Newsgroups: alt.etext From: dell@wiretap.spies.com (Thomas Dell) Subject: [GOVDOC-L] California Legislative Info Message-ID: Organization: The Internet Wiretap Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 21:08:03 GMT Newsgroups: bit.listserv.govdoc-l Subject: CA Legislative Info. From: AIMEE Sender: Discussion of Government Document Issues Message-ID: <01H851RB2YRU9EJLHQ@ewu.edu> Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 13:25:08 -0800 Lines: 265 From: IN%"sharp@mizar.usc.edu" 24-JAN-1994 23:40:29.98 Subj: California Legislative Information STATE OF CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION Introduction Information regarding matters pending before the California Legislature has been available to the public in printed form since 1849. That same information is now available over Internet. AB 1624 (Chapter 1235/Statutes of 1993), authored by Assembly Member Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey. required that legislative information be made available to the public "by way of the largest nonproprietary, non-profit cooperative public computer network." This phrase refers to the computer network known as Internet. The following information will assist the general public in obtaining legislative information for the State of California from the public access computer. A review of this information, including all the README files, should be completed before attempting to look at legislative information over Internet. What Help is Available? Help information is provided by way of README files. The contents of this README_FIRST file includes introductory information and an overview of the directories and files that are available. There are additional README files that contain the text of AB 1624, general information about the Legislative Process, and a glossary of legislative terms. There is also a README file for each of the available five directories. These README files provide more specific information on the file contents of the directories and the specific procedures on how to retrieve files of information. What Assistance is Available? As with any other computer program you have obtained, assistance can be provided by a variety of sources. For example, colleges and universities, libraries, public schools, instructors and students, and your friends, many who are very knowledgeable about computers and/or Internet, can provide helpful assistance. An Electronic Mail (E-mail) account is also provided for you to send messages or comments you may have. The E-mail address is: comments@leginfo.public.ca.gov What Access Methods are Available? After you have established a connection to Internet, there are two methods for retrieving legislative information: Direct File Transfer and File Transfer by way of Electronic Mail. Both methods use File Transfer Protocol (FTP), an Internet tool that allows you to transfer files from the public access computer to your local computer. The FTP commands that are used are similar whether you have Direct access to Internet by way of Direct File Transfer, or you have access to Internet using File Transfer by way of Electronic Mail. Your Internet service provider will be able to answer your questions relating to any specific procedures pertaining to their service. The following describes the two methds for retrieving legislative information: Direct File Transfer The Direct File Transfer method provides a direct connection to the public access computer by way of an Internet FTP prompt. At this prompt, you will type FTP commands to retrieve files of legislative information. The information will be copied to your local directory. To access the Internet FTP prompt, enter the "connect" or "open" FTP command and the following address of the public access computer: leginfo.public.ca.gov File Transfer by way of Electronic Mail The File Transfer by way of Electronic Mail method allows you to retrieve legislative information by typing FTP commands in the body of your E-mail message. The public access computer then E-mails the information back to you. Each E-mail message must begin with the FTP "connect" or "open" and end with the FTP "quit" command. Send your E-mail message to the following address: ftpmail@leginfo.public.ca.gov What Legislative Information is Available? AB 1624 required that for each current legislative session, the following information be made available over Internet: . The legislative calendar . The schedule of legislative committee hearings . A list of matters pending on the floors of both houses of the Legislature . A list of the committees of the Legislature and their members . The text of each bill introduced, including each amended, enrolled, and chaptered form of each bill . The history of each bill introduced and amended . The status of each bill introduced and amended . All bill analyses prepared by legislative committees in connection with each bill . All vote information concerning each bill . Any veto message concerning a bill . The California Codes . The California Constitution . All statutes enacted on or after January 1, 1993 See README_ab_1624 for the actual text of Assembly Bill 1624. All of the information is directly related to the legislative process and how a bill becomes law. Once laws are passed by the Legislature they can have a direct impact on your life. In a representative form of government, citizens possessing knowledge about issues and the process of government can affect the policy decisions under consideration by the Legislature. Prior to selecting any of the legislative information, it is important that you understand the legislative process and how and where the legislative information fits into the process. A review of the README_legislative_process file and the README_glossary file should be helpful. How is the Information Organized in Internet? The legislative information is indexed by several directories and sub-directories. There is a main public access directory and five other directories that point to the Daily File, Bill Information, California Codes, California Constitution, and Statutes. Each of these five directories is broken down further into sub-directories to allow you to more readily retrieve the information. The main public access directory can be thought of as a tree trunk with branches representing the five directories. Additional branches represent the sub-directories. The following includes the name of each directory and sub-directories (names are stated as they are to be typed), as well as the legislative information found in the sub-directories: dailyfile The dailyfile directory contains a README file and a file containing the Legislative Calendar for the current session. There are also two sub-directories: sen for Senate and asm for Assembly. The sen and asm sub-directories contain the following files of legislative information: the schedule of legislative committee hearings, a list of the committees of the Legislature and their members, a list of matters pending on the floors of both houses of the Legislature, and a list of the names and addresses of the Senators and Assembly Members. bill The bill directory contains a README file and two sub-directories: asm for Assembly and sen for Senate. The sen and asm sub-directories point to additional sub-directories grouped in numerical ranges of 50 bills. The numerical sub-directories correspond to bill numbers and contain files of specific information for each bill: text of each version of the bill, complete bill history, current bill status, all bill analyses, vote information, and, if applicable, a veto message. The bill directory also contains four index files. The two Senate index files contain a list of Senate bills with author and topic. One index file is sorted by bill number, and one is sorted by author. The two Assembly index files contain a list of Assembly bills with author and topic. One index file is sorted by bill number, and one is sorted by author. code The code directory contains a README file and 29 sub-directories corresponding to the 29 California Codes. It also contains 29 Table of Contents files. These files contain a Table of Contents for each Code. The 29 sub-directories are named by their Code abbreviation. Each of the 29 sub-directories is broken down into two additional levels of sub-directories. One level is grouped into numerical ranges of 1000 Code section numbers, and the second level into numerical ranges of 100 Code section numbers. The second level sub-directories contain files of Code section text. 00001-01000,01001-02000, etc. numerical ranges of 1000 00001-00100,00101-00200, etc. numerical ranges of 100 constitution The constitution directory contains a README file, a Table of Contents file, and 24 sub-directories corresponding to the 24 Articles of the State Constitution. The sub-directories are named by the Article number. The sub-directories contain files of Constitution section text for each Article. statute The statute directory contains a README file and sub-directories grouped in numerical ranges of 50 chapters. The numerical sub-directories correspond to chapter numbers and contain files of the text of each Statute. What other Services are Available? You can also request to be placed on an E-mail list to automatically receive notices regarding system availability, new features, or topics that arise. If you would like to be placed on this list, send your request to the following E-mail address: comments@leginfo.public.ca.gov Helpful Hints on Getting Started To help you successfully retrieve files of legislative information, the following are some helpful hints to get you started: Directory Names and File Names Directory names and file names on public access are case sensitive, so it is important to be aware of capital and lowercase characters; you must type the directory and file names exactly as they appear. Control Characters Files contain special "control characters" that affect how a document appears. The two control characters that are used are TAB and FORM-FEED. A TAB works like the tab on a typewriter. When a tab shows up on the screen or printer, the text moves right to the next tab. When you first look at a file in your word processor, the left margin and any indented columns may appear "scrambled". To adjust the file, you will need to set appropriate tabs on your computer. A FORM-FEED behaves as if you were typing and decided to leave the rest of the page blank. You would stop, remove the paper from the typewriter, put a new sheet of paper in, and start typing again. The FORM-FEED in a file works the same way. It tells your word processor or printer to jump to the top of the next page before continuing to type text. Most word processors use the FORM-FEED as a "hard page break" or "page eject" command. You should not have to do anything to the FORM-FEEDS to make them work. But you may want to remove some FORM-FEEDS (hard page breaks) in order to change how a file paginates in your word processor.