Introducing the New State Policy Tracker
NumbersUSA's State Government Relations Team is excited to introduce a new tool now available on the State and Local Initiative page of NumbersUSA.com. This easy-to-use interactive policy tracking map, provided in conjunction with FiscalNote, will allow the State Government Relations Team to better educate and activate our countless members and state and local policymakers from across the country, all from our State and Local Initiative page.
We are also delighted to introduce Dominic Panarese, a recent transfer from Capitol Hill to the State Government Relations Team. Dominic brings a wealth of experience and will serve as our State Legislative Director. With Dominic's expertise and the new policy tracking map, we are confident in our team's ability to provide new, invaluable legislative action and education opportunities. As a team, our mission is to equip activists and empower voters to make their voices heard while achieving sensible immigration policies at the state and local levels.
Please click here to load the State and Local Initiative page, which features the new policy tracking map, in a separate tab - so you can follow along through this email.
The State Policy Tracker (SPT), our incredible new tool, is now available to our activists, state legislators, and the general public on the State and Local Initiative Page of NumbersUSA.com. The SPT offers several easy-to-use, interactive ways to stay informed about the immigration-related bills and regulations introduced in state legislatures each year - a valuable dataset that NumbersUSA had no efficient way of tracking in the past. With the SPT, you can now stay on top of these developments with ease.
We hope that the SPT can not only serve as an educational tool for you, our activists, to track the immigration-related bills introduced in your state's capitol. But also that it can act as an issue landing page for State Legislators from across the country who may be interested in learning more about what they can do, or what other states are doing to protect their residents from the dangerously failed immigration policies of the Biden Administration.
Please, do not hesitate to share this new tool with friends, family, and fellow activists, or even include a link to the State and Local Initiative page with the SPT when reaching out to state policymakers - just to let them know you're keeping track. The SPT will also provide policymakers with the same educational value, allowing them to view what's happening in neighboring states and possibly even get some good ideas on legislation for their home state.
So without further ado, let's dive into The State Policy Tracker
Above, you can see an overview of the entire SPT, highlighted by a blue square. It consists of three main sections. In the upper right corner - a map of the 50 states is shaded in different depths of blue, given the density of immigration-related bills we track in each state. In the upper left corner, a bar graph shows the comparative quantity of bills being tracked nationally by issue area. Finally, at the bottom is a list of all bills we are tracking nationwide, listed alphabetically by issue area.
Please continue reading for a walkthrough of all three ways to find a tracked bill.
1) To search by state, move your cursor over the map portion of the SPT (seen above) and select a state. For this example, let's choose Louisiana. If you hover over a state (see below), a small window will appear showing you the state abbreviation and how many immigration-related bills and/or regulations NumbersUSA is tracking in that state.
Click on the state of Louisiana.
As you can see, NumbersUSA's State Government Relation Team is only tracking one bill in Louisiana so far this legislative session. Once a state is selected, the bar graph will show the distribution of issues in that state, and the list at the bottom of the SPT will provide an overview of the bills being actively tracked - you can see which "Issue Area" the bill falls under, the Bill Number, the Bill Title, the "Last Action Date," and what position NumbersUSA takes on that bill.
Click the black arrow next to the only bill we are tracking in Louisiana.
Once clicked, the SPT should refresh to a "Bill Details" page (seen above). We will go over these pages in part "3)" of the walkthrough, but here is where you will find the most information on particular bills being tracked by the State Government Relations Team.
Important Note: When on a Bill Details page, it's crucial to use the "Click Here to Return to Priority Bills" link with the black back arrow at the top of the SPT, or the controls shown below!
These are safer options than using your browser's 'back button', as it prevents accidental page refreshes and ensures you don't undo your last action within the SPT. This way, you can navigate with confidence and avoid potential errors!
These controls, always found at the bottom of the SPT window (blue square), are the best practice for navigating the SPT - they also include some neat features like saving and sharing. From right to left, they are "Back," "Forward," "Filter Reset," "Replay animation" (don't worry about this one), "Save," "Full-screen," and "Share."
These are primarily straightforward controls. You can use the Back and Forward buttons to do and undo commands. You can use the Filter Reset button to return to the SPT's home page. The Save button will allow you to download screenshots of the SPT. The Full-screen button enables you to toggle between full-screen or within the State and Local Initiative's page. And finally, the Share button allows you to share screenshots of the SPT with various other media.
Test out the Filter Reset button to refresh the SPT back to its home page.
2) We can now explore finding a bill using the Issue Area Bar Graph (see below).
This function allows you to search the nation's statehouses for bills by issue area rather than state. As you can see, the most significant proportion of state bills NumbersUSA is tracking revolve around Sanctuary Policies. The second most prevalent issue area is E-Verify, followed by Driver's Licenses for illegal aliens, Illegal Alien Tuition, and Remittances. We are looking to add Issue Areas for "Public Benefits for Illegal Aliens," "Healthcare for Illegal Aliens," and "Miscellaneous" in the coming weeks - so stay tuned for that update!
Click on the Remittances bar in the bar graph. Your SPT should look like the screenshot below.
The SPT will now show you all the bills NumbersUSA is tracking that have been tagged in the Remittances category. The map portion will update only to include states that have Remittances bills or regulations on the table, and the list at the bottom will now only show those particular bills. For this example, remain in the Remittances portion of the Issue Area bar graph, and click on the Ohio bill in the bill list portion at the bottom of the page.
This will take you to the Bill Details page of the Remittances bill currently under consideration in Ohio (see below), where you can explore the bill, see our position, learn who wrote it, get a summary, and even see the full bill text.
3) Finally, you can search for individual bills in the Bill List portion of the SPT. Here, the Issue Areas are listed alphabetically, with the bills of each state showing up alphabetically within them. If you scroll down within the Bill List to the E-Verify section of bills, your SPT should look like this:
For this example, we will be comparing the bottom two bills shown above in the E-Verify section of the Bill List: ID H. 510 and IL H.B. 5071. You can click on the black arrow next to any bill to advance from the Bill List to the Bill Details page to learn more about that specific bill. A screenshot of each bill is shown below for this example.
Here, you can compare two bills—one we support and one we oppose. All Bill Details pages will provide the same information, such as number, title, issue area, status, sponsor(s), NumbersUSA's position, upcoming hearing dates (if scheduled), a link to the full bill text, and a summary provided by the NumbersUSA State Government Relations Team.
The Bill Details pages are where you will find the real meat of the SPT, as these pages are the key to educating and activating on particular bills. We will point activists and legislators to these pages in future communications and action opportunities for information on bills, upcoming hearings, and important dates like votes.
Take some time to explore the two bills above. It should be pretty obvious which bill we support and which we oppose! Read the descriptions, notice the dates, the inactive status of one, and the active status of the other. These details will become increasingly familiar as you use the SPT more frequently. (For Idaho's bill, "Failed sine die" simply means the bill failed because the session ended before the bill was taken up.)
That just about sums up the walkthrough of the new State Policy Tracker tool available on the State and Local Initiative page on NumbersUSA.com. We hope you were able to follow along and are as excited as we are about the opportunities presented by this new policy-tracking device. The State Government Relations Team truly believes this tool will be crucial in equipping activists and empowering voters to make their voices heard and achieve sensible immigration policies at the state and local levels.
We know the SPT will not only serve as an educational tool for our activists, allowing them to track the immigration-related bills introduced in their state's capitol, but also as a tool for State Legislators from across the country who may be interested in learning more about what they can do to protect their constituents from the unnecessary dangers posed by Biden’s Border Crisis.
Again, please, do not hesitate to share this new tool with friends, family, and fellow activists, or even include a link to the NumbersUSA State and Local Initiative page with the State Policy Tracker when reaching out to state lawmakers!
Sincerely,
The State Government Relations Team:
Andrew Good - Director
Chris Pierce - Chief of Staff
Dominic Panarese - Legislative Director
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