Association Leadership - March/April 2008 - (Page 37)

government relations Government Affairs: By David Mintz, CAE This year, TSAE’s Government Relations Committee will provide you with helpful resources through various means, including: • Offering a variety of educational programs aimed at both senior professionals and those who just want to learn more about the process; • Adding more government affairs resources to TSAE’s Web site; and Publishing regular articles on • government affairs topics in Association Leadership. This month’s article focuses on electronic resources available for following state government. Even though the state legislature isn’t in session until January 2009, now is an important time for doing things like tracking interim committee hearings and conducting research about bills from previous sessions. If you have a full-ﬂedged state government affairs effort, chances are you subscribe to a professional tracking service – either the Texas Legislative Service, known as Telicon (www.telicon.com), or Gallery Watch (www.gallerywatch.com). But if you don’t need to follow a large number of issues or have a shoestring budget, you may want to check out Texas Legislature Online (www.captiol.state.tx. us). This site, maintained by the Texas Legislative Council, is one of the best state legislative sites in the country. While it isn’t as sophisticated as the subscription services, there is a ton of information including existing laws and bills introduced in previous sessions, as well as limited bill alert and tracking capabilities. Through the site there are also links to the ofﬁcial Texas House (www.house.state. tx.us) and Senate (www.house.state.tx.us) sites, which have information on committees, legislators and their districts, as well as live and archived committee hearings and ﬂoor debate. While they vary in resources and capabilities, it is amazing how much information is posted on individual state agency Web sites. Many offer notiﬁcation services on speciﬁc topics, while others post meeting agendas and board meeting materials. Some agencies even broadcast meetings over their sites. Variety of options exist to track state legislative news any opinion or open record request. Also, the Texas Ethics Commission site (www. ethics.state.tx.us) contains searchable lobby and campaign ﬁnance reports, as well lobbying regulations and ethics opinions. If you just want to keep abreast of the latest state government and political news, there are several well-respected, relatively inexpensive online legislative newsletters, including Texas Weekly (www.texasweeekly.com), Capitol Inside Focus on Electronic Resources Whether you’re an experienced government relations professional or just wanting to learn more about the legislative process, TSAE’s Government Affairs Committee is committed to providing helpful resources. If you follow regulatory issues, two key online resources are the Texas Register and the Texas Administrative Code, which are available through the Secretary of State’s Web site. The current issue of the Texas Register, which includes proposed and adopted state agency rules and other items such as public hearing notices and requests for proposals, is available at www.sos.state.tx. us/texreg. The Texas Administrative Code, which contains all current state agency rules, is available at www.sos.state.tx.us/tac. The Secretary of State’s ofﬁce also posts meeting notices ﬁled by both state and regional agencies at www.sos.state.tx. us/open. The site also offers several add-on features, such as e-mail notiﬁcation about speciﬁc agencies, for a nominal fee. Other valuable state agency sites include the Attorney General’s ofﬁce (www.oag.state.tx.us), which has all Attorney General opinions issued since 1939, as well as an e-mail notiﬁcation of (www.capitolinside.com), The Quorum Report (www.quorumreport.com) and the Lone Star Report (www. lonestarreport.org). Several sites also offer limited free content. Finally, Texas Government Insider (www.spartnerships.com/resources/ insider.asp), is a free weekly e-zine. It recently began providing more frequent news updates on its site and accepting articles and other contributions of interest to others involved in state government. For more details on how to submit materials, go to www.spartnerships.com/ newsletter/tgi%2012-14-07/memo.asp. Of course, if you’re looking for the latest political gossip and analysis, there are a number of blogs. Look for more on this topic in a future article. ◆ David Mintz is chairman of TSAE’s Government Affairs Committee. He is also a legislative consultant and vice president of government affairs for the Texas Apartment Association. March/April 2008 | Association LEADERSHIP 37 http://www.ethics.state.tx.us http://www.ethics.state.tx.us http://www.texasweekly.com http://www.capitolinside.com http://www.quorumreport.com http://www.lonestarreport.org http://www.lonestarreport.org http://www.spartnerships.com/resources/insider.asp http://www.telicon.com http://www.spartnerships.com/resources/insider.asp http://www.gallerywatch.com http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg http://www.capitol.state.tx.us http://www.sos.state.tx.us/tac http://www.capitol.state.tx.us http://www.spartnerships.com/newsletter/tgi%2012-14-07/memo.asp http://www.spartnerships.com/newsletter/tgi%2012-14-07/memo.asp http://www.sos.state.tx.us/open http://www.sos.state.tx.us/open http://www.house.state.tx.us http://www.oag.state.tx.us http://www.house.state.tx.us http://www.house.state.tx.us

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Leadership - March/April 2008

Association Leadership - March/April 2008 Contents Chairman's Column Homepage 60-Second Solutions Southwest Showcase Highlights Feature: Succession Plans Interim Executives Job Documentation Coaching: A Walk in the Park Perspectives Technology Column Association Case Study Government Affairs: Focus On Electronic Resources New Members Community Spotlight Houston Index to Advertisers Advertiser.com Board of Directors

Association Leadership - March/April 2008

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