Tracking the Legislature is not always easy

Some people have problem with online video during showdown over speaker.

The fight at the Capitol last week over who would be the new speaker of the Texas House made dramatic viewing for those whose idea of compelling programming is the Legislature in action. And thanks to real-time video on the official Capitol Web site, people didn't have to come to the Capitol to watch.

But some people who tried to view the Jan. 9 showdown live were unable to access the online video.

Because the state has a limited number of licenses for the online video players, only about 4,000 people can watch at once. It is unclear whether that caused the problem. It's also unclear how many people were denied access. Officials at the Texas Legislative Council, which oversees the Web site, Texas Legislature Online, did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking information about access to the site that day.

Last week's technical problem is just one example of Texans having trouble following their lawmakers' moves.

Neighborhood groups, interest groups and others who seek information about legislation say tracking what is happening under the dome can be difficult. Texas Legislature Online was recently revamped, a change that was intended to make it easier for the public to follow legislation. But for Texans who don't have Internet access, don't live in Austin or don't have time to go to the Capitol, finding out about legislation can be complicated.

For lobbyists and anyone else willing to pay up to $3,500 for a two-year subscription to GalleryWatch or to subscribe to other private services that track the Legislature, getting information is relatively easy.

Nancy Walker, legislative director for state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, said that raises questions: "Is what we're providing to the public adequate? Or do you have to have money to get something specific for what you need?"

Naishtat's office gets calls year-round from constituents who need information on legislation, Walker said. For example, during the 2005 session, when lawmakers were debating mental health benefits for adult Medicaid recipients, Walker said: "We fielded a lot of calls from individual mental health professionals who could not follow what was going on. If they were not a member of an association, they don't know what happens until after it happens. They're trying to serve someone they have served in the past, and all of a sudden, they can't."

It has gotten easier in the past few years to track legislation. Since 1999, the public has been able to watch video broadcasts of House and Senate action online. Texans also can get real-time alerts sent to their cell phones when legislative action is taken.

In 2003, the site began offering legislative information through RSS feeds, which inform computer users who sign up for the service of new postings on Web sites. Only four other state legislatures offer RSS, Texas officials said. The number of requests for the Texas Legislature Online's free RSS feeds jumped from an average of 430 per day at the beginning of November to 1,798 per day by the end of November after the redesign of the Web site made the feature more prominent, officials said.

The redesigned site also allows users to track up to 200 bills.

"We tried to create the site for someone who isn't a legislative geek, who doesn't know the ins and outs of the process," Linda Pittsford, manager of the computer support center at the Texas Legislative Council, said in an interview late last year.

But Cliff Anderson, a member of the board of directors of the Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods, finds the Web site difficult to use — and he works as a technical support specialist. He said that when he needed information recently about a transportation bill that gave regional mobility authorities the power to borrow money and build tollways, he got stuck because he didn't know what year the Legislature had passed it. (It was 2003.)

"I don't think it should be that difficult," he said, adding that the neighborhood association often relies on a member who works at the Capitol for information about legislation.

Using the Web site to find out how a lawmaker voted on a particular bill can also be complicated if the seeker does not know the date of the vote or the bill number.

And Walker said it is almost impossible for constituents to find out what happens in committee hearings if no vote is taken. "We have all of this technology and great online access, but there's this key part of the process that the public sometimes feels they're left out of, unless they have the luxury to be able to take off work or not have to take care of a family and come down here" to the Capitol, she said.

Bob Kafka, an organizer since 1984 with Adapt of Texas, which is an advocate for people with disabilities, said he finds Texas Legislature Online user-friendly. The problem, he said, is that the times of hearings often change with little notice. Or the time for a hearing will be listed as "upon adjournment" of the House or Senate, making it difficult for people to incorporate into their plans.

"For the average person who wants to come to public hearings, it's totally a Byzantine process," Kafka said.

Anderson, the neighborhood association leader, said the best way to find legislative information online is this: "Think like a computer."