Our ongoing Key Votes work is located in the State Bill Report Google doc. Each bill will be labeled with the stage that needs to be completed in the "In Progress" column. The labels are as follows:

Input your name in the "In Progress" column as soon as you start work on a bill.
Needs Vote Entry

-Needs 1st Check
-Needs 2nd Check
-Vote Staff Check (make sure to notify a staff member if a bill needs to be checked by staff)

-Needs Staff Feedback
-Needs 1st Check
-Needs 2nd Check
-Summary Staff Check

Once you finish working on a bill, remove your name from the "In Progress" column and type in whatever stage is next. For example, if you were to work on and complete a Needs-2nd-Vote-Check stage, then you would type in the next step in the "In Progress" column, which would be “Vote Staff Check”.

If you are not able to finish a bill before the end of your shift, leave your name in the "In Progress" column and you can finish it when you arrive for your next shift.

The "Needs Votes Entry" stage means exactly that. After staff has selected a Key Vote, a digital folder will be created. The first step is to enter in votes, then vote checks follow.

Once a staff member completes a vote staff check, he or she will change the "In Progress" column to “Needs Original Summary”.

Once the “Needs Original Summary” step is complete, the intern will type in "Needs Staff Feedback" in the "In Progress" column and notify a staff member, who will then provide feedback in due time. Summary checks follow.

Once a staff member completes a summary staff check, the staff member will change the "In Progress" column to “Needs Web Check”.

You cannot simultaneously work on a vote entry and summary for a Key Vote. You can, however, work on a vote entry for the Key Vote and then, once it has moved through the process, work on the summary for that same Key Vote.

Know that when you are the original summary writer, it is your responsibility to create the bill summary sheet from scratch.

If a bill requires 2 Key Votes, 2 separate bill summary sheets are to be created.

You are now out of training! This means you can now utilize our past Key Vote summaries, live on the website, to assist you in your summary writing. Because we cover so many topics, it is very likely that you will find a bill like the one you are working on, on our website. You can definitely lift any language found in our live summaries.

Reminder: the "Vote Stage" column on the google doc displays which stages of the bill we selected as Key Votes.

Out of training, you will save all files to the corresponding state folder in UTBox

One of the best UTBox tips we can provide is to change your account settings to limit the email notifications you receive, and to allow you to display all folders in one page as opposed to having 5 pages to click through.

Always download your bill texts from UTBox, do not use the UTBox preview option. When previewing certain state bill texts, formatting might be different than what is on the original pdf.

If you are a Chrome user, feel free to download and install Chrome on your desktop. However, you will have to install it every time you log in so store the installation file in your UTBox intern folder for easy access.

If you ever work on a budget bill, make sure to visit our Wiki page for budgets; we have a very specific way of writing summaries for budget bills that oftentimes only includes writing a Title and Synopsis.

You might come across a “Disclaimer Highlights” comment on the physical bill folder front sheet. If you need assistance, review the Disclaimer Highlights Wiki page

Remember: It is common for the answer to your question to be found in the Wiki; if you cannot find the answer there, ask staff and we’ll help you out

If there is an open seat in the first 2 rows, please sit there so staff can have easy access to you and you to them throughout your shift; only if they are filled can you work on the opposite side
Try to prevent your internet browsers from streaming videos or music. Those processes take a toll on the virtual desktops and can cause that computer and all surrounding computers to freeze indefinitely.
Whenever staff calls to reset your EID, please wait 5 minutes until you attempt to log back in again. If you do not, you computer is likely to remain frozen.
If there is a problem with your keyboard not typing properly, click the "X" button on the drop down tab located at the top of the screen. Once in the login page, click "More Options" and click "Quit." Then log back in and your keyboard problem should have fixed.
We have had problems with Firefox in the past; it may be that it is memory-heavy. If you can, try using Explorer or download Chrome.
It's best to limit how many tabs you have open. The less tabs that are open will likely help our cause.

Nonpartisan: Talking about a current event and the latest updates in that event.
Partisan: Expressing, verbally or with non-verbal cues, your opinion on a policy or politician responding to that event.

Nonpartisan: Asking for clarification about the support and opposition for a particular policy or individual.
Partisan: Making disparaging or exalting comments about a particular policy, party, state, nation, individual, or group of individuals.

Nonpartisan: Discussing a particular state with staff and interns.
Partisan: Expressing any negative opinions of that certain state (ex: “it is too politically extreme”). Or expressing opinions that show you dislike the character of a certain state (ex: “it’s boring,” “I would never live there”, etc.).

PVSWiki : GoingForward

Helpful Hints Going Forward