Committee Hearings and Transcripts

State Affairs records and transcribes every committee and floor hearing across the country, letting you search spoken testimony, jump to specific discussions, and create shareable video clips—essential for tracking what's actually being discussed in your state capitol.

Duration: 5 minutes | Tier: Platform & Enterprise | Coverage: All 50 states + Congress

Comprehensive Coverage

Every committee hearing and floor session is recorded and transcribed in real-time [0:10]. Search for any word spoken in any meeting across your subscribed states. If you need coverage in additional states, contact State Affairs to expand your subscription.

Accessing Hearings

Navigate to the Hearings tab [0:48] to see the most recent meetings in your selected state. Use the state switcher to flip between different states you're subscribed to. Hearings are listed chronologically, showing the committee name, date, and meeting type.

AI Keyword Analysis

When you open a hearing [1:05], an AI-generated analysis appears at the top based on your saved keywords—essentially your priority issues. This isn't a generic meeting summary; it specifically tells you what was discussed about the topics you care about. If you've saved ten keywords, the analysis focuses on those ten areas and summarizes what was said about them in this particular meeting.

Searchable Transcripts

The full transcript appears below the video player [1:45]. Search for any term (example shown: "bill") and the system highlights every instance. Click any highlighted text to jump the video directly to that moment in the hearing. When you click play, the video starts from exactly where you clicked in the transcript.

This feature transforms multi-hour hearings into targeted research. Instead of watching an entire 90-minute meeting, search for "renewable energy" and jump directly to those discussions.

Creating Video Clips

The Clip button [2:33] lets you extract up to 5 minutes of video from any hearing.

How it works:

  1. Navigate to the moment you want to capture (using transcript search)

  2. Click "Clip"

  3. The start time defaults to your current position

  4. The end time defaults to 30 seconds later

  5. Adjust the end time (example: change from 30 seconds to 2 minutes)

  6. Click "Create Clip"

You'll receive an email with a download link to your video clip. Use these clips for internal reports, social media posts, stakeholder updates, or testimony preparation. All hearings are publicly livestreamed, so there are no restrictions on sharing or using these clips.

Keyword-Triggered Hearing Alerts

From the Keyword Alerts tab [3:51], select any saved keyword to see every time it appears in bills, news, and hearings. Filter by state to narrow results.

Example workflow [4:04]:

  • Search for "PFAS" in Ohio and Michigan

  • Switch to the Hearings tab in results

  • See all hearings where "PFAS" was spoken

  • Open a hearing (example: Ohio development meeting, October 1st, 1 hour 1 minute)

  • Search transcript for "PFAS"

  • Results show 2 mentions

  • Use arrows to navigate between mentions

  • Click any mention to jump video to that testimony

This lets you monitor when your priority issues surface in committee discussions, even if you weren't in the room.

Sharing Hearings

Share meeting links with other State Affairs users [5:23] to collaborate on testimony review or distribute relevant discussions to your team.

Why This Matters

Most legislative action happens in committee rooms, not on the floor. Hearing transcripts and searchable video let you:

  • Track what legislators are actually saying about your issues

  • Find opposition testimony to prepare responses

  • Identify supportive testimony to amplify

  • Catch nuanced discussions that don't make it into news coverage

  • Create clips showing legislators' own words on key topics

  • Monitor hearings you physically couldn't attend

The combination of AI keyword analysis, searchable transcripts, and clip creation means you can monitor dozens of committees across multiple states without watching hundreds of hours of video.

Video Timestamps
Coverage Overview: 0:10 | Hearings Tab: 0:48 | AI Analysis: 1:05 | Searchable Transcripts: 1:45 | Video Clips: 2:33 | Keyword Alerts: 3:51 | PFAS Example: 4:04 | Sharing: 5:23

Tip: Create clips immediately after a hearing while the testimony is fresh. You can always search historical transcripts, but creating clips for your team in real-time maximizes impact.