| If you are trying to find a bill in the New York State Assembly, it is fairly easy. That is, if you know the bill number or are able to find the right keyword. And even if you find the bill, the roll call vote information may not all be there and you might only find a summary of the legislation.
For the New York State Senate, the process was even worse. Sometimes you could not find bills (even notable ones) and you would have to search through the Assembly database to find them. Roll call vote information wasn't there and it made for a difficult and frustrating research effort.
But today, the Senate did something to address that. What they did was create Open Legislation, a Google-like search engine where you can find bills, roll call votes and all of the key information about legislation going through the New York State Senate. What's even better about this is that you can comment on the legislation.
Senator Jose Serrano introduced the website today and praised the efforts to make the upper house in the state legislature more open.
"Transparency in government has always been one of my greatest priorities as an elected official," said Senator Serrano. "This generation of students has an unprecedented amount of access to technology, and it is thrilling that they can now use those skills to keep themselves informed of the legislative process. As a lawmaker, it is an honor to take the future voters and policymakers of New York State step by step through a resource that will enrich their lives for years to come."
Open Legislation is just one part of Open Senate, an effort by the Senate to make its own body more transparent and allow for a tremendous amount of access to bills and records.
"The launch of Open Legislation is a key milestone in our ongoing effort to make the New York State Senate the most transparent, efficient and participatory legislative body in the country," said Andrew Hoppin, Chief information Officer for the Senate. "We hope that the site will help more New Yorkers to not only keep tabs on what is going on in Albany, but to have a voice in what is going on."
The easier we can make the availability of information, the better off we are and the better off our democracy is. I know that we want reform and change in the New York State Senate, but it is a process that should not be rushed. This is just one example of how a thought-out process can lead to something great. I have said for a long time that we needed the equivalent of THOMAS at the state level. We aren't all the way there, but the Senate has done its part to reach that goal. |
