Many statehouses across the country either recently ended their legislative session, or the end is in sight. Once the gavel falls, sine die, many lobbyists, associations and government relations professionals breathe a sigh of relief.
But we all know the end of session does not mean the job is over. It just means the work changes. In this edition of our newsletter, we will help you and your team either prepare for the end of session, or make sure nothing falls through the cracks in the post-session haze.
Even if session is not ending for you soon, you will still find these tools useful. File them away and pull them out when you need them.
— Conner Kerrigan, VP of Marketing
Webinar: Surviving the end of session
We hosted a webinar with Sarah Owsley, Advocacy Director at Empower Missouri, on what to do after the gavel falls. Spoiler: the work is not over. Here are the key takeaways (full recap: Webinar: Are you ready for the end of legislative session?):
- Institutional memory is fragile. The notes, conversations and context you built during session disappear fast. Keep it centralized. Your future self will thank you.
- Your audiences need different things. Advocates need to understand what changed (and why). Legislators need continued relationship-building. The public needs plain-language explanations. Have a plan for each.
- Bill comparison is essential right now. Most bills do not pass as written. Being able to see exactly what changed, down to a single word, is critical for briefing your team and planning next year’s strategy.
- The interim is your research window. Use AskAI to explore how similar policies have played out in other states and start building the case for what you will push next session.
Your end-of-session checklist
Every year, the final days of session arrive like a freight train. Then, suddenly, the gavel drops and everyone disappears.
Organizations that treat the interim as a full pause tend to arrive at the next session starting from zero. Those who stay engaged after sine die (closing the loop with advocates, protecting institutional memory, and staying alert for veto sessions and regulatory moments) tend to hit the ground running when it matters most.
FastDemocracy Chief Innovation Officer Sara Baker wrote a reflection on the importance of post-session work and how teams can avoid being flat-footed going into the next session. Read The gavel falls. Now what?, or download our end-of-session checklist:
Hot feature: Who made the grade this session?
With Vote Scorecards, a FastDemocracy Professional feature, you can score every legislator against your priorities in minutes. Pick the bills that mattered, tell FastDemocracy where you stood on each one, and it automatically calculates how every member measured up.
The interim is the perfect time to do this while the votes are fresh. Once built, you can publish your scorecard as a shareable link, embed it on your website, or download a formatted report.
