PHOENIX — Monitoring the Legislature can be as simple as learning how to navigate its website.
From there, citizens using a computer, tablet or smartphone can find out what issues committees are dealing with, dash off a quick email to legislators and learn the details about specific bills.
It starts at the main legislative web page at www.azleg.gov
The menu along the top includes separate links for the floor of Senate and House of Representatives, and the nine hearing rooms they use, which requires figuring out where you want to be.
Find committees
Under the “committee” link on the home page are the names of all the committees. And within those are the upcoming agendas of what bills will be heard on specified days.
Of course, all that presumes you know the issues you want to track in the first place.
Find bills
The list of issues can be found under the “bills” button. There you can search for a measure by bill number or, if you don’t know that, by keywords.
So, if you’re interested in environmental issues, you can input the word “pollution,” and find all bills with that word.
The full text of bills and amendments also is available under various formats, including html and pdf.
Sponsors also are listed for each bill.
The first name listed is the person who is considered the main sponsor, though other lawmakers can sign on as “prime” sponsors and are designated as such with a “P” behind their names. Co-sponsors are marked with a “C.”
Be alert, though: It’s not uncommon for lawmakers to change the entire contents of a bill in a committee with a “strike everything” amendment.
So a bill number that originally addressed drunken driving could easily turn into one on visitation rights by grandparents.
Contacting lawmakers
Each lawmaker’s website has an email link. And many of them actually monitor their incoming messages during the hearings and floor sessions, meaning an emailed query could end up provoking a discussion.
In fact, you can actually provide input at a committee hearing without even showing up at the Capitol.
The system allows you to sign up to “speak” at a committee hearing on any bill on the agenda, entering comments that are made available to the committee chair and members during the actual meeting.
For less-immediate responses, the legislative websites list individual phone numbers. But a better alternative to a long-distance call for those outside the Phoenix area is using the state’s toll-free number, 1-800-352-8404.
Don’t know who represents you? No problem: The site has a link that allows you to type in your address and ZIP code to get a map showing your legislative district.
