Watching a bill

Watch is how you follow a bill. Watch a bill and CapitolMath tells you when it moves to a new stage and, if you choose, when a hearing on it is scheduled or changes, under your own notification settings. Anyone who signs in can watch any bill they can see, with any license, and there's no limit on how many.

Watch a bill#

The button reads Watching while you watch the bill. Select it again to stop.

Your watches are yours alone: no one else sees which bills you watch, and they're kept separately in each organization you belong to.

See the bills you watch#

On Legislation, open the Saved views group: Bills I watch is the first entry under Lists, with how many bills it holds. Choose it to see those bills, from every jurisdiction.

Bills I watch works wherever a list does:

• On the calendar, under Legislation Views, it shows the hearings with your watched bills on the agenda.
• In Bills like, it finds bills elsewhere like the ones you watch.
• In a new scorecard, From a saved view or list offers it, so the bills you watch come straight in.
• The assistant reads it when you ask about "bills I watch" or "my bills".

Because it's personal, Bills I watch can't be the source of a widget or a webhook. To publish or send a set of bills, save them in a list and share that.

Hear about the bills you watch#

You're told when a bill you watch reaches a new stage, and, if you choose, when a hearing on it is scheduled or changes. Choose where under Notifications on My profile: Stage changes on bills I own or watch and Upcoming hearings on bills I own or watch can each come in the app, by email, or in Slack or Teams. Stage changes come by email to begin with; hearings are off until you turn them on.

Several changes are gathered into one email rather than one each, and each bill appears once however you follow it. See Notifications.

Watching a bill your organization tracks#

When your organization tracks a bill, watching it also lists you among the watchers of its tracked item, if you can see that item. If your organization starts tracking a bill you already watch, you're added as a watcher then. Losing sight of the item, or the item being removed, doesn't stop your watch: you keep following the bill.

Owners always follow#

The owner of a tracked item always follows its bill, so on a bill you own, Watch reads Watching. Selecting it explains why rather than stopping: to stop following the bill, give the item to someone else.

Watch from the API#

/v1/watches lists, adds and removes your watches with an API key you created. It needs no extra key permission. See the API documentation.