How Many Hours In A Day?
Dina I -
Hello everyone! Welcome to my third blog detailing “what I’ve done in the week,” or as the Speaker of the House would say: The Clerk will read the journal of the last day’s proceedings (referring to the official record of what happened in the previous session (meeting) of the House).
This past week has really shown me how hectic it can get for our representatives and senators in the Capitol (I got my steps in, that’s for sure). This is going to be a long post!
Monday: My day began with attending a swearing-in ceremony of State Senator Kiana Sears, who was appointed to fill a vacant seat. Then Rep. Austin and I rushed back to the House, where she attended the last Appropriations meeting of the year (a last-ditch effort to get bill proposals heard by the committee) from 10 am – 8 pm. Meanwhile, I got to work organizing Rep. Austin’s filing cabinet (for those of you who know me, you can guess that was my favorite part of the week). I did that for a few hours while watching the meeting live from office TV.
Tuesday: I listened to the Democratic caucus that was hearing bills that passed the Senate, then was in the gallery for COW (Committee Of the Whole), where they debated bills on the floor that they removed from the Consent Calendar during the Dem Caucus meeting, and then waited on Third Read which is where they vote on the bills discussed in the Republican Caucus, Democratic Caucus, and COW. Don’t fret; I’ll do a post very soon explaining the process of bills because it’s much more complicated than what we learned in AP Gov.
Wednesday: Repeat of Tuesday without COW, but with Third Read of the bills discussed on Tuesday.
Thursday: The day unexpectedly began with me guiding Dobson High School’s tour of the Capitol until Rep. Austin could step in and actually guide us to the correct spot, which was on the other side of the building—oops (the Capitol is big and confusing with lots of turns and stairs). Shortly after, I attended a presentation hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on “Prevention not Prisons” for House Representatives. I took notes for Rep Austin, asked questions on her behalf, and learned that it “costs $501,895.10 every day to house people in prisons while that money could be used for a public health first approach instead”. Then I attended the COW meeting for the bills discussed in Caucus on Wednesday (this was a controversial one).
Friday: Nothing (I guess they ran out of bills for us to hear).
And that’s all!
My next blog post will be a reflection of my previous internship experience relating to the events and connections I’m seeing at the Capitol now, and hopefully we’ll get insight into my final product!
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