Legislative Basics
Finding Legislation
The Tennessee General Assembly has earned national awards for it its legislative website. The site, revamped in 2009, makes it easier to find and track legislation by subject, bill number, and legislator as well as identify who your legislator is based upon your address. In addition, the new website lets users create profiles so they can automatically track up to 30 bills at once. Visit the site at http://www.capitol.tn.gov/.
Tennessee Senators and Representatives
If you want to know what your legislator is doing this session, then visit their profile page and look for a link to see what legislation they are sponsoring this session. Just go to one of the pages below that list members of the House and Senate.
House Members - http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/
Senate Members - http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/members/
It’s All About Committees …
Do you wonder why election of the Speaker of the Senate (Lt. Governor) and House is so important? It’s because they get to make all the committee appointments for their respective chambers and it is in committees that the nitty-gritty work of legislating happens. If a bill can’t get through committee, then it is as good as dead.
If you want to impact legislation then you need to track what committee your bills of intrest have been assigned to. If it looks like a bill you are tracking may come up before a committee soon, then contact your legislator to let him or her know. Even if your legislator is not on that committee he or she may have friends who are on the committee.
Sound like too much trouble? That’s okay, the Coalition will do its best to track a cross-section of disability-related bills and let you know when a bill may come up for a vote. To receive these updates sign-up for our weekly E-News. For more insider information join our Disability Action Network.
Important General Assembly Links
General Assembly Home Page - http://www.capitol.tn.gov/
Senate Committees - http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/committees/
House Committees - http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/committees/
Legislation Search - http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billsearch/BillSearchAdvanced.aspx
Legislators by Phone - Call 1-800-449-8366