Step 5. Preparing a Bill Summary:: PVSWiki

Step 5. Preparing a Bill Summary:

After the voting record for a Key Vote is live, you can begin the summary. Remember to work on older votes first (check selection date) and check to see if someone else in the office has done an earlier vote on the same bill (in which case have them do the later one as well).

Open the Bill Summary Sheet for your key vote that is saved in the vote's electronic folder in the Spring 2008 folder of the Key Votes share drive and complete the information.

Filling out a Bill Summary Sheet:

Summary By: Your Name
State: State Name
Bill Number: This is a prefix (ex: HB) followed by a number. The easiest way to find this is to look it up on the legislative site.
Title: It is the popular title in non-partisan language. If the state legislature provides a short title that is nonpartisan and explains what the vote is about: use that. However, if that does not exist make up a title. It should be short 3 - 4 words, give the gist of what the bill is about and be nonpartisan, keep in mind that if you go to an individual Representative or Senator's voting record page all that will show up is the date, this title and whether they voted Yea or Nay.
Official Title: Should be at the top of the bill, it generally starts with "An act . . .". For amendments it should be the title of the amendment if there is one.
Sponsors: The easiest way to find this is to look it up on the legislative site. Committees can also be sponsors. For amendments it should be the sponsor of the amendment, not of the amended bill.
Co-sponsors: The easiest way to find this is to look it up on the legislative site. Committees can also be co-sponsors.
Date Introduced: Either when it says introduced or first reading, the first time the entire chamber saw the bill. For amendments it should be the date that the amendment was introduced not when the original bill was introduced.
Type: Legislation, Legislation-Appropriation, Constitutional Amendment, Legislation - Joint Resolution, Nomination, Legislation-Resolution. Please note: do not select Constitutional Amendment, it is an option but would make the outcome on our website: Amendment Adopted. Most Constitutional Amendments are Joint Resolution or Resolutions, you can tell by the prefix select the type that corresponds with the prefix ie: SJR - choose Joint Resolution, SR - Resolution, S or SB - Legislation. Legislation-Appropriation should be selected when it is the budget or only deals with appropriations, do not select this if it is a bill that only does a small amount of appropriation at the end.
Level: This will be House or Senate. House is the same as Assembly.
Stage: These will be one of several options we have in Admin. Possible choices are Passage, Passage with Amendment, Veto Override, Tabling Vote, Conference Report Vote, Amendment Vote, Motion Vote, Cloture Vote, Concurrence Vote, or Non-concurrence Vote (Introduced, Referred to Committee show up as options they are not key votes actions but rather status actions)
Roll Number: Can be called a Sequence Number, Roll Number or just be shown at the corner of the vote break down. However, not all states have them, so leave it blank if you cannot locate it.
Yeas and Nays: On the actual sheet you may simply list the actual numbers.
Outcome: Passed/Failed
Date of Vote: Day the vote took place (this should be a calendar day, not a legislative day).
Category or Categories: This is one of the ways users can search for a bill. The categories will be decided in a selection meeting, but you may add additional categories if necessary after discussing it with your supervisor. Please remember to think about where people with opposite takes on the bill would look for and put it in all the categories that any side would look for it in.
Note: We use notes to explain legislative procedure that need to be explained but doesn't below in the synopsis. Examples are Substitute Bill, Veto Override, Emergency Clause, or Reconsideration. A vote may need multiple notes.
Official Synopsis: This can be called something different by the State Legislature's page, often Summary, Digest or within the Fiscal Analysis. Please note: it should only be included if it's for the version you are summarizing, since the bill generally changes the introduced synopsis should not be used unless no amendments have been made. If the official synopsis is extremely long sometimes we cut it down. Make sure you use ellipses to indicate that you cut something
Other Statuses for Web: Should include first Passage in Each Chamber, Final Passage in Each Chamber, Final Action on the bill, including Governor's action if it has already occurred. If it died in committee, we post the referred to committee action. The purpose of this is to indicate what happened to the bill before and after the key vote. If another vote on the bill was key it will also be listed here, be sure to indicate that it is a key vote when you include it in the list.
Bill Text: Should always be the version voted on. Usually an engrossed version is printed after the first chamber passes the bill, a re-engrossed version is printed after the bill passes the second chamber, a conference report is printed after a conference committee agrees on a final version, and an enrolled version is passed before a bill is sent to the governor. Please save it in whatever form the legislature makes it available into your electronic folder. If there are format choices, the first choice is PDF, then HTML, and then Word.

If you are having trouble deciding which version to use, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Has the bill been amended since the introduced version? If no use the introduced version, if yes you need a different version of the bill
2. Has the bill passed one chamber and then been amended by the chamber you are looking at? If no you can use the same version that passed the first chamber, if yes you need a later version of the bill.
3. Has the bill gone to the Governor? Was the vote you are covering the last vote in one of the chambers before it went to the Governor? If yes use the final version of the bill (normally called Enrolled), if no you need an earlier version of the bill.

Writing Your Synopsis and Highlights:

Before you start working on your synopsis and highlights, read the press articles in your vote's electronic folder, starting with the most recent articles.

Start synopsis with the following depending on the type of legislation and the stage:

Passage:

"Vote to pass a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..."
"Vote to repass a bill after having concurred with Senate and House amendments to a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..." (Use this if the legislature requires a SEPARATE vote to concur with amendments which we do not cover, and then another vote to repass the bill which we do cover; this is also relatively unusual)

Passage with Amendment:

"Vote to pass a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..."

Concurrence Vote:

"Vote to concur with House/Senate amendments and pass a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..." (use this if the legislature COMBINES the vote to concur with amendments and repass the bill jointly; this occurs far more often then repassing after concurrence)

Nonconcurrence Vote:

"Vote to not concur with House/Senate amendments to a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..." (use this if the legislature provides for a motion to refuse to concur with the opposing chambers amendments. In such a case, the "Aye" votes will be supportive of a refusal to concur and "Nay" votes will be supportive of concurring)

Concurrence Vote with Amendment (very rare):

"Vote to concur with House/Senate amendments and adopt additional amendments to a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..." (use this if, in rare cases, the legislature allows additional amendments to be adopted while also concurring with the opposing chambers amendments)

Conference Report Vote:

"Vote to adopt a conference report that..."

Veto Override:

"Vote to override a veto of a bill that..."

Amendment Vote:

"Vote to adopt an amendment to HB/SB XXX that..."

Constitutional Amendment:

"Vote to pass a bill/resolution/joint resolution that submits a constitutional amendment to the voters that..."

Tabling Vote:

"Vote on a motion to table a bill/amendment/resolution/joint resolution that..."

Cloture Vote (rare in state legislatures):

"Vote on a motion to invoke cloture on a bill/resolution/joint resolution that..."

Confirmation Vote:

"Vote to confirm..."

Inexpedient to Legislate (exclusive only to New Hampshire):

"Vote on a motion to declare inexpedient to legislate a bill that..."

Motion Vote:

"Vote on a motion to [explain the intent of the motion and the bill/amendment/resolution/joint resolution]..."

If the bill you are summarizing does not fit the above actions ask your supervisor for the proper wording.

Then in one to three sentences summarize the most important part of the legislation. Do no take facts from the press. AVOID ANY PARTISAN LANGUAGE.

Highlights

Highlights give the reader more specific information about the bill, such as dates, amounts, and penalties. Read through the defense materials and skim the bill text to help you decide what's important enough to be highlighted. If you find information in the press make sure you can verify it in the text.

Start each highlight with a verb (unless it's an appropriations bill, in which case list dollar amounts first).

Each highlight should begin with a dash. There should not be a space between the dash and the first word.

Make sure to cite each highlight in the bill text: (Sec. 3).

There should be one return between each highlight.

If the bill is a substitute and the sponsor changes from the original sponsor, this should be your last highlight:

-Substitute offered by Senator Jane Doe.
-Substitute offered by the House Committee on Finance.
-Etc.

Finishing Up:

When you are satisfied with your summary, print it out. Also print out the defense materials. Put them into your hard-copy folder with your summary on top. Put your name and the date in the Summary section of the folder tracker sheet. Place the folder in the 1st Check.

PVSWiki : Summary