

The Tracking program of the House will e-mail you whenever there’s any chosen action on your bill, if you so desire. It will tell you about similar bills. What I find helpful is it will give you the members who have signed on to sponsor a Bill. So if you like it and your state representative isn’t there, give them a call and ask them to sign on. This opportunity to sign on will stop at a point, so act quickly if you like the bill.

Now if you don’t like the bill and you see the person representing you is one of the sponsors or is the person actually sponsoring the bill, let them know you don’t like it. Suggest ways, if you can, to make it palatable to you and your concerns and tell them why.

There are times when your state representative or senator can use help in promoting a bill you like and there is nothing wrong with writing a letter to the editor, talking to people you know and getting out the word for the bill and encouraging the bill’s sponsor to keep going with it..

In the Florida Senate a member is allowed to file all the bills he/she cares to deal with. It must have a companion House Bill. House Members are limited on the number of bills they can file. When I was there it was 4 bills a year and 2 local Bills that only affect your local area, not the state. That number can change every year and would be a good question to ask the Speaker of the House about and let the rest of your group know.

And speaking of groups I would suggest having your group discuss what you will need to focus on for your area. Share with them these basic  “How To’s” and ask them to search for bills using the text various members think may have good or bad legislation brewing under.