UsingBillsHow to
Searching bills
Find bills by number, title, key words, sponsor or the words in their text, with phrases, OR and excluded words.
The search box at the top of Legislation finds bills by their number, title, key words, sponsors and text, within the jurisdictions and filters you've chosen.
Search#
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Choose the jurisdictions to search in the Jurisdiction filter — or All for every jurisdiction.
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Type in Search bills by name, number, or keyword. The list updates as you pause.
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Narrow the results with the filters on the left. To search every bill rather than this year's, set Last updated to Any time.
The search applies to the Dashboard as well as the list, and a saved view keeps it along with the filters. To stop searching, clear the box — Clear all filters leaves it as it is.
What a search matches#
A bill matches when any one of these does:
| Where | How it matches |
|---|---|
| Bill number | The search as written appears anywhere in it, so AB 12 finds AB 12, AB 120 and AB 1234 |
| Title | The search as written appears anywhere in it |
| Key words | The search as written appears anywhere in them |
| Sponsors | A sponsor's name contains the search |
| Bill text | The words appear in the bill's current text — see below |
Number, title, key words and sponsors match the whole search as one piece of text, ignoring capitals. Quotation marks and a leading minus are ignored there, so they don't stop a title match.
The order of results#
Results come in order of how well they match: first the bill whose number is the search, then numbers that start with it, then other number matches, then bills whose title matches, then the rest (key words, sponsors and text). Within each, the newest session comes first. Choosing a column in Table sorts by that column instead.
A bill number can be typed however you like: S 56, S56, s 56 and S. 56 all find S 56, and hr1 finds H.R. 1. A search for a number also finds bills whose text mentions it — further down, after the bill itself.
Searching bill text#
The text match reads words, not characters: it ignores capitals, and matches other forms of a word — tenant finds tenants. It understands a little syntax:
| Type | To find bills whose text… |
|---|---|
rent control | contains both words, anywhere |
"rent control" | contains the phrase |
rent or lease | contains either word |
eviction -commercial | contains eviction but not commercial |
Only the bill's current text is searched — the version its panel shows under Full text — not earlier versions.
Where bill text is searchable#
Text search works for bills whose text CapitolMath holds. Where a bill's panel says Full text is not available., that bill can still be found by number, title, key words and sponsors, but not by words in its text. Coverage describes what CapitolMath holds for each jurisdiction.
Very long texts are searched up to their first two million characters.
Why the counts don't change#
The numbers beside the filters don't take the search into account — they count what each filter would show without it. The total above the list does. See About the bill list.