Legislative
CTE Legislative Protocol Procedures
1/1/2019
These procedures were developed in order to maintain credibility, consideration and influence within the Illinois General Assembly.
1. Identify the issue, bill or concern.
2. Read the bill, synopsis and review any changes from a previous bill.
3. Contact a colleague to discuss the issue and to get their input.
4. Repeat step #2.
5. Assess your thoughts on the bill and the bill’s urgency.
6. Contact the ICTA Legislative Committee Chairperson.
7. Discuss the issue, bill or concern with them.
8. The ICTA Legislative Committee Chair should read the bill, synopsis and review any changes from a previous bill.
9. The Legislative Chair will contact the Legislative Committee members. They also need to read the bill, synopsis and review any changes from a previous bill.
10. The Legislative Chair will contact the paid Legislative Consultant.
11. The Legislative Consultant will offer an opinion of the bill’s meaning, how the organization is best served by a particular position, what the intent of the bill is and what the bill will actually do.
12. The Legislative Consultant will then make a recommendation to the Legislative Committee Chair as to what course of action should be taken.
13. The Legislative Chair will contact the ICTA President and share their thoughts about the proposed course of action.
14. The Legislative Chair and President/Executive Director will decide on a proposed course of action and then carry out the course of action (phone calls, letter writing, personal visits, committee testimony, emails, etc.) Members should do this on their own time and on their own personal computer, cell phone, tablet, etc. to avoid conflict of interest and perceived lobbying during work time.
15. The word “urgent” in the subject line of emails is to be used only in cases of extreme urgency.
Electronic Witness Slips
12/31/2018
I have been asked to provide information on how to fill out electronic witness slips for committee hearings.
** Click the screen shots below will demonstrate how to navigate your way around the General Assembly website.** We will be working on getting better images of these document copies.
Outlined are specific steps to fill out electronic witness slips to be read in to the record at committee hearings.
Page #1
#1 is the Home page of the General Assembly web site. I have circled the areas you would probably use the most. On the left hand side of the page is a box (circled) to look up bills. Use either hb for House Bills or sb for Senate Bills plus the number of the bill....example - hb4025 and click "go". The status of the bill will appear and a choice of other options - full text, amendments, pdf and so forth. If it says "engrossed" at the top of the page, that means the amendments have been included in the language.
Under the Senate and House "Member" headings, you can locate the members, their pictures, background, district and Springfield office phone numbers and addresses and the committees they serve on.
"Schedules" will give you legislative days for the month/year and options to find committee hearings, date, time and location.
"Committees" will list all of the committees and by clicking on a committee you will find the members of that committee.
Under "Additional Resources" (not circled) you will find "Legislator Lookup" to help you and others find out who their legislators are.
Farther down on the page in the left hand corner you will find "GA Dashboard". This is your link to fill out a witness slip. When you click on GA Dashboard, Page 2 will appear
Page #2
Page #2 is the first page of the witness slip process. Circled on the far left side are House and Senate. If the hearing is one being held in the House, click House, and likewise for the Senate. Remember bills change Chambers, so a House bill can be heard in the Senate as is the case for House Bill 4025 in Senate Education Committee on Tuesday.
Please keep these pages in a convenient location so to respond quickly as things will move at a much faster speed now.
Page #3
After you have selected either House or Senate on Page #2, on Page #3 go to the left side and click on Committee Hearings (circled). I am using the Senate as an example. When you click on Committee Hearings, the posted (scheduled) Committee hearings will show up - Page #4.
Page #4
At the top of Page #4 you can select different time frames for Committee Hearings. As there were no Committee Hearings yesterday or over the weekend, I clicked on "Week" (Circled) to find the Senate Hearings being held next week. All of the "Posted" (scheduled) hearings will appear for the week. Please note that some hearings are "changed" or some may be "cancelled." This page gives the Committee Name, date of the hearing, time and location. Click on the Committee of interest, in this case, Senate Education Committee (circled).
For you First Timers, you have the opportunity to practice your new skill, by signing in as opponent on House Bill 4025 (HB4025) that is posted for Senate Education Committee next week, Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 1 P.M.
Page #5
When you click on the Committee on Page #4, that Committee and all of the bills posted to be heard will appear. Now.....just because a bill is posted doesn't mean the sponsor will call it that day, and if they don't, it will roll over to the next meeting of the Committee. Go to the far square on the right-hand side of the bill you want to address and click that square. Doing so says you want to fill out a witness slip for that particular bill. When you click that square, the witness slip to fill out will appear (page #6)
Page #6
The witness slip is pretty simple. Where it says Firm/Business/Agency, DO NOT put your school, office or career center in that space. Put the name of your professional organization and spell it out i.e....Illinois Career & Technical Administrators, EFE organization and so forth, but spell it out. If you are an office holder indicate such, if not simply put down member.
In the position Description area, either you are a Proponent, Opponent, or you are neutral (no position)
In the Testimony area, if you are present and want to give testimony, you will check the Oral box, if you are at the hearing, but don't want to speak, but have a written statement, or have made arrangements for written testimony to be given to the Committee, check the Written Testimony filed. If you just want the Committee to know your position with no testimony or written statement, check Record of Appearance Only. All of the witness slips are read in to the official record at some point.
Next you fill in the "security" letters/numbers.
Mark the "I agree" box and click on the "Create Slip", which did not print on my copy! You will be asked if you are finished or if you want to create another slip. You will receive email verification that your slip has been received and filed.
While it seems like a complicated process, once you've done it a couple of times, it will be second nature!
Thanks for all your comments and input, but most of all, thank you for being part of a terrific State wide Career and Technical Education network!