Retroactive Selection
In the fall of 2018 the Key Votes program implemented a retroactive votes selection system. This page documents the reasons for this project, as well as the instructions for completion.Retroactive Selection - Table of Contents
Background of the Retroactive Selection Project
Retroactive Selection Process
Instructions
Background of the Retroactive Selection Project
Although the standard for Key Votes selection is 1,000 votes per year, the current system of tracking state legislation through the press is not foolproof. Due to the shifts taking place in the world of journalism, and particularly in political reporting, not all "key" votes will be covered by the press. (There are a couple of good Pew articles outlining the changes in the journalism industry that affect our ability to track legislation-- you can see those here and here. ) There is also more extensive documentation on this project available in both the Key Votes drive on the network (in the Training Docs and Documentation Folder) and in the Key Votes folder on the Google Drive, under Reports and Special Projects. Here's a direct link.Retroactive Selection Process
Because state legislative sites are all so different from one another, and rarely have simple, easily digestible lists of legislation passed by at least one full chamber in a session, we pivoted to a system of two rounds of collection in one year. We track press in the traditional sense during each state’s session, and then once states have adjourned, we conduct a second round of “retroactive” selection by using Legiscan to filter for bills fitting our criteria. We implemented this system in the fall of 2018, and it boosted our selection for the year by nearly 200 votes. Once the second round of selection is completed, the votes in question are entered and summarized. As of now, in March of 2019, we are still in the process of adding these summaries to the database, but this is preferable to the large gaps in our data that have developed in previous years.Instructions
Retroactive selection is similar to regular selection-- we just find the bills through a slightly different method. Follow the steps below:1. Go to Legiscan
2. Change the state setting in the left hand corner of the screen and press search (there is a drop down menu for the states). Please note that Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas only have sessions on the odd number years (ex. 2019), although you should still check for any special sessions.
3. Make sure you are looking at the right year (located at the top center area). Please note that some states list their sessions from the previous year to the current (for example 2017-2018), while other states will have only one-year sessions.
4.Change the filter settings:
- For Body change it to Both;
- For Type change it to Bills; and
- For status change it to Passed.
6. Try to find bills that had very close votes/meets our Key Vote Criteria
7. Try to find press, if available. Sometimes there will be little to no press for these bills, either because the press didn't write about it, or because it's out of date enough that it's difficult to find existing press. If you can't find any press, but still think the bill is worth discussing for coverage, create the bill file without a press file.
8. Retroactively selected bills should be added to a selection sheet in the Google Drive, separate from the regular selection sheet. They should be discussed in selection meetings in addition to regular selections. If they are selected in the meeting, they should then be added to the State Bill Report for the current semester.
Once this process is complete, follow the typical steps for entering, summarizing, and releasing these bills. Entry, summarizing, and releasing should be done on an as-time-allows basis. Work on current selections, vetoes, and status updates should be given priority.
