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Bill Questions
How do I get information on a bill?
How do I view the text of a bill?
How do I find a bill if I don't know its number?
How do I find out how a bill becomes a law in
Louisiana?
How do I find out what all of these
abbreviations mean?
How do I compile a legislative history?
Committee Questions
-
How do I view the broadcasts of committee
meetings?
-
How do I get the schedule and the agendas of
interim committee meetings?
-
How do I sign up to receive email notification
of committee meetings?
Legislator Questions
-
How do I determine who is my legislator?
-
How do I contact my legislator?
-
How do I view the district map for each
legislator?
Other Questions
-
How do I view Louisiana's laws?
-
How do I view the PDF documents on the website?
-
How do I get RealPlayer in order to view the
broadcasts?
-
How do I talk to a "live person?"
-
How do I get a glossary of legislative terms?
-
How do I get to the state Capitol?
How do I get information on a bill?
There are several places
to get information on legislation from the
Louisiana Legislature.
First, on the
home page, scroll down
to the section labelled "Bill Search." Next,
select the session in which you are interested.
Select from one of the five ways to retrieve a
bill:
- by a specific
instrument
- by the author's
name
- by a range of
instruments (for example, House Bills
starting with HB 22)
- by the committee
that a bill has been referred
- by a text search
of the entire instrument database
REMEMBER, you must
first select a session before you can continue
with your search.
The second place from
which to retrieve a bill is to go to the
specific session page. To get the list of
sessions, click on "Session Information" which
is located on the maroon navigation bar or
click here. From the
session page, you can do any one of the five
searches mentioned above.
Once you have retrieved
a specific bill, you have several choices
available to you:
- view the
CURRENT VERSION of the bill
- view a list of
ALL VERSIONS of the bill
- view a list of all
of the AMENDMENTS on the bill
- view the DIGEST
which is a short explanation of the bill
- view the VOTES
on all actions of the bill
- view the
HISTORY which shows you everything from
the introduction to the final action taken
on the bill.
NOTE: You need
to have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4 or higher
installed on your computer to retrieve the
bills. If you do not have version 4 or higher of
Acrobat Reader,
click here to download
a free copy of the Reader.
How do I view the text of a bill?
There are a couple of ways to do view the text
of the bill. First, on the
home page, scroll down
to the section labelled "Bill Search." Next,
select the session in which you are interested.
Then select from one of the four ways to
retrieve a bill:
- by a specific
instrument
- by the
author's name
- by a range of
instruments (for example, House Bills
starting with HB 22)
- by a text
search of the entire instrument
database.
REMEMBER, you must
first select a session before you can continue
with your search.
The second place from
which to retrieve a bill is to go to the
specific session page. To get the list of
sessions, click on "Session Information" which
is located on the maroon navigation bar or
click here. From the
session page, you can do any one of the four
searches mentioned above.
Once you retrieve a
bill, you will see the current status and
summary of the bill. Note the hyperlinks below
this area:
- "Text - Current"
link will take you to the latest version of
the bill.
- "Text - All
Versions" shows a list of all different
versions of the bill, from the original to
the final engrossed version. (Some bills
never proceed past the "original" version.)
To view any of this
information, click on the links provided.
NOTE: You need
to have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4 or higher
installed on your computer to retrieve the
bills. If you do not have version 4 or higher of
Acrobat Reader,
click here to download
a free copy of the Reader.
How do I find a bill if I don't know its number?
If you don't know a
specific bill number, you can conduct a TEXT
SEARCH of the entire text of any bill.
- Select the session
that you want to search. Either click
here OR click on
"Session Info" which appears on the maroon
navigation bar at the top of the page.
Once you select the
session, the text search on the bills is the
fifth search option under "Bill Search" on each
of the sessions' pages. Type a word (or group of
words) that you think may appear in the bill.
When conducting the text search, you can put
quotes (") around the words if you are looking
for a specific phrase or you can use the terms
"AND", "OR", or "NOT" to narrow your search.
You can also do a
full-text search of the "Subject Index to Bills"
which is updated daily during legislative
sessions. Click on "Session Info" on the maroon
navigation bar and then selecting the session
you want to research. The link can then be found
under "Key Session Information" on that page.
Click on the binoculars in the Adobe task bar to
begin the search.
NOTE: You need
to have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4 or higher
installed on your computer to view the "Subject
Index to Bills." If you do not have version 4 or
higher of Acrobat Reader,
click here to download
a free copy of the Reader.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I find out how a bill becomes a law in
Louisiana?
You can see a graphical view of the process by
clicking here.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I find out what all
of these abbreviations mean?
When looking at the bill information, there can
be a lot of abbreviations that may appear
confusing. To see what these abbreviations mean,
click here.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I compile the legislative history?
Legislative History:
The record of all legislative actions occurring in
order to pass a bill. The steps taken in this
procedure include: bill introduction, committee
hearings, floor debate, amendments (committee and
floor) to the bill, enrollment, action taken by the
governor (veto, enactment without action, or
approval), and the assignment of an act number.
In order to obtain the
legislative history of a section from the Louisiana
Revised Statutes, an article from a particular code
(Children's Code, Civil Code, etc.), or an act, the
researcher must know the original bill number and
session of the legislature in which it was enacted.
Statutes and codes are
available in print or they can be accessed through
the Internet from the Louisiana Legislature’s joint
website. Locate the statute or code article and
check the end notes at the bottom of the section
paragraphs. An act number will be listed after most
sections of the law (e.g., Acts 1986, No. 697).
USING THE INTERNET:
- To find a statute or code article on the
Internet, begin by going to
www.legis.state.la.us
and finding the maroon navigation bar at the top
of the screen. Click on “Search.” This will take
the researcher to a screen where statutes and
codes can be retrieved by number (e.g., R.S. 17:
222, CCP 3939, etc.) or by keyword.
To follow the
legislative history using the Internet, begin
again at
www.legis.state.la.us
and look for "Session Info" on the navigation
menu at the top of the screen.
After clicking on
"Session Info," select the legislative session
in which the act was passed (1997 - present
years are the only available years).
Under the title "Bill
Search for the (year) Session" bar, click on the
first pull-down box (which has the letters "HB"
as default) and select the word "Act." Put in
the act number that you wish to research and
then click on the box marked "View" next to
"View a Specific Instrument.”
The next screen will
show a one line description of the act, the
original House or S-enate Bill number, the final
status of the instrument, and a menu below.
Click on the word "History" on the blue
hypertext menu below. The History is a line by
line record of the bill, from last action to
first.
The History shows
dates of action, Journal pages where
action is recorded, whether the instrument was
amended in committee or on the floor, a vote
tally, the act number, and the effective date.
The screen with the
blue hypertext menu also has an "Amendments"
link as well. This selection will have the text
of every adopted committee amendment for the
instrument as well as every proposed floor
amendment, whether it passed or failed.
USING PRINTED
MATERIALS:
- To follow the legislative history using
printed materials, begin with the statute or
code article notes at the end of a section that
lists the act number and year of the legislative
session in which it was enacted.
- Consult the
corresponding year's Resume'. The
Resume' numerically lists each act that
passed in a given legislative session, along
with a digest and the original House or Senate
bill number.
- With the original
House or Senate number from the Resume',
consult that year's Legislative Calendar.
The Legislative Calendar provides a
chronological history of each instrument. One
can find dates of action, Journal pages
where actions are recorded, whether the
instrument was amended in committee or on the
floor, a vote tally, the act number, and the
effective date.
- The House and Senate
each keep their own separate Journals.
The Journals are arranged chronologically
by the days in which the legislature met while
in session. The information contained in the
Journal is arranged in the order in which
action was taken on the House or Senate floor.
If the action was the adoption of an amendment,
the entry will provide the text of that
amendment. If a vote on the floor of either
house was a record vote, the entry will provide
a roll call list with the vote of each member.
Votes on final passage on the floor of each
house are record votes. Committee votes are not
record votes. The reports of legislative
committees are noted in the Journals, but
the vote on reporting each instrument is noted
only by the number of votes for and against, and
not by roll call.
WHERE TO FIND MORE
ASSISTANCE:
- Each parish court
usually has a law library with copies of the
Resume', Legislative Calendar, and
Journals. Most of the parish public
libraries have the same publications.
- Louisiana State
University, Southern University, Tulane
University, and Loyola University have law
school libraries which carry Louisiana’s
legislative publications.
- The State Library of
Louisiana has a Louisiana Section reference
room. They can be reached at (225) 342-4919 or
at
ladept@state.lib.la.us
for e-mail access. Their website is
www.pelican.state.lib.la.us.
HOUSE AND SENATE SERVICES:
The following items may be obtained from the
Docket of the House or Senate:
Legislative
instruments: bills, amendments, digests, fiscal
notes
Legislative
Calendar pages
Journal pages
Minutes of committee
meetings
Audio tapes of the
proceedings of committee meetings. 1998 to the
present date are available from House or Senate
Docket. Prior to that date, audio tapes are
available at the Office of Archives & Records
Management, La. Secretary of State:
225-922-1209.
Floor debate is not
transcribed, nor are minutes of floor debate
prepared in print. However, House committee and
floor debates, beginning with the 1999 Regular
Session can be viewed (audio/video) at:
http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Video/Hse_Video_OnDemand.htm.
House Docket (for House
instruments): (225) 342-6458
Senate Docket (for
Senate instruments): (225) 342-2365
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I view the broadcasts of committee
meetings?
archived video section.
This is located on the House website. You can
get to it by either clicking on the link in the
previous sentence or by going to
http://house.louisiana.gov
and clicking on "Archived Video" which appears
on the blue navigation bar on the left hand side
of the home page. (Meetings held in the Senate
committee rooms are not archived.)
You will need either a
G2 player or RealPlayer version 8 to view the
broadcasts. If you do not have RealPlayer on
your computer,
click here to download
a free version of the software.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I get the schedule and the agendas of
interim committee meetings?
There are two places to retrieve this
information. On the home page, you can see all
of the meetings that are scheduled for the
current day. At the end of the list, there is a
link that says "Upcoming Meetings." This will
show you a complete list of ALL scheduled
meetings. You can also see a complete list of
the committee meetings by
clicking here. This
link will take you to the "Committees" section
of the website.
To view an agenda of a
committee meeting, click on the committee name
in which you are interested. This will take you
to the specific meeting's web page from which
there is a link that says "Agenda."
NOTE: To view
the agendas, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader
version 4 or higher. If you do not have version
4 or higher of Reader installed on your
computer,
click here to download
a free copy of the program.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I sign up to receive email notification of
committee meetings?
You can receive FREE email notification
of future interim committee meetings by
clicking here. This
notice will include links to the specific
committee agenda. To subscribe, click on the
link that says, "Interim Legislature Committee
Notification" and then the link "Subscribe to
email notification." A new email message will
open with all of the necessary information. All
you will need to do is to "send" this message.
You will then be sent a confirmation of your
subscription and be notified of future meetings.
To UNsubscribe to this free service, follow the
instructions that appear on your email
confirmation.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I determine who is my legislator?
To find your legislator is as easy as typing in
your street address and city or zip code. Once
you type in your address and click "Search," you
will see a list of the names of and links to
your state representative, state senator, U.S.
congressmen, and the state's two United States
senators. Links to their respective websites is
provided by clicking on their name.
Click here to try it
out.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I contact my legislator?
There are several different ways by which you
can contact your legislator, including mail,
e-mail, telephone, fax, or in person. (If you do
not know who is your legislator,
click here.)
Most members maintain a
legislative district office. (It is advisable,
however, to first make an appointment should you
want to meet in person with your legislator.)
The following hyperlinks will give you the
district office addresses, telephone numbers,
fax numbers, and email addresses of your
legislators:
If you would like to get a complete list of all
of the members' district office addresses, you
can use the links below to download a Mail
Merge file. (The files were last updated
on May 3, 2007.) There are two different
versions of the files - Microsoft Excel (for
Microsoft Word mail merges) and Corel
WordPerfect. Select the appropriate format for
your word processing program and then proceed
with the mail merge.
During legislative sessions,
you can contact your legislator using any of the
above ways mentioned OR you can send
correspondence to the Capitol at the following
address:
|
U.S. Mail
Representative John Doe
State Capitol
P.O. Box 44486
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4486 |
Senator Jane Doe
State Capitol
P.O. Box 94183
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-4183 |
|
UPS, Federal Express or other
delivery services:
Representative or Senator John Doe
State Capitol
900 North Third Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70804 |
To talk
directly to a Representative or Senator, contact
the House switchboard (225-342-6945) or the
Senate switchboard (225-342-2040).
Also
during legislative session, written notes and
other materials intended for distribution to the
membership may be received on the House or
Senate floor, provided the recipient's name and
the sender's name or organization is clearly
noted on the document itself. Notes to
individual members can be presented to the
sergeant-at-arms stationed in or near the
chambers.
How do I view the district
map for each legislator?
You can access the
district maps for your state legislator by
clicking on the "District Maps" icon on the home
page. It appears on the right hand side of the
home page in the shape of the state of
Louisiana. This will take you to a page with the
two applicable sections: "House Districts Maps"
and "Senate District Maps."
All of the district
maps are in PDF format, which requires you to
have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4 or higher
installed on your computer. If you do not have
version 4 or higher of Reader installed,
click here to get a
free copy.
How do I view Louisiana's laws?
Louisiana's laws are provided by clicking
here or by going to
the
home page of this
website and clicking on "Louisiana Laws" which
is on the blue navigation bar on the left hand
column of the page.
You can view the laws
by one of two ways:
- by a SPECIFIC law
body and section
- by conducting a
text search of the entire laws database
To view a specific law
body, select the law body (i.e. RS, CONST, CC,
CHC) and then type in the title, article, or
rule number. If the law body you are retrieving
has a section number, you must type it in the
box called "Section Number"; otherwise, leave
this box blank.
To conduct a text
search, first select the body (or bodies) of law
you want to search. (There is a box to check
"All of the Above" which will search the entire
database. You mayselect as few or as many as you
would like.) Once you have selected the law body
or bodies, enter the text you want to search.
Examples of different ways to input text appear
below the text box on that page.
How do I view the PDF documents on the website?
Adobe PDF is a universal file format that
preserves all of the fonts, formatting, colors,
and graphics of any source document, regardless
of the application and platform used to create
it. PDF files are printed exactly as intended by
anyone with a free Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you
do not have Reader installed,
click here to get a
free copy.
How do I get RealPlayer in order to view the
broadcasts?
All committees that meet
in committee rooms with numbers (Committee Room
1, etc.), and Committee Rooms A, E, and the John
J. Hainkel, Jr, Room, as well as both the House
chamber and Senate chamber, can be viewed over
the internet. (Committee Rooms C and F can not
be viewed over the internet.)
To get a free copy of
RealPlayer version 8 to view the broadcasts,
click here.
BACK TO QUESTIONS
How do I talk to a "live person?"
The Public Update
Legislative Services Line, or PULS Line, is
available to you by dialing 342-2456 in the
Baton Rouge area or toll free (Louisiana only)
800-256-3793 outside Baton Rouge.
Legislative staff will
answer your questions about bills on various
topics, direct you to the proper place for
committee information, explain aspects of the
legislative process and more. The PULS Line is
operated jointly by the House and the Senate.
The following are the
hours of operation for the PULS Line: During
Session - 8:30 a.m. until adjournment if the
House or Senate is meeting, otherwise 8:30 a.m.
until 5:00 p.m. During the interim (not in
legislative session), the hours of operation are
9:30 a.m. til 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. til 4:30
p.m. Monday through Friday.
To talk directly to a
Representative or Senator, contact the House
switchboard (225-342-6945) or the Senate
switchboard (225-342-2040).
How do I get a glossary of legislative terms?
Legislative terms can be confusing. To see the
glossary of terms for the Louisiana Legislature,
click here. The
appropriate House, Senate or Joint rule that
applies to the term is listed along with the
term. If you would like to read the
corresponding rule, just click on the rule.
How do I get to the state Capitol?
To get directions and maps to get to the Capitol,
click here. A new
window will open up providing you written
directions as well as a map of the Capitol area.
There is also parking information within the map
that appears on the page. If you would like a
larger version of the map, just click on it. You
will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view
this information. (If you do not have the
free Reader installed on your computer,
click here to
download the program.)
BACK TO QUESTIONS
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