Day 9

Today is the 9th day of the 104th Nebraska Legislature, 2nd session. Tomorrow is the last day new bills can be introduced, which is a plus for me since after Thursday it will eliminate one of the items on my morning check list - make new bill files.

I create a file for every bill that is introduced, even if we don't end up putting anything in it. I only print off bills for the ones that are in our committees (Agriculture, General Affairs, Health & Human Services and Retirement) and that make it on the agenda from other committees. It's one way I try to stem the flow of paper that comes into the office, which seems to never end regardless.

Speaking of stupid amounts of paperwork, I have to take a second to rant about the redundancy of committee paperwork.

Brief sidetrack: I think I failed to mention in my last work related post that Senator Kolterman was elected the new chair of the Retirement Committee on the first day of session. While this meant we got to move to a new, nicer office and I became a Committee Clerk (it's an AA/CC office, with one person doing both jobs) and got a bit of a raise, it also meant packing up the entire office on the first day of session, trying to get settled, attending committee clerk training (there are 3 of us "newbies" this year)...all on the first day of session...while keeping up with the normal insanity.

At the training, they naturally went over the basic duties of being a committee clerk. Thankfully mine is a small committee (otherwise I would have been looking for a new job), but even so, the amount of paper/paperwork is ridiculous. Each senator in the committee has a giant 3 ring binder with all the bills and accompanying documents (statement of intent, bill summary and fiscal note)...the legal counsel (LC) and committee clerk (CC) each have one as well. Then there's the committee book, which has all the same information in it (all of which can be found online, I would like to point out). This is turned in to the clerk's office at the end of the year to be a part of the official record...though why the info sent to the transcriber's office doesn't cover this, I don't know. There is also a redrope folder that needs to have the basic info about the hearing - agenda, attendance sheet, testifier list and any documents that were submitted at the hearing - and is to be turned in to transcribers by the next day. Oh, and a copy of any documents submitted at the hearing needs to be added to the senators notebooks, the LC and CC books and the committee notebook too.

So.much.paper.

It's annoying because it's time consuming, redundant and a waste of paper.

I know there are more important things to be upset about than paperwork...like stupid filibusters, scary laws and obnoxious senators...but since it's something that effects my day-to-day existence (well, those three other things do too), it's my current Achilles' heel.

I'm particularly concerned about it because tomorrow is our first hearing. I have to a) not fall asleep, b) not screw up the hearing program I have to log into in order to keep track of the bills and testifiers (it helps the transcriber's office once they're working on the hearing) and c) have all the aforementioned paperwork all pulled together correctly and ready to go. I hate not knowing what I'm doing and/or not being good at it - it's one of the only good thing about my AA job, that I'd had it so long that I was comfortable and reasonably good at it - so I'm a bit anxious about tomorrow. Everyone keeps telling me that it will be fine (which I'm sure it will be) and that it's not that hard...which I hate when people say that because it only makes it that much worse when I screw it up. Uuuugh. 

So yeah...wish me luck!

And after today, 9 days down and only 51 days to go...thank God. 

~ Katie

Song of  the day: Let's go with "State of My Head" by Shinedown.

UPDATE: I just noticed this way my 400th post! That's crazy!