Legicrawler News : : Summer 2010 In this edition: Legicrawler Analytics: How to find out which laws are impacted by proposed legislation. Redistricting -- One more reason to follow state legislative races. |
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REVERSE CODE LOOK-UP TM, A NEW LEGICRAWLER
TOOL TO ENHANCE YOUR LEGISLATIVE TRACKING
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and Facebook
Research experts say the intuition of users like you is becoming more and more important. That's why Legicrawler increasingly employs digital analytics, programs which deliver the information you need in just the right context. For example, legislative watchers increasingly keep track of any references in proposed legislation to key state code sections. They want to be able to find out what laws are impacted by proposed state legislation. You can do that automatically now with Legicrawler's exclusive Reverse Code Lookup TM, which adds a new level of tracking intuition to government relations management. In a traditional model, legislative tracking focuses on a suite of issues important to government relations personnel. To be sure, the issues themselves are important. Thus, the tracker may have various tracking categories by subject matter, such as excise taxes, brownfield uses, employer mandates, etc. But what about a bill's reference to existing state laws? Certain code sections in each state may be especially important to your firm or office. Noting proposed changes to that section might be just as important to your interest as categorizing by subject matter. If you always wanted to build a reference file of proposed legislative changes to particular code sections, now you can. Legicrawler's Reverse Code Lookup TM tracks all proposed state legislation with such references in mind. When any bill in your tracking profile refers to existing codes or regulations, Legicrawler carefully notes that for your attention. There is a reason we call it Reverse Code Lookup TM. Researchers traditionally cross-reference proposed legislation and state codes by starting with the code. The researcher retrieves a code section and then checks to see if any new legislation would change the code. You can do that, of course, with Legicrawler, but we also let you cross-reference in the other direction. Reverse Code Look-up TM. It makes more sense if you're keeping up with new introductions. It's invaluable if you don't know all the code sections dealing with your interests. If the proposed bill refers to a code section, we let you know, and if a group of bills in your tracking report refers to one code section, our "code sortable" search function of new legislation will group them for you. Reverse Code Lookup TM. We like the feel of it. And the flexibility. We know you will, too. STATE LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS WILL IMPACT ALL-IMPORTANT REDISTRICTING Since 2010 is a census year, a major consequence of the upcoming election will be redistricting in many legislative and congressional districts. State legislatures play a huge role in the once-a-decade look at district boundaries. The stakes are the biggest in Texas, where the Republicans control the state House of Representatives by a 77-73 margin. The Lone Star State will gain four congressional seats as a result of the census, according to Kimball W. Brace, president of Election Data Services, a consulting firm specializing in redistricting, elections and census data. "That's what's it's looking like," says Brace, who adds that the most unexpected change is likely to be two more seats for Florida and two less for New York. There had been an expected shift of one seat in each state. In addition, he says, Missouri is now expected to lose a seat (going from nine to eight), while Minnesota is likely to hold its eight seats. Minnesota had been anticipating a loss. Other states which will gain single seats are Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Arizona. Ohio will lose two seats, as expected, while Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will each lose one. "In all but six states that use some form of commission, the initial authority for redrawing House districts belongs to the state legislature," writes Tim Storey at Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball (July 22, 2010, www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/). He identifies 27 state legislative chambers in 22 states where a shift in just a handful of seats would result in a switch of party control. Democrats currently control 27 state legislatures and Republicans control 14. Eight are split and one (Nebraska) is unicameral and non-partisan. Democrats also hold the governor's office in 17 states where they control the legislature, and Republicans hold the governor's office in eight states where they also control the legislature. Legislative control can have an impact in both legislative and congressional districts, although seven states have just one member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Washington is one of the states where all or part of the redistricting responsibility is given to an independent commission. In Washington each major party in each chamber of the legislature appoints one member to the commission, which then redraws the districts. A non-voting chair is selected by the commission members.
| Seattle: Oracle/Sun: Datacenter Conference October 13, 2010 San Jose: All About Mobile: Software & Information Industry Assn. Conference November 16 San Diego: American Legislative Exchange Council: 2010 Annual Meeting August 5, 2010 
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