Detailed Legislative Reports enables the public to access information, track documents, and build reports. The processes enable you to track the status of legislation, to build personal reports, and to import the text of various legislative documents.

Purpose of the Manual

This manual describes all the Detailed Legislative Reports and provides instructions for the retrieval of each. The manual serves as a reference tool for those who wish to obtain information on legislative documents and activities.

Prerequisite Skills

This manual assumes that you have a working knowledge of Windows and Internet Explorer.

How the Manual Is Organized

The manual is arranged as follows:

• General information about Detailed Legislative Reports

• Description of each report

• Appendixes

Graphic Conventions Used in the Manual

Bolded items represent keystrokes, menu items, buttons, or links.

Windows, Navigation, and Browser Terminology

Banner Bar	The Banner bar contains the links in white type above the Detailed Legislative Reports bar. From here, you may access the home pages for the Washington State Legislature, the State House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the public legislative information page.
Check Box	A square with a checkmark in it is the active setting. Click a check box once to activate it; click it a second time to de-select it. A “checked” check box selects items such as bills for combining, or sets options for your report, such as opening documents in a new window.
Command Bar	The Command bar appears on most of the Detailed Legislative Reports result screens. It displays as a blue background with white type beneath the upper site banner. Click the command button to perform the action or view detailed options.
Feature Bar	The Feature bar appears above most Detailed Legislative Reports in blue type. It provides shortcuts to the most frequently used reports. Clicking a link on the Feature bar moves you to that report.
Link	Usually represented by blue or underlined text, a link moves you from the current browser page to another. To follow a link, move the mouse cursor over the blue or underlined text. When the cursor becomes a pointing finger, click the left mouse button.
Menu Bar	The Menu bar appears at the top of each window. Clicking a word on the Menu bar produces a drop-down menu with additional choices. An example of an item you could select from the menu bar is Edit, Copy. If you see instructions to "Click Edit, Copy," click Edit on the menu bar, then click the Copy option on the drop-down Edit menu.
Detailed Legislative Reports Bar	This bar appears with a yellow background in the upper banner of each of the Detailed Legislative Reports pages. The Detailed Legislative Reports bar contains links to the Detailed Legislative Reports home page, Advanced Search, and general help resources.
Radio button	A circle with a black dot in the middle is the active setting. Alternate choices are displayed as empty circles. Clicking a radio button sets parameters for your report choice, for example, chamber or report option.
Toolbar	The toolbar is located immediately below the Menu bar. It contains buttons with graphical representations on them. When you position the cursor over a toolbar button and pause, the button's name or function appears for a few seconds. Clicking a button displays another window, a dialog box, or it performs a function. An example of an item you could select from the toolbar is Print. If you see an instruction to "Click the Print button," click the button on the toolbar.

Accessing Detailed Legislative Reports

1. From the Legislature’s home page at http://www.leg.wa.gov click Bill Information.

2. Click Detailed Legislative Reports. The Detailed Legislative Reports home page appears. To make a selection from the Detailed Legislative Reports home page, move the cursor over a link. When the pointer becomes a finger, click the left mouse button.

Creating a Detailed Legislative Reports Account

Any Detailed Legislative Report can be generated without logging in to the system; however, you must be logged in to use certain features, such as Selected Bill Tracking, customizing views, changing the global default setting for reports, and adding bills directly from a report to a Selected Bill Tracking list.

1. Click Log In.

2. At the Login window, click Register.

3. Type a username, one word at least six characters.

4. Type your e-mail address.

5. Confirm your e-mail address.

6. Click Submit. You will receive an e-mail message that contains a computer-generated password. Open the message, highlight and copy the password.

7. Return to the Login screen. Type your username and paste the password in the Password field.

8. Click Log In. You will be prompted to change your password to something easier for you to remember. It must be at least six characters and can contain a mix of letters and numbers.

9. Confirm your password.

10. Click Save.

Logging In to Detailed Legislative Reports

1. Click Log In.

2. Type your user name, then press Tab.

3. Type your password, then click Log In.

Features Common to Most Detailed Legislative Reports

Reports Links

In Detailed Legislative Reports, the bill number is linked to the Bill Summary Page, which provides history and roll call information, if it exists; and the new “Docs” link takes you to Text of a Legislative Document and allows you to access related documents. The standard links are listed below.

∙ Click Docs to access a list of links to all documents related to the bill. Select the document you wish to view by clicking the desired link to the left of each document.

∙ Click (B) to display, save, print, or send the document as a browser-based HTML file.

∙ Click (A) to display the text in Adobe Acrobat. This option retrieves a line-for-line, page-for-page official copy of the selected document. Only those documents that have an Adobe Acrobat version have the (A) link. You cannot edit the Acrobat version of a document. To print an official copy of the bill, click the Print button from the Adobe Acrobat toolbar.

• Click the bill number link to display the history and any roll calls, if they exist, of the bill via the Bill Summary Page.

∙ If the bill was vetoed or partially vetoed, click the V or PV next to the Date field to access the text of the veto message.

∙ Click the link to the sponsor’s name to display a sponsor report.

∙ Some reports provide a print version of the report without graphics. Click Print List on the Command bar above the report title. A new window opens to display the report without links.

Sorting Functionality

A much-anticipated feature in Detailed Legislative Reports is sorting. In the system, most of the reports may be sorted by different column headers. To sort the report by date of last action, for example, click the Date column heading to arrange the dates in ascending order. Click the Date column heading a second time to sort the information in descending order.

Printing

Printing a Report

Click the Print button on the browser toolbar; click File, Print on the browser menu; or press Ctrl+P. If you wish to have a graphics-free print out, click Print List, then click the Print button in the new browser window. This option may not appear depending on the report you are viewing.

Printing a Single Document

1. Click Docs beside the document name to display a list of documents specific to the bill number.

2. Click the display link to the left of the bill document that you wish to use for viewing and printing.

☞ To print an official copy of a bill or amendment, click the A (Adobe Acrobat) option.

3. Click the Print button on the browser toolbar; click File, Print on the browser menu; or press Ctrl+P.

Printing Multiple Documents

You may select several documents on the list for printing or reviewing at one time. This is referred to as combining documents.

1. Select the documents in one of the following ways:

• Click the check box next to each desired document.

• Click the check box in the blue header bar to select all documents.

☞ Click the check box in the header bar a second time to de-select all documents.

2. Scroll to the end of the list and choose one of the following items:

• Combine to Word Processor combines the selected documents and displays the resulting combination in word processor format. Beginning with documents created during the 2003-04 biennium, page and line numbers are not displayed.

• Combine to Browser combines the selected documents and displays the resulting combination in HTML format in the browser.

• Combine to Acrobat (Official Copy) combines the selected documents in Adobe Acrobat and displays them in the browser. This option prints an official, line-for-line, page-for-page version of the selected documents.

☞ Detailed Legislative Reports will automatically insert page breaks between the Acrobat documents so each document starts on a new page.

3. Click Combine to combine the documents in the selected manner.

Exporting Options for Report Information

Most report results may be exported into other applications, such as Word, Excel, Access, and plain text. Exported information is not dynamically updated by the system.

1. From the report result list, click Export Data in the blue command bar.

2. Click the desired export application.

Access	When you export a report into Access, it generates a database named report.mdb. that contains a table with the report data. A File Download-Security Warning screen appears and asks whether you want to save the database or open it directly from the export. Click Open to open the database directly from Detailed Legislative Reports; click Save to save the file first. The Access table containing the report is named TheData. Double-click TheData to view the information.
Excel	Excel generates a spreadsheet of the report information. Click Open to open the spreadsheet directly from Detailed Legislative Reports; click Save to save the spreadsheet first.
Text	Text creates a comma-delimited file of the report information. This report contains no formatting and is difficult to read. Click Open to open the file directly from Detailed Legislative Reports; click Save to save the file first.
Word	Word generates the report information in a Word table. You may need to adjust the page setup to accommodate the table’s width. Click Open to open the file directly from Detailed Legislative Reports; click Save to save the file first.

Saving a Document or Report

Saving a Document in Adobe Acrobat (PDF)

1. From the list of documents, click (A) beside the document to open it in Adobe Acrobat.

2. On the Adobe menu bar, click Save a Copy.

4. By default, the file name is the same as the document title. If you wish to change the name, click in the File name field and type a different name, then click Save.

☞ This document version generates the line-for-line, page-for-page “official” copy of the bill that contains line and page numbering.

Saving a Document as a Browser-Based HTML File

1. From the list of documents, click (B) beside the document to open it as an HTML file.

2. Click File, then Save As from the menu.

3. By default, the file name is the same as the document title. If you wish to change the name, click in the File name field and type a different name, then click Save. This document may be opened in Internet Explorer, or other applications, such as Word or WordPerfect.

Date Default Settings

The date defaults in Detailed Legislative Reports can be set for the current session period or a previous biennium. You must log in to Detailed Legislative Reports to select a global default for the whole application. You may change the biennium on a per report basis back to 2003 without logging in..

To set the global date settings for the application that will affect all reports,

1. Click Default Date and System Settings.

2. Log in to the Detailed Legislative Reports system.

3. Click the radio button for the desired biennium or session year.

4. Click Save as Default.

☞ Detailed Legislative Reports will retain the default biennium settings until you go back into Default Date and System Settings and change it.

To set the date temporarily for an individual report,

1. Open a report, such as Bills by Sponsor.

2. Click the Biennium list button, then click the desired biennium or session year.

3. Generate the report. This setting will be remembered for as long as you are working in the report. If you leave the report or close Internet Explorer, the setting will revert back to the global default.

Accessing Information Prior to 2003

In the 2006 session, common reports, such as Bills by Sponsor or Bills In/Out of Committee, and bill documents prior to 2003 are accessed in a different manner.

To access bill history and roll call information from 1997-2002,

1. Click the Bill Information link at the bottom of the Detailed Legislative Reports home page.

2. Select a biennium then click either the House or Senate Bill Information link.

To access bill documents,

1. Bill documents back to 1985 will be accessible in one of two ways.

• The Previous Bienniums folder in Advanced Search.

• Navigate the web-based directory structure to retrieve documents from Text of a Legislative Document.

Number of Records per Page

You may wish to set the number of records that appear per page. You must log in to the Detailed Legislative Reports system to make a global setting that will apply throughout the application. You may change the records per page value on a per report basis without logging in.

To set a global records per page setting for the application,

1. Click Default Date and System Settings.

2. Log in to the Detailed Legislative Reports system.

3. Click the radio button for the desired number of records per page.

4. Click Save as Default.

☞ Detailed Legislative Reports will retain the default biennium settings until you go back into Default Date and System Settings and change it.

To set the records per page on an individual report,

1. Open an Detailed Legislative Reports and generate a report, such as Bills by Sponsor.

2. Click the records per page list button at the top of the bill result grid, then click the number of records you wish to view at one time.

A record could be a bill or a document name. A page refers to a browser page, not a printed page or a window. The default for the number of records per page is 100.

Advanced Search

A link to Advanced Search is available on the Detailed Legislative Reports menu bar. The documentation for that system is separate from the Detailed Legislative Reports.

Online Help

There are several help documents available to you in Detailed Legislative Reports.

• Click the Help link within a report or on the Detailed Legislative Reports menu bar to view the Detailed Legislative Reports manual.

• Click Help with Abbreviations at the bottom of the page to review lists of the abbreviations and acronyms used for legislative actions, committees, sponsors, and requesters. Lists of document extensions and naming conventions are also available.

Bill Summary Page

The Bill Summary Page provides a convenient way to view all the information for a bill in one place. The Bill Summary Page contains the brief description, sponsors, companion bill information, and links to the documents related to the bill, including all versions of the bill, amendments, bill reports, digests, and roll calls. The Bill Summary Page also contains a narrative history of the bill.

Running the Report

1. On the Detailed Legislative Reports home page click Bill Summary (History of a Bill.)

2. Confirm the biennium selection. To change the current setting, click the Biennium list button, then click the desired biennium.

3. Type the bill number you wish to find, then click Submit or press Enter. You do not need to enter the bill prefix. The Bill Summary page opens.

Report Links

• The Bill Summary Page can display the documents or the history of the bill at the top of the page. Click the List documents before history check box to place the documents at the top of the page. Click the check box a second time to de-select the option and move the documents to the bottom. This feature is grayed out until you perform a search.

• Click the Open documents in a new window check box to display related documents in a new browser window.

• To print the Bill Summary Page, click the Print Version link, then click the Print button on the toolbar of the new browser window.

• Click the desired link to access the type of document you wish to view.

• Click a sponsor link to access the list of bills sponsored by the selected member.

• When a bill has been altered in the legislative process, a link to the engrossed, amended, or substituted bill appears next to the historical action.

• Click a roll call link, if one appears, to see how members voted on the selected bill.

• The available documents for the selected bill are grouped together. Click the desired document link to open an Adobe Acrobat version of the document.

• When applicable, click Get Fiscal Note to access the fiscal note from the Office of Financial Management (OFM) website.

Text of a Legislative Document

The Text of a Legislative Document link accesses all of the documents that match a bill or document name. For example, if you type 1000 in the Text of a Legislative Document search field, all of the documents related to House Bill 1000 appear, including bill, bill reports, amendments, etc. Other documents you can retrieve include RCWs, WACs, and Washington State Register documents. Links are provided to the Attorney General’s Office and the Governor’s Office for AGO Opinions and Executive Orders.

Accessing Documents

1. On the Detailed Legislative Reports home page, click Text of a Legislative Document.

2. There are multiple ways you may access documents in Text of a Legislative Document.

• To access bills, type the number of the bill in the List bills and documents named like field, then click Find Documents or press Enter.

• To access RCWs or WACs, click the RCWs or WACs radio button for the type of document. Type the RCW/WAC number in the Find field. Click Find Statute or press Enter.

• To access other session documents, such as schedules, introductions, or a list of prefiled bills, click the applicable link in the QuickLinks navigation section on the left. You may also access these documents using the keyword in the List bills and documents named like field if you know the document naming convention.

3. The list of documents appears. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the window to scroll through the listed documents. You may also use the Page Up and Page Down keys or the middle arrow keys to move through the report.

Report Links

∙ Click the (B) link to display, save, print, or send the document as a browser-based HTML file.

∙ Click the (A) link to display the text in Adobe Acrobat. This option retrieves an official line-for-line, page-for-page copy of the selected document. Only those documents that have an Acrobat version have the (A) link. You cannot edit the Acrobat version of a document. To print an official copy of the bill, click the Print button from the Adobe Acrobat toolbar.

∙ Click Bill Summary above the table headers to open the Bill Summary Page for the applicable bill.

∙ Click Roll Calls above the table header to open the Roll Call Report for the applicable bill.

☞ A bill may not have a roll call report if it hasn’t progressed far enough in the Legislative process.

• Click Related Topical Index to view the topics that the applicable bill is assigned to.

• Click Add to Selected Bill Tracking to add the applicable bill to a custom tracking list. This feature is only available if you are logged in to the Detailed Legislative Reports system.

Custom Sorting

Documents are displayed in ascending order by document name. To sort the result list by a different category, click the column heading. For example, to sort the result list by the date the document was created or edited, click the Date heading. The first click sorts the information in ascending order; the second click sorts it in descending order.

Printing and Combining Documents

Printing the Results List

To print the list of documents, click the Print icon on the tool bar; click File, Print on the menu bar; or press Ctrl+P.

Printing a Single Document

1. Click the display option link to the left of the document name that you wish to print.

☞ To print an official copy of a bill or amendment, click the (A) Adobe option and click the printer button on the Adobe toolbar.

2. Click the Print button in the viewing application.

Printing Multiple Documents

You may select several documents on the list for printing or reviewing at one time. This is referred to as combining documents.

1. Select the documents in one of the following ways:

• Click the check box next to each desired document.

• Click in the check box in the blue header bar to select all documents.

2. Scroll to the end of the list and choose one of the following items:

• Combine to Word Processor combines the selected documents. Beginning with documents created during the 2003-04 biennium, page and line numbers are not displayed.

• Combine to Browser combines the selected documents and displays the resulting combination in HTML format in the browser.

• Combine to Acrobat (Official Copy) combines the selected documents in Adobe Acrobat and displays them in the browser. This option allows to combine for printing official, line-for-line, page-for-page accurate copies of selected documents.

☞ Detailed Legislative Reports will automatically insert page breaks between the Adobe documents so each new document starts on a new page.

4. Click Combine to combine the documents in the selected manner.

Bills by Sponsor

The Bills by Sponsor report lists the legislation sponsored by the selected member, committee, or requester. The report displays the bill number, brief title, veto information, last activity date, original sponsor, and current status of each bill sponsored by the selected member. You may view a list for all bills, primary sponsor, or secondary sponsor.

Running the Report

1. On the Detailed Legislative Reports home page, click Bills by Sponsor.

2. Click the radio button for House, Senate, Committee, or Requestor.

3. Begin typing the sponsor’s last name in the Type or Select a Sponsor field. When the applicable name is highlighted, press Tab.

4. Click the radio button for the desired report (Primary Bills, Secondary Bills, or All Bills).

5. If you wish to view only the companion bills, click the Show only those bills by the selected sponsor that have companion bills check box.

6. Click Continue.

Viewing Report Information By Action Date

You may customize your report to display or bold bills that have had action on or since a certain date using the date options feature on the report screen.

1. With a Bills by Sponsor result list visible, click the Date Options link.

2. Click the Bold/List only bills list button.

a. Click Bold bills to display the full list of bills, but bold the bills that meet the specified date selection.

b. Click List only bills to filter out the bills that don’t meet the specified date selection.

3. Click in the Date field and type the date upon which you wish to base your criteria. You may also click the Calendar list button, then click the date you wish to use from the drop-down calendar. For example, typing 1/15/06 would produce a report that either bolds or only lists bills that have had status changes since January 15, 2006.

4. Press Enter or click Update Display. You can return to the original view at any time by clicking Clear Date Options.

Custom Sorting

To sort the report by a different category, click the report heading. The first click sorts in ascending order; the second click sorts in descending order.

Report Links

∙ Click Docs to retrieve a list of documents related to the bill. Select from the links that appear in the resulting report.

∙ Click (B) to display, save, print, or send the document as a browser-based html file.

∙ Click (A) to display the text in Adobe Acrobat. This option retrieves an official, line-for-line, page-for-page copy of the selected document. Only those documents that have an Acrobat version have the (A) link. You cannot edit the Acrobat version of a document. To print an official copy of the bill, click the Print icon from the Adobe toolbar.

• Click the bill number link to display the history and roll calls, if they exist, of the bill from the Bill Summary Page.

∙ If the bill was vetoed or partially vetoed, click the V or PV next to the Date field to access the text of the veto message.

∙ Click the sponsor’s name link to go to the Bills by Sponsor page and print a report of all the bills that were also sponsored.

∙ To print or view reports without the graphics, click the Print List button above the report title. A new window opens to display the report without graphics.

Printing and Combining Documents

Printing the Results List

To print the list of documents, click the Print icon on the tool bar; click File, Print on the menu bar; or press Ctrl+P.

Printing a Single Document

1. Click Docs beside the document name to display a list of documents specific to the bill number.

2. Click the display option to the left of the bill number that you wish to use.

☞ To print an official copy of a bill or amendment, click the (A) Adobe option and click the printer button on the Adobe toolbar.

3. Click the Print button on the browser toolbar; click File, Print on the browser menu; or press Ctrl+P.

Printing Multiple Documents

You may select several documents on the list for printing or reviewing at one time. This is referred to as combining documents.

1. Select the documents in one of the following ways:

• Click the check box next to each desired document.

• Click in the check box in the blue header bar to select all documents.

2. Scroll to the end of the list and choose one of the following items:

• Combine to Word Processor combines the selected documents. Beginning with documents created during the 2003-04 biennium, page and line numbers are not displayed.

• Combine to Browser (HTM) combines the selected documents and displays the resulting combination in html format in the browser.

• Combine to Acrobat (PDF) (Official Copy) combines the selected documents in Adobe Acrobat and displays them in the browser. This option prints an official, line-for-line, page-for-page version of the selected documents.

☞ Detailed Legislative Reports will automatically insert page breaks between the Adobe documents so each new document starts on a new page.

• Add to a Bill Tracking List adds the selected documents to a selected bill tracking list. This feature is only available if you are logged in to the Detailed Legislative Reports system.

☞ This feature is available for the current biennium only.<