The website Kansas Votes provides information about legislation in Kansas as it works its way through the law-making process. This process, which can be complicated, is explained in plain language on this website.
There is some information about bills available on the Kansas Legislature website. The information there, however, is limited to the actual text of the bill and a terse description of its legislative history. The Kansas Votes site contains additional information and explanation that helps citizens understand bills and the legislative process.
Here are some features of Kansas Votes:
- Concise, plain-language, objective and accurate descriptions of every bill, amendment, roll call vote and voice vote.
- Ability to track all the votes of a particular legislator, or search by bill number, category or keyword.
- Ability to view all the bills and amendments introduced by a particular legislator.
- Ability to post a public comment, view others’ comments, and participate in citizen surveys on each bill.
- Automatically e-mail legislators or others about a bill.
- Ability to follow action in any one or more of 50 different categories of legislation (such as Education or Land Use or Taxes).
- Ability to sign up for e-mail notifications of action on any bill or subject area of interest, including new bill introductions.
Citizens now have a valuable tool to help them follow the action in the statehouse. This is especially important as traditional media such as newspapers devote less coverage to news like this.
And did I mention it’s free?
To use Kansas Votes, click on Kansas Votes.