Staying Informed during the 2010 Session

At noon today, the 2010 session of the Minnesota Legislature officially began. Our legislators are tackling key issues important to all Minnesotans – including a multi-billion dollar deficit. Most of us don’t have the time to go to the Capitol to listen to committee hearings, floor sessions, or conference committees, but there are easier ways to stay informed about legislative proceedings.

Here are some useful digital tools to stay informed about legislative activities:

• MyBills: A personalized bill-tracking application that allows people to track the status of bills through an RSS feed that is updated daily.

• House and Senate webcasts: Live video and audio streaming feeds of all floor sessions and high-interest committee hearings.

• Session Daily and Session Weekly: Nonpartisan newsletters about House floor and committee activity. Currently, there are no publications for the Senate due to budget restrictions.

• Twitter: You can receive up-to-the-minute breaking news about legislative activity by following the House, Senate and Capitol beat reporters on Twitter. Here are some that we recommend following:

• @MnHouseInfo

• @MnSenateMedia

• @RachelSB (Star Tribune)

• @PolAnimal (Pioneer Press)

• @tomscheck (Minnesota Public Radio)

• @stowydad (Associated Press)