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A Citizen's Guide to Lobbying the Minnesota Legislature

Appendix B: How to use the Minnesota Legislature's Website

www.leg.state.mn.us

The Minnesota legislature’s website is a valuable
tool for learning about the legislative process and
tracking legislation.
Available at: http://www.leg.state.mn.us.

The Minnesota Legislative website is a very useful tool for gathering information about the legislative process. Not only can you find detailed information on all legislators and bills, but you can track the progress of bills, and even watch and listen to floor debates and committee hearings. This website provides everyday people with access to political happenings that influence their lives and is acts as an avenue to engage people in Minnesota’s legislative process.

How do I track a bill?

For starters, log onto the website, www.leg.state.us. Click on either the Senate or the House of Representatives links. On the left hand column of the webpage, you will see a text box with “Get Bill” written next to it. Simply enter in the number of the bill you wish to research and click “go.” For example, for Senate File 4, relating to renewable energy standards, type in “sf4.” For House File 4, you would type “hf4.”

At this point, there are several options. You can check the status of a bill in either house, as well as reading the actual text of the bill at different times and after various engrossments.

If you wish to check on the status of a bill, click on “Status of Bill in the House (or Senate)” and a spreadsheet will appear, describing the different actions taken on the bill on specific dates. Simply click on the page number of the action that interests you, and a new page will appear with that specific information.

To read the actual text of a bill that corresponds to an action taken upon the bill, first locate the date of the action in the previous spreadsheet. Scroll to the top of the page and click on “Bill Text” in the upper left hand corner. At this point, you will be presented with several different texts of the bill, corresponding to different engrossments. Click on the link that best matches the date of the action you are interested in. The bill text will appear, and you can scroll down to the relevant page and lines.

What else can I find on the Minnesota Legislature’s website?

The website also has a wealth of information regarding legislator information, committees, etc. The website provides full text Senate and House journals, as well as live video coverage of the House and Senate floor debates when the session is in. The Minnesota Legislative website can be a resourceful tool for learning more about Minnesota’s legislative process.

How do I find out who serves on a committee?

For a list of the Senate committees, go to the main page of the Minnesota legislature website at www.leg.state.mn.us. From here click on the “Senate” link, and then click on “Committee Information. Or, simply go to:

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/index.php?ls=85#header

For a list of the House of Representatives committees, click on the “House of Representatives” link from the main page, and then click on “Committee Information.” Or, simply go to:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/commemlist.asp.

Both of these sites offer links for each individual committee. Click on these links and you will be able to either see the full committee membership, or there will be another link that will display membership information.

How do I find out what’s happening today at the Capitol?

There are many different paths you can take to find out about events at the Minnesota Capitol.

For a list of what’s happening in the Senate on any particular day, click on “Senate” on the main page, and then click on any of the dates on the calendar that is displayed on the right-hand column.  Or, you can click on “Schedules along the top bar and scroll down to “Senate Schedules.” Or, you can go directly to:

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/schedule/schedule_list.php#header.

For a list of what’s occurring in the House on any particular day, click on “House of Representatives from the main page, and then click on any of the dates on the calendar that is displayed on the right-hand column.  Or, you can click on “Schedules” and scroll down to “House Schedules.” Or, you can go directly to:

http://www.house.leg. state.mn.us/hinfo/hinfosched.asp.

How can I find who represents me?

To find a list of the legislators who represent you, click on “Who Represents Me?” on the main page. Next, click on the “district finder” link. You can go directly to:

http://geo.commissions.leg.state.mn.us/districts/start.html

Enter your address and zip code. A new page will appear with your district map, as well as all the state and national legislators who represent you.

Inside the Minnesota legislature’s website you can dis-
cover events that are happening at the Capitol, learn the
status of legislation, read about your legislators, and
more! For example, to learn about events that are happen-
ing at the capitol on any given day, simply click on
the calendar in the right hand column of the House and
Senate pages of the site.
Discover more at: http://www.leg.state.mn.us.

Where can I find out more about my legislator?

Once you find out who your legislators are, it is simple to gather more information about them.

To look up a member of the House of Representatives, click on the “House of Representatives” link on the main page. Next, click on “member information” on the left hand column. Here, you can scroll down to your desired member by last name. You can also go directly to:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/hmem.asp

To look up a member of the Senate, click on the “Senate” link on the main page. Next, click on “senator information,” and then go to the page titled “Minnesota Senate Members by Last Name.” You can also go directly to:

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/member_list.php?sort=a&ls=85#header.

How can I watch a committee hearing or a house session online?

If you can’t make it down to the capitol to see the legislature working in person, you can always watch committee hearings and floor debates online!

To watch a committee hearing or house session online, click on either the “House of Representatives” or “Senate” link on the main page, and click on “watch live video” on the page that appears. You can also view this directly by going to:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/htv/htv.asp.

This link provides a full listing of hearings and floor sessions that will be televised over the internet. Just click on whichever hearing you want to observe.

Where can I find out what’s going on the General Register?

To view bills that have been placed on the General Register, click on the “House of Representatives.” On the next page, click on “schedules” on the top row, and then scroll down to “Orders of business.” On the following page, you will see a link for the general register about half way down the page. You can also go to this page directly at:

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/cco/orders/orders.htm.

Click on “General Register” near the bottom half of the page, and a new site will appear with the current, official General Register.