Arizona State University students create website to track state legislature

PHOENIX — Local government can be confusing and hard to follow, but thanks to a website created by a group of Arizona State University students, constituents will be able to closely watch the actions of their elected officials.

The website, AZLegLive.info, is described as a tool designed to help voters better understand what state legislators are doing at the Capitol. It is organized into two distinct sections: Sessions and Interactive Visuals.

Sessions consists of a detailed list of both Senate and House bills, committees and members for each session of legislature, dating back to the 2012 regular session.

The bills list comes with the bill’s number, special title and final result. When visitors click on the bill’s number, they can see the different versions of that bill, the primary sponsors, committees and current status.

Additionally, the results from various votes are available and voters can even see a detailed breakdown of the vote count by clicking on the link.

If residents are interested in seeing what a particular state representative has voted for and what committees they belong to, they can simply click their name to see that information.

The site even breaks down how often they vote for and against their own party.

In Interactive Visuals, visitors can see various graphics that visualize trends throughout the data, including number of bills sponsored by legislator, where the bills are coming from and committee outcomes.

And in case you find yourself at odds with something the legislature has done, the website even provides a search bar to locate your state representative.

So next time you find yourself scratching your head at the idea of local politics, take a couple minutes and get involved with the issues that will most likely effect you.

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