Health and Human Services Legislative Tracking System LTS

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Health and Human Services Legislative Tracking
System (LTS)
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Context

• All state agencies have mechanisms and processes
  to
• Track legislation
• Develop fiscal notes
• Make assignments for agency executives to attend
  legislative hearings and report on the outcomes
• Monitor the implementation of bills that are
  passed
• How does your agency handle these tasks?

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Objectives

• The Legislative Tracking System (LTS) does all
  those tasks (and more) within a single web-based
  system.
• Our presentation today will cover
• History
• Features of the System
• Version 1.0, 78th session, 2003
• Enhancements, 79th session, 2005
• LTS Process
• Enterprise version, 80th session, 2007
• Live demo
• QA

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LTS History

• Precursor to LTS LBAT
• Decision to move to a web-based system was driven
  by the need for Y2K compliance.
• The path to an alternative to LBAT included
• Reviewing off-the-shelf products
• Issuing an RFI (no adequate responses received)
• Reviewing what other state agencies used
• Developing LTS

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Overview of features

• LTS Features
• Internet Based - Work from Home
• E-mail notification for all assignments
• Links to the text of each tracked bill
• Flexible Assignment Trees
• Customized queries and reports

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1.0 Features

• LTS Version 1.0 78th session
• Flexibility in assigning bill analysis ability
  to go deep into the agency to make assignments
• Incorporation of existing fiscal note process
• Excel document with macros that merge into Word
  document
• Ability to assign staff to monitor (via PC) or
  attend a hearing and write a hearing report in
  the system
• Ability to monitor implementation of bills that
  passed

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1.0 Features

• LTS Version 1.0 (continued)
• Data feed from a legislative service no storage
  requirements in our system for bill text
• Ability to own and store the data the agency
  generated
• Bill analysis
• Fiscal notes
• Hearing reports
• Implementation plans
• Ability to generate basic reports

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Enhancements 79th Session

• DADS enhancements LTS 2.0 79th session
• Ability to identify companion bills
• Ability to create a bill analysis with
  pre-populated data for a companion bill (create
  from function)
• Ability to create an impact analysis from any
  version of a bill
• Enhanced reporting
• Ability to query and report by question in the
  implementation plan

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LTS Process

• LTS Process
• DADS subscribes to a legislative service.
• During session, Government Relations Unit (GRU)
  staff review the Senate House Daily Reports
  each day.
• GRU flags bills that impact DADS, give them a
  priority, and select a lead division. Other
  divisions that are impacted are also selected.

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Assignments

• LTS Assignments
• Assignments begin at Assistant Commissioner and
  Director levels, via e-mail notification
• Users may down assign the bill to other users
  within the same program area
• Down assigning must be done manually in LTS for
  the filed version of a bill
• Later versions of a bill automatically follow the
  same assignment tree

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Bill Analysis

• Impact analyses Final impact statement
• An Impact Analysis template in LTS is used to
  guide bill analysis.
• Users create from the person they assigned to.
• Government Relations staff consolidate all the
  impact analyses into a Final Impact Statement.

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Fiscal Notes Tracked Bills

• When DADS receives a fiscal note request, the
  fiscal note coordinator makes a fiscal note
  assignment to the lead budget analyst.
• Automatic assignments are made to the Chief
  Financial Officer (CFO), the Budget Director, and
  Appropriations Control.
• Automatic FYI e-mails are sent to all the LTS
  users who were assigned to do an impact analysis
  on the bill. Other designated staff may also be
  notified.
• Budget staff use the program impact analysis in
  developing the fiscal note.

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Fiscal Notes Bills not being tracked

• If DADS receives a fiscal note request for a bill
  we are not already tracking, we will either
• Add the bill to LTS and follow the usual
  procedure
• Or in the case of a bill we determine should not
  be tracked, Budget will develop a fiscal note
  outside the LTS process.

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Hearing Assignments

• Government Relations staff monitor the hearing
  schedule outside of LTS
• Staff can be assigned to
• Monitor a Hearing on their PC with Audio/Video
• Attend the Hearing
• Attend as a Resource Witness
• Testify
• Staff assigned to a hearing can complete a
  Hearing Report template to report any significant
  information from the hearing.
• Hearing assignments can be bill-based or
  committee-based (for example, during the interim)

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Implementation Plans

• When the session is over
• Implementation Plan assignments are made to the
  lead program area for each tracked bill that
  passed and became law.
• The lead program area completes an Implementation
  Plan template.
• Similar to the Impact Analysis template
• More milestone dates
• GRU monitors the implementation of each enrolled
  bill that requires action by DADS.

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Enhancements 80th Session

• Enterprise LTS Used by all 5 Health Human
  Services Agencies
• Each agency can set the system up to meet its
  individual needs
• Customized question templates
• Assignment trees and drop-down menus include only
  agency-specific users, program areas, etc.
• Easier-to-read screens
• Federal Rehabilitation Act web accessibility
  compliant
• Real-time interface with legislative service
  instead of nightly downloads
• Limited read-only access of other agencies
  impact analyses
• Ability to upload multiple documents in a fiscal
  note
• Lots of tweaks to make it more user-friendly
  (adds spell-check on the data-entry screens,
  eliminates the need to use html formatting codes)
• Greater ability to make changes ourselves, rather
  than relying on IT

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• LTS Demo/QA

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LTS Highlights

• Security Groups
• User Proxy
• Bill Text
• Create From
• Companion Bills
• Fiscal Note Template
• Hearings
• Reports, Implementation Queries
• New Question Generator, Tagging Bills