STATE OF TEXAS
Complete Policy Advocacy Challenge 6.1 in Jansson on p. 176. Read the background information then spend some time getting acquainted with THOMAS.
Select a topic of interest to you, and search for bills or laws on that topic (i.e., healthcare, welfare, children).
Next, using the search engines we discussed in Chapter One (LISTED BELOW), find your state's homepage, and then find your state legislature's website. If the website allows for searching introduced and passed legislation, repeat the search you did in THOMAS.
HINT: You are looking for a general topic first, then bills at each level. Do not try to look up a specific bill both places because that does not exist since you are comparing state and federal legislation.
There may be similarities but they won't be identical. Make sure to pick one specific bill at each level and answer the questions below regarding each specific bill.
ASSIGNMENT: (SELECT A TOPIC UP ABOVE, )
1. Compare the results of your searches-
A) How are the bills or laws similar?
B) Do they address the same or similar problems?
C ) How is the state's approach different from the federal, and vice versa?
2. Who introduced or sponsored each piece of legislation?
Find their homepage and compare their legislative agendas.
3. From your perspective, is the solution to the problem addressed in the legislation a good solution or a poor solution?
Critique each piece of legislation as if you were a member of the state legislature faced with voting on that piece of legislation
HELPFUL WEBSITES
How Our Laws Are Made: A detailed description of the federal legislative process.
• THOMAS (Library of Congress): Search engine for federal bills and laws, links tobiographical information, and links to additional congressional Internet services.
You might also wish to explore websites of the National Council of State Legislatures.
The National Governors Association, at www.nga.org/.
• Your library may have access to a subscription database called Congressional Universe, which provides much of the same information as THOMAS. Both are excellent resources for finding federal legislative information.
• United States Senate: Links to senators' websites, legislative agendas, votes, and more.
• United States House of Representatives: Links to representatives' websites, legislativeagendas, votes, and more.
• The White House.
In 1995, a team of librarians and technologists from the Library of Congress createdTHOMAS, under a federal mandate from the 104th Congress to make federal legislativeinformation freely available to the public via the Internet.
THOMAS, is named for Thomas Jefferson, and provides access to many types of political and government information:
• Legislation: text of bills and information about those bills introduced into the Houseand Senate, text of laws passed by Congress, record of how members of Congress voteon bills, motions, and more (roll call votes)
• Congressional Record: an index to and full text of the official record of the speeches,remarks, issues, and other happenings in Congress
• House and Senate Committee Information: membership, charges, schedules, text of hearings
• Senator/Representative Directories: links to homepages with contact information, constituency information, profiles, legislative agendas; finding aids for locating a specific memberby ZIP code and state
• Other Congressional Internet Services: the Government Printing Office, the GeneralAccounting Office, the Congressional Budget Office, and others
• Links to guides on the legislative process in the House and Senate, database of historical documents, and more.
STATE LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION
Finding state information is, in general, not as streamlined as finding federal information.States generally do not have the same mandate to place their legislative information onthe Internet.
Often the best way to find state information is to look for Web links on your state's homepage to government, legislature, agencies, elected officials, and statelibraries or archives.
You might also wish to explore websites of the National Council of State Legislatures, and the National Governors Association. These are excellent starting points.