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Using the Alabama Legislative Information System Online to support or oppose legislation ALISON,
the Alabama Legislative Information System Online, can help any Alabama
citizen to be a more effective "lobbyist" for or against state
legislation. ALISON allows you to identify
bills important to you. The
system provides
information about bills such as sponsors, history, fiscal notes,
amendments and substitutions, and status. Search bills by number,
keyword or content. Track their progress
and use your knowledge to focus and time your advocacy effort. Here's
how.
1. Go to the ALISON website online. In case you want to print in a publication, this is the ALISON web address: http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/alisonlogin.aspx We will refer to this window as ALISON's home page. 2. Set the legislative session for which you want to search. If the Legislature is currently in session, ALISON should open with the current session set by default. To see what session is set, look at the top of the ALISON home page window. It will say something like "Regular Session 2015". (You can set it to any year/session in which you are interested in researching). Keep in mind that some bills are filed prior to an upcoming session, so you do not have to wait for the opening of the session to find out about some legislation that will be introduced. Would you like to do an historical search on an issue? You can search the proceedings of any legislative session back to the Regular Session of 2001 simply by setting the legislative session option to the year in which you are interested. 3. Find bills of interest For
now, let's assume that you do not know a bill number, but would like to
find bills on a particular issue in which you are interested, those
sponsored by a certain legislator, bills of a particular status, etc.
To search for bills by keyword or content: Click on "Text Search" on the right side of the ALISON home page window to search for any bills that contain words relevant to your issue. To search for keywords or a complete phrase, enclose your words with double quotes " ". Submit that and ALISON returns all bills with those words or phrases. You will see the bill number and a short piece of the bill text containing your search words. Click on the bill number to see the complete bill. -- OR -- To search for bills by sponsor, committee, status, or instrument transaction. Click on "Bills" on the left side of the ALISON home page window. You will see several ways of searching for bills. For now we will ignore the button "Find Status of a Bill" because we're assuming you don't know a specific bill number. If you are interested in all bills sponsored by a particular legislator, click on "Bills by (House or Senate) Sponsor" and then click on the legislator. If you want to know all bills that are assigned to a particular committee, click ib "Bills in (House or Senate) Committee and then click on the committee. Here you can also find all bills of a certain status (for example, all bills that "Have Passed Second House" i.e. on their way to the governor's desk), or all bills of a certain type of instrument (for example all bills in conference committee or all bills that have been forwarded to the governor). 4. Make a list of your bills of interest for easy reference. You can keep your list manually and separate from ALISON or you can create a "Personal Instrument List" on ALISON. To use this feature, click on "Legislative Day Console" at the top of the column on the left side of ALISON's home window. Click on "Person Instrument List" at the bottom of the list of options 5. Find out more about a bill and follow its status during the legislative process. In ALISON click on Bills -> Status in the left column. Type in the bill number (e.g. HB110) in the "Bill Number" box and click "Get Status". In the next window, highlight the bill's button by clicking on it. Then click on History, Sponsors, Fiscal Notes, Amds/Subs and/or View for more information. Legislation is usually introduced in both the House and the Senate (different bill numbers - one for each chamber). Hopefully you have found a bill of interest while it is "in committee". Note which committees in the House and Senate are handling your legislation. 6. Get contact information for legislators who need your advocacy attention and make contact! Go to the AL Legislature website at www.legislature.state.al.us/ to search do this search. Advocacy in committee is very important. If your bill is in committee, click on House or Senate on the legislative web site (address above), then click on "Standing Committees" for a list of committees and the legislators on each committee. The names are linked to legislator contact information. Keep close track of the bill's committee meeting schedule and agenda to see when your bill might be coming up for consideration. This will help you make a timely advocacy effort. Call, email, fax, or visit the legislators on the committee. Short of visiting in person, a well-written letter is the most effective way to make your case. Concentrate on the leadership and known opponents to your position. To see committee schedules and agendae, click on "Committee Meetings" in the left menu column of ALISON. If your bill is listed on the committee's schedule for consideration and if you see "Public Hearing" printed on the committee schedule by the bill number, you can make a statement to the committee. You do have to arrive before the committee meeting is scheduled to begin and put your name on the list of those wishing to be heard. Committee meetings are open to the public, so if your bill is on the schedule, you can sit in at the meeting to hear the deliberations whether or not there is a public hearing! And while you're in the State House, why not call on the legislators of interest in person, especially your own Senator and Representative? 7. If/when the bill has passed out of committee, check the Special Order Calendar to see when your bill might be considered by the whole body. To see this, click "Special Order Calendar" in the left menu column of ALISON. Make contact with your legislator (be sure to note that you are a constituent). You might also consider contacting the leadership of the body (e.g. Speaker of the House, Senate President Pro-Temp, etc.) and legislators known to oppose your position. 8. If your bill makes it through one legislative body, congratulations! Repeat your efforts in the second house. GOOD LUCK!
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