.....So, now that you have found the particular bill you want to look at, what in the world does all of this stuff mean? BASIS will present you with the title of the bill and then give you some choices regarding what you wish to see.

.....The frame below is what you will see at the top of the page for Senate Bill 34.

BILL: SB  34          SHORT TITLE: BD OF BARBERS ETC/TATOOS; BODY PIERCING  
BILL VERSION: HCS CSSB 34(FIN)                             
SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) ELLIS; REPRESENTATIVE(S) Davis

CURRENT STATUS: CHAPTER  93 SLA 00       STATUS DATE:  5/31/00
                EFFECTIVE DATE OF LAW  SEE CHAPTER      

.....The information at the top shows you the title of the bill and the sponsor or sponsors. Bills also go through changes as they move through committees. That is why the bill version is listed. The letters "CS" stand for Committee Substitute.

.....As you can see, Senator Ellis sponsored SB 34. The primary sponsor will be listed first and in capital letters. All co-sponsors and cross-sponsors will follow.

.....Next you see the status and full title of the bill followed by two choices: "Full Text" and "Committee Action with Bill History." With the full text option you can read (and print) the actual bill in its entirety. This is great if you have the worst case of insomnia you have ever imagined. It lets you see exactly what the proposed law says, right down to every last punctuation mark.

.....You can learn a lot from reading the text, however, many times you can learn more by reading what people had to say on the bill. That is where the "Committee Action with Bill History" button comes in handy.