LAWS ADVANCED BILL SEARCH CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS Requester: A legislator or legislative committee that has officially requested the bill be drafted. Each bill draft must have one requester. Using this search option will return all bills that have been requested by a particular legislator or legislative committee. This search option will return all bills, both unintroduced (drafts) and introduced (if any) for the selected requester. A legislator listed as the requester may or may not be the "Primary Sponsor" of the bill. See the "By Request Of" search function for an explanation of the By Request Of designation. By Request Of: A designation given to an Executive or Judicial Branch agency, board, or commission, a legislative interim or session committee, or the Code Commissioner. An Executive or Judicial Branch entity may not request a bill directly, but must ask a legislator or legislative committee to officially request that a bill be drafted. That legislator or legislative committee is then listed as the "Requester" of the bill. Bills may or may not have a "By Request Of" designation. This search option may be used, for example, to list all bills by request of the Department of Revenue. Primary Sponsor: The legislator who introduces a bill into the legislative process. Each introduced bill has one primary sponsor. The primary sponsor is assigned when a bill is introduced; therefore, using this search option will return ONLY the introduced bills sponsored by the selected legislator. Bill drafts cannot be listed since the primary sponsor is nonexistent until a bill is introduced. Drafter: The Legislative Services Division employee who composes the bill draft for potential introduction. Each bill has one assigned drafter. Using this search option will return all bills that have been or are currently being drafted by the selected drafter. Subject Description: An identifying attribute that is assigned by Legislative Services Division personnel to each bill. Each bill has one or more subjects, and the subjects can be changed (added or removed) during the bill's life as a result of amendments. Using this search option will return all bills, both introduced and unintroduced, that currently have the selected subject description assigned. Deadline Category: A deadline is assigned to each bill based on certain characteristics of the bill, such as whether it contains an appropriation or generates revenue. The deadline category is associated with a date when a bill must be transmitted from one house to the other (and back again). Each bill has a deadline category assigned, which can change during the bill's life depending on amendments and possible "transmittal agreements" made between party leadership. Using this search option will return all bills that currently have the selected deadline. Committee Name: A method of identifying all bills that currently reside in committee. A bill is typically in committee from the time it is referred to a committee until the time it is reported out of that committee. Using this search option will list all bills that are currently in the selected committee(s). This search option will return only introduced bills because bills are assigned to committee after introduction. Current Bill Progress: A method of identifying a group of bills that are in a specific stage of the legislative process. A bill's progress category is determined by its current status. For example, a bill can "die" many ways -- it can be canceled as a draft, fail to pass 3rd reading, or miss a transmittal deadline to name only three. Using this search option to look up the current bill progress of "Probably Dead" would return all the bills that have a current status relating to that progress category. Current Bill Status: A method of identifying all bills based on the current status. The current status denotes the most recent significant legislative activity related to the bill. Using this search option allows the user to look up all bills that currently have a specific status. The status is continually updated, so the current status of a bill can change quickly depending on how fast the bill is moving through the legislative process. For example, shortly after a bill passes 3rd reading, it is transmitted to the other house, which results in the current status changing, usually within a few hours. Bill Action: A method of identifying all bills that have a specific action assigned within a date range. This may or may not be the most current status of the bill. Using this search option allows the user to find, for example, all the bills that were introduced in the House during a specific time period.